a young 20-something trader wrote me this summer and asked should he trade APPLE or the INDEX ETF's like QQQ and SPY...he feels this is the time to get started being everything is commission free and he can scale in / out (true)..(cont)

for ME the first consideration is always the risk of ruin...in an individual stock, Apple or no apple, the risk of ruin is always higher...so i would say the index ETF , such as QQQ or SPY is a better career path (cont)

(cont) Now, the prop shops like T3 and SMB and so on, have far more traders who trade individual stocks, than they do those that trade SPY and QQQ..the reason is money...the individual names can move very fast and make fortunes...for me, i like slow and steady, so QQQ and SPY

For me, if you want a career trading stocks i think the index ETF's are the right path..i cant stop you from slinging Tesla and Netflix and Amazon, and u can make FAR more money if u have both luck and skill on ur side, but the risk of ruin is high