4

There's a guy that teaches stock trading on Youtube named Steven Dux. According to him, he's made millions, mostly on shorting small-cap stocks. Here is one of his videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K0mccM-Ydeo

My question is, If he's already made a lot of money, why would he need to make a youtube channel to earn some extra money on views?

| improve this question | |
  • 7
    Do you know that he actually needs to "earn some extra money on views?" Or is he doing it for some other reason? – RonJohn Feb 23 at 13:10
  • 19
    And, of course, it might all be a scam just like all the other "come to my $500 seminar and get rich in the stock market" scams. – RonJohn Feb 23 at 13:56
  • 1
    I am sorry to say but I asked a question which was asking for a portal where stock information can be found and that question got closed. But this question which doesn't make sense to me is answered beautifully. No jealous feeling but I couldn't understand the logic 😔 – Amit Upadhyay Feb 23 at 18:56
  • 3
    @GendoIkari I suspect to become a billionaire one has to have an abnormal attitude towards the concept of "enough". – ceejayoz Feb 23 at 18:57
  • 2
    @GendoIkari: I don't think running the company really counts as a job. I suppose it's akin to the way I still write code, even though I don't really need the money, and sometimes write stuff I'm not being paid to write. – jamesqf Feb 24 at 20:13
35

There are other reasons to do things besides money.

I have answered over 1100 questions across the Stack Exchange network and haven’t made a dime on them.

| improve this answer | |
  • 28
    So the other reason is Internet points. – IllusiveBrian Feb 23 at 21:22
  • 4
    @IllusiveBrian: Jay Hanlon ~ "It turns out that people will do anything for fake internet points." – Michael - Where's Clay Shirky Feb 24 at 0:30
  • 1
    @IllusiveBrian: Points? What points? I've seen occasional mention of them, but have no idea what they are, if they're something different than up/down votes on answers. – jamesqf Feb 24 at 18:31
16

Steven Dux:

  • He got lucky
  • He's a scam
  • He's legit (an audited account would prove this)

If he's already made a lot of money, why would he need to make a youtube channel to earn some extra money on views?

  • He's altruistic and likes to help people (free mentoring)

    or

  • He's monetizing his "made a lot of money" meme

| improve this answer | |
5

In all probabilities, any person who claims to have made "millions", and still running a "YouTube" channel is a scam. And if you see ads inside/alongside the video, then the probability of his claims of "having made millions" being a scam increases many folds.

Just think about it. What do millionaires do with the money they've earned? Couple of options:

  • They continue trading to convert those millions into billions

  • They live a comfortable life in a mansion if they've earned a lot

  • Conduct some paid seminars on trading with a high entry fee

  • They start doing charity

  • A combination of the above four

In no case, will any successful trader ever reveal their secrets for free. Moreover, think about the threat on their lives by the not-so-good people, who may go after this person as he knows the key to turning hundreds into millions, and those millions into billions.

Why would a millionaire put hardwork in creating and uploading YouTube videos with ads, unless he wants some small bucks from ad income when he is making millions? The ad income in meager, and there is no charity or no free mentoring.

So never trust anyone's claims that he made millions and now tutoring for free. The only people who make such claims are the ones who just know how things work theoretically - like what technical analysis is, what candlestick patterns may indicate, what PE ratios are, etc. etc.

Can they use this "knowledge" to make profits "and teach the same" to others through YouTube videos - Highly Unlikely.

Take such videos only as information and knowledge sharing. Use the tips at your own risk, as it is your hard earned money.

In conclusion to answer your question - "Why would a stock trading millionaire need some extra money?", - It is because he is not really a millionaire!

| improve this answer | |
  • 1
    Keep in mind, he may have made 2 million shorting stocks, but started with 6 million. – Pete B. Feb 24 at 17:14
  • @PeteB. How do you make a small fortune by shorting stocks? By first obtaining a large fortune. – Eric Lippert Feb 25 at 21:32
  • In all probability you two have never shorted a stock in your life and from that experience, you are ill prepared to pass judgment. – Bob Baerker Apr 16 at 21:30
3

In addition to the other answers, here's another possibility.

According to him, he's made millions, mostly on shorting small-cap stocks

Shorting stocks is one of the more risky forms of trading. In fact, one can hardly call it investing as it is basically betting for a company to be poorly instead of hoping to share in the rewards of a company that does well.

Small cap stocks are also more risky than large cap stocks. But they are not only more risky for going out of business (hence the strategy of trying to benefit on such businesses by shorting them) but also for experiencing wild price swings that have little connection to their underlying fundamentals. One particular type of risk to short sellers is the short squeeze, where short term buying pressure can cause huge losses far in excess of one's "investment" even when the company has poor fundamentals. A few years back there was a story about a man who had a short of ten or twenty thousand dollars on a pharmaceutical company that was "circling the drain" who wound up owing over a hundred thousand dollars to his broker after an after hours news article about a possible buyer caused the stock to spike and his broker to issue a margin call and then close his position as the stock continued to rise.

So, the statement about having made millions, on its face, says nothing about how much he has lost. He may have made millions on several lucky trades before being nearly wiped out by a disastrous trade. Or he may have seen how lucky he was and decided to get out before getting wiped out. Many YouTube channels provide some educational value but still contain a lot of entertainment content, so he might feel like such a route is a safer use of his time, sharing some of what he learned with others. If he no longer trades but retained most of his money he many not even consider what he was doing risky and not see the downsides, having never experienced them first hand.

To put it another way, consider a room with thousands of people each flipping a coin multiple times. After ten or eleven flips there is likely to be at least one person who flipped heads or tails every time. If there is some money riding on these flips they will have made a lot of money. They might create a successful YouTube channel talking about all their strategies for flipping coins. If they actually flipped the opposite side on their last flip, they might leave that part out to, as it doesn't really contribute to the story they are trying to tell.

| improve this answer | |
  • I have no idea if Steven Dux. is legitimate. Be that as it may, why is it that when the topic of making money from shorting comes up, the general answer is that shorting has unlimited loss potential, some guy lost tens of 1,000s of dollars in a short squeeze, the guy made money but isn't telling you how much he lost, it was from lucky trades, etc. etc. ??? Nassim Taleb has made several big hits on tail risk hedging. He advises the Universa hedge fund run by his protege' Mark Spitznagel which took in 3,600% in March and 4,100% YTD. Some people just know what they're doing. – Bob Baerker Apr 16 at 21:27
  • 1
    @BobBaerker For every guy who knows what he is doing, there are probably ten who don't... – Michael Apr 16 at 23:00
  • It's probably a much higher ratio than 10 to 1 but you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make a decent amount of money in a normal bear market that lasts 15 months (see 2000 and 2008). 2020 was somewhat different because of the speed of the descent. All of this fear based talk about shorting generally comes from those who have never done it but have read something somewhere and they are simply repeating the talking points. – Bob Baerker Apr 17 at 0:18
  • @BobBaerker Let's not continue this conversation in chat. – Michael Apr 17 at 19:19
  • Bear Stearns was one of many tip offs that it was hitting the fan. In late 2007 it had its first loss in 80 years. Then its mortgage backed securities were downgraded to junk bond status. By March it was toast. The FDIC was closing banks in 2008. AIG, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, et al were toppling. Lehman Brothers crashed in September of 2008. McCain and Obama met with Bush to consider solutions. Bush signed TARP. If the average person started talking about shorting the market without fear wasn't long before the market started going up again then they were OBLIVIOUS. – Bob Baerker Apr 17 at 19:22

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.