As we make our way back, I can only feign ignorance about what Erik is talking about.
The unnoticed strained silence lasts only a moment before the topic shifts to something else.
The rest of the car ride back was rather uneventful until we got to the last few miles while driving down the highway.
Where we came upon a white windowless panel van that was clearly a work vehicle. They had just about everything stacked on top of this thing. Ladders, weird metal poles, rebar, a wooden chair. They had piled up a ton of stuff on top of their van.
The stack was half the height of the van itself. The van was teetering back and forth as if it was going to flip over. A gust of wind almost lifted 2 of the wheels off of the ground.
"Wow, did you see that? We have got to speed up." I exclaimed.
"Yeah, why do you think I've been speeding up, I don't want to be behind that thing."
Yeah, I mean, we were about to get Final Stationed."
We made comments and jokes about it just about the rest of the way to Erik's house.
It really doesn't take much to keep us entertained.
…
Once we get back we take the bikes off of the car and I put mine on my mom's car. I grab my stuff out of the trunk and put it into the car.
I say goodbye to Erik and pull away from his house.
The drive home was nice and easy. The protest had ended so I could take a much easier route home.
…
Once home I took all of my gear and bike inside.
I said hey to mom on the way in, and then I took a shower and changed clothes.
…
Once I was freshened up I grabbed a bite to eat.
Then I headed downstairs to my office, to check on the AI.
The AI has reached 81% after a full day of training it has only gone up 2%.
80% really was a soft cap for the success rate.
It is 5:30 in the afternoon. I have quite a few hours left in the day, but I don't think it would help much.
Before I go to sleep tonight I will update the data.
…
The next day.
Today was Sunday, the stock market is only open on weekdays.
So another day of rest.
…
Another day. Monday.
I got up, did the usual routine, and plopped into my desk chair.
I am still sore. The biking really took it out of me.
I update the AI's data from last night and check its current progress.
82%. After a whole night it only went up a single percent.
I guess that is fine, the brokerage account got approved last night so I can start right away.
I transfer $1,000 to the account.
Then I opened a few stock trading sites. They take a few percent of what you make but it helps with quick transaction trading.
I opened 4 trading sites and created an account on each.
Then I loaded the trading sites account with $250 each. The sites have their own accounts to hold the money but it is linked to your real brokerage account, they do this to prevent people from leaving without paying for using their site. And security. But we know which they value more.
I pull up 4 of the stocks that I have trained for. 1 for each platform. The stock market opens at 9:30 am and goes until 4:00 pm.
I have a few hours to wait until it opens but I can prepare everything while waiting.
Setting up the AI, checking the news related to the open time today just to make sure it wont close early.
…
9:29 am.
It is go time.
I, along with thousands of others, sitting in front of our computers waiting for the time to tick over, waiting to try and make just a little more money today than yesterday.
Dreaming of finally making it big.
Wait.
Tick.
Tock.
Ding.
Open Market.
I smash the enter key and start the AI.
The AI starts its tactical buying and selling, scraping up all of the pennies it can.
What I am doing is essentially day trading.
That means making money buy selling lots of cheap stocks quickly to try and make a few cents or dollars every time.
The average day trader makes around 1% - 3% per day. So if a day trader was trading $10,000 he would make around $100 - $300 per day.
There was something online that said there was a $25,000 rule for day trading. I couldn't find out what they were really talking about. The site I'm using doesn't have any restrictions and I can trade as fast and as frequently as I'd like.
The one thing I was worried about though doesn't seem to be a problem yet. The AI used the practice site for training but it doesn't take into account how the market reacts to your own investments.
It would seem that because I don't have a lot of money the trading volume is so low that it barely even causes a ripple in the vast market.
They say that the first 30 minutes is the most volatile time. Which also means the most profitable for me.
The stocks themselves are only around the $2 range. So the normal fluctuation range would only be around 1 cent. The first 30 minutes will have that price go up to around 2 - 3 cents.
To run the math. I have $250. The starting stock price is $2.50 when I buy it. I now have 100 stocks. The price goes up to $2.53, then I sell it. Now I have $253. The stock goes down to $2.49, so I buy it. I now have 101 stocks. The price jumps back up to $2.52, so I sell. Now I have $255.12.
Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes.
This only really works because I have an optimized AI with a supercomputer and priority for my internet.
Most people, even with scripts, have to deal with lag time and reflexes. Or that fact that it lacks ingenuity.
Plus they have to deal with losses so making a few hundred dollars a day is pretty good.