Crisis Brings Day Traders Back to Wall Street

Some traders like to buy and hold positions based on rational market fundamentals. Then there’s Peter Milman, who’s constantly making—or losing—tens of thousands of dollars, perched over his computer making a furious stream of bets like an arcade pinball wizard. Day traders like Milman are having their greatest renaissance since their tech bubble heyday, New York reports, basking in the incredible market volatility the crisis has brought with it.

Milman isn’t interested in market fundamentals, he’s interested in psychology. A believer in “technical analysis,” he searches for emerging market patterns, like constellations amid market graphs. When the Dow is swinging, he usually makes huge sums, but “there’s no pure science to it,” he acknowledges, recalling bitterly a recent $100,000 loss.
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