Joe Baugh
Editor’s note: This is part of Coping with COVID-19, a series of brief looks at people in a pandemic.
By Lucas Day
Joe Baugh, 20, of Traverse City, has used self-isolation to learn about the stock market.
“I would’ve never have gotten into [stocks], it would’ve never went past my head, you know what I mean? I feel with college and everything and just how I was kinda living day to day, just going through life not thinking outside like I should be. Just going through the motions.
“I feel I wouldn’t have been able to let my mind expand as much if it wasn’t for the self-isolation and the quarantine.”
The Northwestern Michigan College student hasn’t made a single trade but intensely tracks the market all day.
“I spend a good 10 to 15 hours per day, honestly. I wake up at 9 or 8:30 and I’ll be on until 2, 3 in the morning. I want to try to stay on for when the London market opens at 3 a.m. That’s when the money’s most lucrative, that’s when a lot of trades are at the highest capacity.
If people are buying high you’re making a lot of money. So I always try to stay on to watch live trades from different educators online to see how they’re trading and why they’re making that trade.
“That’s the thing with me, I’m not trying to make quick money, I want to actually learn how the market works.
“If I’m watching the market I’m normally just reading lessons and checking the market every 15 or so minutes.”