Day-Trading And Swing-Trading -- Serious Discussion Please
Q: First of all, who in here is an investor / speculator / daytrader and/or swing-trader? If you have daytraded in the past, was it successful for you? Do you believe it is possible for someone with the right discipline, information and equipment to be a successful daytrader and to make a living off trading? Is day-trading a sin?
A:
1. I've been an investor, speculator, daytrader and a swing-trader. It
depends on the current market conditions as to which one I'll switch to.
Gotta go with the flow, you know.
2. Yes, I make less per trade, but it's a volume thing. If I daytrade 10
times a day making $100 per trade there's $1,000 for the day. However,
when holding a p
it takes longer to achieve that profit.
3. Yes you can live off of daytrading if you treat it like a regular job.
That's where the discipline comes in, such as getting up and treating it
as though you're leaving the house to go to work. Research, information
gathering, being aware of market conditions and sentiment all take time
and work. Daytrading is a job, you need to put the effort into it if you
want anything back from it. Daytrading is not free money, it's money
earned from hard work, in this case mental not physical.
4. No. It's not a sin, or immoral, it's business. Buy low and sell for a
profit. Do you really believe 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon, and 2 slices of
toast cost a restaurant $6? No it doesn't, but no one calls that a sin
because they understand a profit has to be made. The same holds true for
daytrading, it just most people don't understand the concept of making a
profit off of money like they understand the concept of making a profit
off of an item.
Those were some great answers! Thanks for taking the time out to
answer. My goal is to "practice" with smaller 1,000 block daytrades
to get my feet wet. My goal is to make $100 a day on average at
first. I understand I will be losing money on some trades, but this
is what I've learned so far:
a) Do a lot of research before the trading day. Scope out the
current news, hot stocks, stocks to watch, macroeconomic conditions,
etc.
b) Set up your station and get ready - load up all your software,
make sure everything is running correctly and have your graphs up so
you can follow the stocks.
c) Practice risk management. If you purchase at the beginning of what
you think is an uptrend and it reverses, pull the trigger. Take the
flat-trade loss + commissions and move on to your next trade.
d) Let your profits run -- if you make a purchase and it trends up,
let it keep going until the candles indicate a reversal or top - then
pull the trigger and get out.
I started daytrading the other day and was doing well. I netted $247
in one day - while I was at work. I was daytrading DYN and WMB and
was able to catch a couple .10 cent swings in my favor. I caught a
couple .05 cent movements and had about 5-6 loss trades (flat-trade --
lost $20 in commission each trade). After commissions, I managed
around $247.
My only problem right now is that I'm unsatisfied with Datek. I want
to move to Interactivebrokers and get better software - because I
need to be faster than I am.
I've also read a lot about Superdot, SOES, etc - all the market
makers, how they work, how to undercut the inside bid and asks, how to
take advantage of "scalping" upward trends by selling at ASK, etc.
Amazingly, I think it might be possible to actually make a couple
hundred a day if I got more serious. I was amazed I made a profit -
I was expecting a loss for the day.
I guess if I'm not afraid to pull the trigger and accept a lost trade.
I'm already one step ahead of the game. It also seems to me that, if
I had more capital in the account to work with, I could daytrade DOW
stocks and do really well.
However, I'd need $100,000 to be able to manage 1,000 block trades on
all the DOW stocks. However, if I was using that kind of capital, I
bet I could manage $500 a day in net profit.