brownsfan019

Good idea DB if James can make it work. As of now, when I click the private thread, it just says private thread. No other options to ignore, etc.

I see yours in the 'unread posts' area when I log on and there is activity in the thread.

I have one suggestion while you begin your trading study - document everything you look at with screenshots, annotations, remarks (good/bad), dates, etc. etc. Just get it all into a Word doc so you have it b/c I guarantee one day you'll say something like - I remember looking at something like XYZ before, but can't remember exactly... And that's a monster time waster if you've already done it. So come up with a way to document and save all your work, regardless of how big or small. If you plan to be around for awhile, this little step can save you so much time later.

And the logic is solid. The question becomes - how do you measure the strength of momentum? As you've seen, putting good ideas into real-time trading is not the easiest work to be done.

You failed to mention something about trading futures, esp on a small account - you can blast through that account in a day if you are not sure what you are doing. Futures are attractive b/c you can jump in w/ very little on deposit but it will evaporate rather quickly if you are not careful.

James - any way for those that are not in a private thread to not see it in the unread posts?

If a person, website, newsletter just broadly says - BUY WMT - that's fine. If the person contacts you and gets some info about you and then recommends that you purchase it, then they must be licensed.

It's an idea to work with. You are basically saying that you want to trade w/ the current strong momentum, which sounds great in theory. In other words, you want to be trading when it's moving, which should produce a steeper incline vs. chopping around. So the first step would be to identify the degree to which you want to classify as a strong momentum move and then how to play it - try to jump on the wave or try to time it's end. There are some momentum indicators as well, so take a look to see if anything looks good.

FYI - tab mix plus not compatible w/ V3. There is some beta thing that you can download, but it's not available as a final release yet. That really sucks b/c I love tab mix plus.

IE tab is great too since some sites do not like FF. That way you don't have to boot up IE for a specific site.

Right. That's what I said.

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ I was having some issues w/ my old version of FF (v2) and finally upgraded to v3. It was pretty smooth - no major issues or anything here. The problem I had earlier was my FF was getting over 600k in the mem usage and now we are at a cool 71k. I've read a few things online that talk about how FF can 'wear out' and you have to reinstall or upgrade, so I upgraded to the new version. Looks nice! Really liking this skin to - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/7527 ONE WARNING - SOME ADD ON'S ARE NOT COMPATIBLE W/ NEW VERSION. CHECK FIRST IF THERE IS AN ADD ON THAT YOU MUST HAVE.

Good point 52A. The term daytrader is so loosely used, it's hard to distinguish what is being included in that description sometimes.

Vik - as you've seen, day trading is not easy. It requires more time than most are willing to put forth to truly become good at it. With that being said, most are better to invest in some stocks/etf's and hold them b/c trading is not easy. If you can perfect your trading then I think it might rival what holding stocks could do.

Traders blow up daily, regardless of market conditions.

http://www.trade-ideas.com/ That was suggested over at elitetrader.

Pablin - this is a trading forum, which means that we trade for ourselves and are not 'investing'. If you are looking to invest, I suggest searching google for more appropriate forums.

Not sure what it means that you have heard about this... from who? where? any reliable sources? In the truest sense of the word, a 'day trader' in theory should be flexible enough to deal w/ any market conditions, but that is not always the case.

I'm interested in demo'ing any programs that can go scan markets, in particular stocks, for certain technical parameters. The only one that I know is TradeStation's radar screen. I would need intraday feed/data, NOT EOD. Is there anything else like radar screen or is that the only game on the block?

I have no affiliation with Don Bright, but with his discussions on elitetrader, he always takes the high road and provides good info and discussions. If I were to ever get back into stock trading, I would put his company at the top of my list.

Pictures w/ annotations work real well when explaining.

http://www.stocktrading.com/Pokerarticle2006.htm REAL WORLD Gaming Theory Trading And Poker Parallels Risk? Yes. Reward? Of course. But the similarities go deeper. by Don Bright with Darren Clifford A couple of months ago, I was asked about the similarities between stock trading and what seems to be the new national pastime, poker. Las Vegas is home to some of the world’s best poker players, and Bright Trading is headquartered in Las Vegas. It just so happens that some of the world’s best poker players are also Bright traders. My brother, Bob, made his first fortune playing blackjack back in the 1970s. He took that money and bought a seat on an exchange to start trading options in 1978. Over the last couple of decades, we have always played poker at our family Christmas gatherings (everyone should have a family tradition, right?). Now, for several years we have had a trader named Chris “Jesus” Ferguson in our organization, and I always thought it was neat to have a younger guy with an interesting appearance as part of our team. To prove that you can’t judge a book by its cover, Ferguson has a doctorate in computer sciences. Ray Bitar, our Los Angeles office manager for many years, teamed up with Ferguson and several top poker players to form a new business venture, Full Tilt Poker. Bitar is now the Ceo (of TiltWare LLC.) of what has become one of the most popular online poker sites among serious players. These business and personal friendships have allowed me to look inside the world of professional poker. My brother and I actually sponsored a poker tournament in Anaheim, CA, in 2005, and asked the players who are also traders to share their thoughts about the similarities between the two activities. Here is a listing of some of the basic correlations: Both professions can be performed from virtually anywhere on the planet (and even “virtually”). Success in either field provides a great feeling of independence, and of course, the financial rewards for both can be great. Let’s explore a few more points: 1 Tilt. Emotions do not dictate the cards or the price of a stock, but they do affect how we react to them. Being able to stay away from emotions and only play or trade probabilities leads to success in both trading and poker. 2 Number of outs. The more ways you have to make a hand, the greater your probability of successes. In trading, the more ways you have to hedge a trade, the more outs you have, and the greater your chances of success. 3 Table talk. Institutions are always upgrading, downgrading, and making comments about stocks that they own! Table talk does not change the cards at the table, or the ability of a company to make money. Institutions and players use table talk for deception. 4 Capital management. Managing your capital in poker is as important as playing your cards. In trading, not only do you have to manage how much of your capital you will risk on each trade, but also how much capital you will leverage to increase your edge. 5 Varying your bets. One of the most powerful tools in any game is the ability to change your bet when you have an edge. This is true for blackjack, poker, and trading. You don’t start a new strategy with 5,000 shares; you work up to bigger trade size. 6 Betting for information. In poker, a small bet is sometimes used to gain information about your opponent’s hand. In trading, you may use a small trade to gain information about the presence of buyers or sellers. With both games, using that information is key to your eventual success. 7 Pot odds. If the amount of money a player expects to win is worth the risk, poker players will be in pots that they have less than a 50% chance of winning. Similarly, traders will take trades that have a small probability of being successful on the grounds that they will gain a large amount if they are right. 8 Know your opponent. Traders will watch how a stock prints a buyer or a seller the same way a poker player will watch the betting strategies of their opponent. 9 Play online. With the rising popularity of the Internet, you can always find a game of poker, or trade from anywhere in the world. 10 Discipline and patience. Both trading and poker are games of discipline and patience: knowing how and when to play, and then executing to the best of your abilities. For those who excel at one game, there is a good probability you will also excel in the other. Of these points, one of the most important things to remember about both trading and poker is that you must enjoy what you’re doing, do it well, and have some fun while you’re at it! Don Bright is a principal of Bright Trading, an equity trading corporation. He may be reached at don@stocktrading.com. References · http://www.stocktrading.com/pokerpages.htm · http://www.fulltiltpoker.com · http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com · http://www.pokerpages.com

Ok, well I trade to make money and increase my wealth. I don't trade just as a hobby or something to kill time during the day. It's obvious by that comment that this is more of a hobby to you. I've never heard anyone tell me that expecting to get wealthy from trading the market is 'one of the biggest mistakes'... That's just crazy IMO, but again, this is my job and how I create wealth for me and my family. If this is just a hobby, then yes, just surviving is the ultimate goal.

Phil - can't dive into a long thread right now, but the jist of it is simple - if you take 'a few points' in the YM here and there, and turn losses into much larger, you are playing a losing game. There's a common quote out there that says you cannot go broke taking profits. I would suggest to you that you cannot get wealthy taking small profits as well. Taking a few pts here and there in the YM is just not worth the time IMO unless that is your trading style. I get the feeling after reading some posts that you are not a pure scalper though. If the goal is to survive, then taking profits (regardless of size) is a way to keep playing in the game. If the goal is become wealthy, you cannot do that. Either 1) you won't survive long enough or 2) you won't be able to trade any decent size on the YM to make it worth your while to trade for ticks.

That comment is VERY open to debate...