emazing

I believe if you are fairly new to trading, than you need to embrace the right mentality FIRST, not learn about every indicator, chart pattern, trading system, etc. Many trading rookies think the more they know the closer they get to finding the "Holy Grail." Yes, you do need to know the basics, but my point is that it's not about the system, it's about... Having The Right Mindset! Get that in your head! If you don’t have the right mindset FIRST, than chances are, you are just gonna belong to the 95% losing statistic. The following is a true story that happened to me when I was nine or ten years old that I think sums it up nicely. Pay close attention now: There was a convenience store near my house that had a video arcade game called Karate Master or something like that, I really don’t remember anymore. It was one of the first fighter-style arcade games where you could fight the computer, or, another player. Anyway, I poured my allowance into that machine for an entire summer. I became pretty damn good at it. I learned every move... every punch... jumping kicks... roundhouse kicks... front flips over your opponent... you name it I knew it. I thought I was "hot-shit." Anyway, one day along came this older kid. He was maybe fourteen or fifteen I guess, and we decided to play a match. I started off doing all my fancy moves, and all he did was calmly block every one of them. Everything I tried he blocked, and every time he blocked one of my fancy attacks he calmly kicked me in the stomach. Now, that's the first move you learn, the front kick. There were dozens of other moves, but the front kick was the simplest one of all. And that's all this kid did. Every time! I couldn't beat him, EVER! He simply didn't care about any other move besides the simple, yet effective front kick. And he was unbeatable, with only that one move. Trading is the same thing. The point isn't to learn all the fancy moves, the point is to be right and win. If you take one kind of setup, regardless of what it is (as long as it has a statistical edge), and MASTER it, you will win. You don't fluctuate from your move, you don't care what happens without one of your setups being present. Whatever you define as a setup, that's all you look for, any market action besides this should be invisible to you. Learn to NOT care if the market moves without you. Don't go looking for new indicators to explain every move in the market. Keep it simple. Just play defense like my Karate Master nemesis. Wait for your spot and, when your setup happens, kick it in the stomach and then... Go For The Kill! The fact is, you will NEVER find an indicator or combination of indicators or a system that works EVERY time. All you can control is how often you take a setup when you see one, that's it. As long as your setup has an edge (hell, even if it doesn't), with good money-management you'll win as long as you NEVER deviate and NEVER miss a setup. Put the odds in your favor and go about adding to your sample size. The more setups you take with an edge, the more you'll win. You can add "moves" down the road, once you've mastered the front kick. By then you'll have won so much it’ll all become unambiguous. That's my $0.02. Hopefully my ramblings help the light-bulb go off for at least one person trying to figure this crazy game out. Good luck :-D

Usually 3 to 4 tick stops, depends. Also, I NEVER trade during anouncements, EVER!!!

I fully agree SIUYA. It's just my personal opinion, that once "I" got the taste of futures trading, I will never ever go back to trading stocks. That being said, if someone doesn't trade stocks very well, they should stay away from futures! It can be a very dangerous place --but--- if you ALWAYS have tight stops in place, than you can NEVER really get burned. I mean real burned!

SIUYA, I know some traders taking only 2 measly points which really isn't too difficult. Do that a few times a day and you can make a wonderful living trading these. All depends on the individual. You don't have to take 4 points. I sometimes take more and sometimes less, all deends on the situation.

I have to agree with Chippy, why Do People Day Trade Stocks???? I myself traded stocks for a long time, but when I found out the whole thing of futures, I switched overnight to commodities trading. For all the ones who know nothing about futures and trade stocks only, here's a little info on the power or futures trading. First of all, stocks are traded on a "per share" basis. Futures are traded on a "per contract' basis. In this example I will use the Euro FX, since this is what I use (please note, this is NOT forex, this is still futures). Right now as I'm typing this, the Euro FX is trading at around 1.4495. Now, if I short at 1.4495 and cover at 1.4491, I just made 4 points. Doesn't sound much now, does it? Now check this out. Each point that I made, I get $12.50 (I know, still doesn't sound like much), so for 4 measly points, I just made an even $50. Now comes the best part. Depending on your account, some traders would trade 3 contracts, some 5 and some woulkd trade 10 or more. I personally trade 20 contracts per trade. Each Euro FX contract cost you $500, so if you traded what I trade, you would need to multiply 20 x $500 which equals to $10,000. Thinking about this very seriously now, $10k is not alot of money, and many many traders trade with much bigger accounts their "Stocks" account. So let's do some more math here. 4 points I made x $12.50 = $50 x 20 contracts equals $1,000. How many opportunities do I have a day? I don't know! Reason being, I'm usually done at around noon or so. My average numbers of trades a day is anywhere between 4 and 6. Trading futures really rockks for me. I personally will never go back to trading stocks, but for each his/her own. If stock trading works well for you, good stuff. But know this, the real big players are the futures traders!!!! There are individuald trading daily on gains of $20k ++++ You cannot make these types of gains trading stocks unless you trade a multi million dollar account, and how many do that? Conclusion, futures are stocks on STEROIDS!!! So if you were not successfull trading stocks, you will lose your pants trading futures. It is truly more dangerous than stock trading. Good luck to all:-D

Nice to see that the boss himself agrees with me:-)

Ingot54, I have no problem sharing with you and the rest why I believe you should not be day trading many stocks, "BUT", I do ask all members, please no bashing or bad-mouthing. It is my own personal opinion and I myself have no problem at all if people disagree as long as it's done in a tactful manner. My trading style is as follows: I guess you can call me more of a scalper. I aim for small profits like $0.10 to $0.20, but sometimes I may go for a bit more. I try to go in and out of a trade >>>as fast as I possibly can<<<<, many times just mere seconds, a few minutes the most. As I mentioned before, I mostly trade more expensive stocks such as BIDU and AAPL but on the rare occasion I will trade a penny stock as well (usually pump and dumps that are up 300% to 500% in just a few days. These can be great shorts). The downside of trading these types of stocks is that they are VERY expensive so you really need some buying power behind you. The upside is that these more expensive stocks really move. Look at AAPL for example, watch it carefully, especially in the morning time how fast it can move. It's a beast and can move a whole dollar in just a minute or two, so if you're on the wrong side of these beasts, you can be in big trouble. And please don't get me wrong, as I trade, I have my live news service on, and if I hear a really "HOT" story, I may jump on it. For example a while ago APOL reported some really bad news and the stock plummeted, or an even longer time ago GS was accused of fraud, so when you hear these "heavy duty" news, of course I may tend to jump on them and suck out as much as I popssibly can. Because I'm more of a scalper than a day trader, for my style of trading it just doesn't make sense to jump areoung many stocks. When AAPL goes up, I'll quickly enter a long position, than as it goes down, I'll take it short. What I'm trying to say here is that I'm chasing the stock. Bare in mind, it takes a lot of skill chasing a stock. I use "leading" indicators, not lacking ones that tell me ahead of time what's going to happen. And believe you me, in about an hour, trading these beasts, you can make yourself an EASY $1 to $1.50. Now go ahead and multiply that amount by the amount of shares you trade. I hope this brought some clarity to all those that negatively disagreed with me.

SIUYA, I must apologize if I offended anyone here. I'm truly sorry. When I joined TL not too long ago, my intentions were only but good and that includes disagreeing with some people. But I strongly believe that if the disagreeing is done in a tactful manner, than it's fine. Unfortunately, not everyone agrees with me on this one. Anyway, all the best to you:-)))))))))) Cheers, Emazing

SIUYA, you 're wrong. I said people who "MONITOR" over 100 stocks are nuts! Instead of trading, you're wasting time looking, but that's just my personal opinion. E.

MightyMouse, do know this: I blew out several accounts while learning the long and brutal journey of day trading. It used to be the other way around, each trade I would enter would go against me. Luckily I 'am one of the 5% who made it. In regards to your posts to me, I'm not sure I understand the reason for all these negative vibes you're sending me (I'm a little boy??). I personally taught 4 people my trading strategy, 3 of my family and one good friend of mine. The all work at prop firms and are doing phenominally well. I really don't know why you are so negative towards me and possibly a bit bitter? I hope I'll never grow as old and sour as you are. May god bless you. I wish you nothing more than to succeeed in this brutal game of trading. E.

MightyMouse, I don't have to prove you or anyone else anything at all. I'm not trying to show off in any way or form whatsoever. All I'm trying to do is tell some people that you do NOT have to be looking at alot of stocks. BTW, working at a hedge fund and being a quant trader (if you even know what that is) is not for the faint of heart. Why don't you go and apply at a hedge fund and see what the hiring process is all about.You really do have to know your shit. But whatever, do believe what you want to and trade the way you want to. Who am I to do ANY claims? In my trading career I learned that there are 2 types of traders, (1) the one who is actually open to learn and (2) the other who's bashing and talking all kinds of negative nonsense. Which one are you?

I really have to disagree with SIUYA! Not bashing or attacking you in any way whatsoever but, give me just ONE reason why "the more stocks the better"?? Why?? Think about it my friend. If you trade every day the same 2 or 3 stocks, and they are highly liquid and most importantly, "They Move" than what else do you need? I know of a few day traders that monitor over 100 stocks. You know what I have to say to that? NUTSSSSSS! Instead of trading, they look at the stocks and waste valuable time. I only trade for ONE hour a day, and I'm usually done before 11 am. Take it from someone that REALLY learned his lesson. I do EXTREMELY well with an over 95% winning trades, I barely have losers and many many times I have made over 50 trades in a row without one loser. But again hey, to each his own. To finish this off, you really do NOT need to watch alot of stocks. 2 or 3 are more than enough. Cheers, E.

It took me quite a while to figure out my strategy. First things first. I use eSignal for my charting software. Over there I have a few custom indicators that really work wonders. You can get some of them on Emini Day Trading (MACDiv is great for its devergence). It's a bit difficult explaining exactly how I trade in words. BTW, on the indicators I use "ALOT" is the basic MACD, but you have to change the original settings from 12,26,9 to 5,35,5. Sorry i couldn't help you more. Good luck, E.

Hey Steve. I am a very succeesful day trader and I only trade around 2 stocks at a time Pretty much the same one, day after day. You really don't need to have a lot of stocks to day trade. If you have 2 like I do and they move, it's more than enough. Good luck Steve!!