mikeyredk

I would start by asking why are you trading in the first place? Learning? Income? Wealth? I believe once you figure that out you can answer some of your questions and you will probably have tons more. What is your business acumen? Minimum for IB is 10k; to become a pattern day trader you need to have 25k in your accounts at all times. For me long terms means 1+ years meaning you would not sell through this downturn and be buying more once you feel comfortable. . As far as books I like to learn from the masters I.E Warren Buffet look The Warren Buffett Way: Investment Strategies of the World's Greatest Investor I yield to wiser powers

Thank you Negotiator for your comments; BTW like your name is Shatner giving you grief? I have been trading out of my Roth IRA account for the past 3 years (only so much you can do in it TD actually gave me some margin; optionshouse did not...); but this would be my first time doing day trading proper. Holdings would be one week or less; I promised the powers to be I could not sell the UGMA positions so all holdings have to bought on margin. If my position goes to shit I have prepared myself to hold on for dear life/cut losses. So I trade "good" stocks though you can still get burned by them such as ford(16)... But that is now a longer term play now i.e selling covered calls that won't get picked up hacking away at losses. My goal is trade a hand full of stocks for good returns right now I am working my way up with 100-500 share positions to 1000-1500 share positions once I become more seasoned. I have never ventured into the FX or futures worlds I don't intend to do so in the near future too volatile and I do not understand how those markets work. I have tons of liquidity 6 figures so I can very my instruments of choice. You could say I don't have a solid plan on what type of trader I will be. I like the idea of jumping in and out but I see the potential of compounding from the very long term perspective.

I have been a lurker on these boards for sometime now; recently created an account and now this. To note I am 27 please take that into consideration. 1-Why. I want to use it as income replacement; POS job I was at was draining the life out of me... I was always into the stock market; nagging those in "power" to make certain actions now that I have taken control of my portfolio (UGMA accounts) I can control my own destiny (hahaahahah) or as best of my ability 2-Commitment. Full time or until I find a stable job that I can get behind (I will always be a trader I feel like it's in my blood) Now I have time to go to these shareholder meetings what are they like? Are they like what they show in Happy Gilmore? 3-Timeframe and method. I don't think there is one strategy that will be able to capture the full potential of the market I like to consider myself more of a swing trader then a "day trader". Swing maybe same day as little as a few hours to a few days. Something I could not do in my roth accounts that I did not like. 4-Account/investment size. Since I have "free" (I honor and respect this money as it was earned with blood sweat and tears) money. The stocks that were invested for me were dividend paying stocks that were DRIPd. I know of atleast one stock that I will be sending right to the sell heap MO; PM stays though. Me likey dividends. 5-Money management. For money management I use this rule am I willing to own this stock for the long term 6+ months. If yes then I trade it; no; then no trade. My plan is to use short margin to swing trade/day trade if necessary I have an order of liquidation that I am prepared to make. Limit to 100 shares/trade. Another part of my MM strategy is not to trade in too many products keep it simple master the trade first it is a lot different when you are doing this for a living then when you are doing the "monday morning" quarterbacking. My complete stopping point if I reach it is 20% at this point I really need to look for a secure job yesterday (PERIOD) 6-Product. As I said earlier I do not trade products that I do not wish to hold for the long term. Mainly equities right now I am hot to trot on SOLR trading it since $5 (only so much you can do out of a roth). Mostly equities; only covered calls for long positions; I would not put it out of question to sell naked puts if it lives up to my #1 Philosophy 7-Broker. IB is my broker; sometimes I wonder I setup an limit order at -.02 the stock falls to the stock level and my order never gets filled then proceeds to run up .25C 8-Platform. I was planning on using Ninja trader via VM but it was not playing nice with TWS so I am using the TWS native on Mac 9-News source. Could use some advice here? 10-Computer. Top notch I keep my computer gear running spic and span (intel CPU) though the setup has some flaws. my VNC server that I use for my secondary displays likes to act up and freeze.... 11-Internet Connection. Have DSL connection with a 4G backup via Sprint 12 - Hurdles you see for yourself (added) WOWOW this stuff is fast; one minute the stock is at 14.30 the next it's down to 13.85 and your trying to figure out if you should cover your *** or ride it out Figuring out how to setup the workstation properly 13 - Philosophy Never trade a stock you don't mind holding for a long time Don't trade on hope Take a break; live life;