Is Daytrading Right For You?

[torero 10]

Good thread, weiwei, thoroughly enjoyed! Good on ya!

[weiwei 10]

I would like to add more to the Money part:

 

I think the valid question for a new trader is to know how much money dose he/she needs until he turn profitable?

 

even if one turn profitable, can that sustain his/her live style.

 

Because prople usually progress up. Usually, a new trader will pay tuition to learn, and after that, he slowly become consistant. You see, even being consistant might not generate enough for your life style.

 

But being able to achieve that consistancy level is a big achievement in any trader's view. can you see now, that even you win you still end up lose.

 

Of course one can figure out a way to deal with it, every good business man dose. But be prepare for it.

 

weiwei

[weiwei 10]

this will be the 2nd part of 3M. Methods.

 

Depends on your style of trading, one will need to chose his tool accordingly. ( Since i daytrade, so my focus will be more on day trading)

 

swing trade, position trade:

1. TA is OK, but need more money to hold position, and mental toughness to withstand market's gyration and account drawdowns.

 

2. Dose not need to make constant decision, but do need to have the discipline to take signals.

 

Day trading: so far those price derived indicators have not been working for me on day trading. I will list what has work for me, and one can judge for himself. And I only trade YM.

 

Preparation

1. forward thinking from higher time frame, mainly daily and 135M chart.

2. stats on different conditions, gaps, range.

 

During trading hour:

1. various SR line on 5M chart

2. Volume delta on the same 5M chart

3. $tick, time & sales,

4. 5M Point and figure chart on YM

5. 5M ES, NQ, and ER2 charts.

 

what I am looking at is the relationships on all these charts. These are what I call NOW indicators. Indicators that do not lag or lag very little. They give you the info for what is happening now, then I base on my setup from here.

 

Again this is approach that focuses on "the cause" that produce the result(price).

 

Even with daytrading, there are many styles and many approaches. One would have to use a method that fits the market that he/she trades and fits his//her personality.

 

there are so many systems and trading rules out there, I would suggest a beginner stick to one setup and very few rules. Once you master it, then move on to the next one. Important thing is to know exactly what to do with the system in all different market condition. so one can act accordingly.

 

weiwei

[even steven 10]

Hi all,

 

I strongly agree with nytt that papertrading for too long is counterproductive. there is no emotional component to papertrading, though it is useful to learn the software platform of your direct access broker. trade small, but trade live. and the quality of your analysis of your trades is very important. don't be arrrogant, like too many traders. respect the difficulty of what you are attempting, and pay attention to your emotional state while trading.

 

some of my early mistakes were: averaging up/down into a losing trade, rather than looking for a better setup elsewhere. so I landed up with more shares than I should have had on one trade. another early mistake. thinking I was a trading boffin after a few successful trades! wanting "revenge" against a stock I just lost money in, so overtrading it, rather than looking for a better setup.

 

good luck to everyone. and remember, slowly slowly catch a monkey.

[JKLM 10]

one practical question ..

since you daytraders ..do you have your own companies or you are unemployed individuals ?

 

I ask this because if find I can't successfuly daytrade and keep my current job

 

in one hand I will feel bad if I am not employed...and If have small company thre is tax issue etc ..

[tlfx 10]

Then don't daytrade. Try swing trading instead.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AzzaB80 10]

Hi all,

 

I strongly agree with nytt that papertrading for too long is counterproductive. there is no emotional component to papertrading, though it is useful to learn the software platform of your direct access broker. trade small, but trade live. and the quality of your analysis of your trades is very important. don't be arrrogant, like too many traders. respect the difficulty of what you are attempting, and pay attention to your emotional state while trading.

 

some of my early mistakes were: averaging up/down into a losing trade, rather than looking for a better setup elsewhere. so I landed up with more shares than I should have had on one trade. another early mistake. thinking I was a trading boffin after a few successful trades! wanting "revenge" against a stock I just lost money in, so overtrading it, rather than looking for a better setup.

 

good luck to everyone. and remember, slowly slowly catch a monkey.

 

It depends on what your focus is when paper trading. As weiwie mentioned, as long as your focusing on the process rather than making money.

 

This can help reduce emotions when you go live if you have 100% confidence in your setups, through papertrading and have practiced executing flawlessly.

[Dutchie 10]

It is a commonly known fact that only 5% will ultimately succeed in trading. Unfortunately this is not mentioned in the article.

 

Trading is extremely difficult and requires certain skills that you can only achieve by practicing, practicing & practicing. I've spoken to so many trading veterans and almost all of them had to go through a very steep and often extremely costly learning curve. (Some of these guys sold their companies, entered the markets unprepared and blew their accounts in only a couple of months or even weeks (which sometimes held millions of dollars).

 

ALWAYS start with a demo account for at least 3 months until you developed a trading plan (VERY IMPORTANT) and become more or less profitable.... And more importantly: STICK to this plan! Patience & Discipline are a traders most needed virtues.

 

Even then when you decide to start with a live account there's this one factor that you should learn to deal with: EMOTIONS or The Balance between Fear & Greed. Your emotional state makes 90% of the difference between being a successful trader or a permanently losing one.

 

Amen

 

Peter a.k.a. Dutchie

[xioxxio 10]

There is a lot of negativity around. I would not be discouraged, it is not the end of the world if you don't succeed you can always get a job. Always keep things in perspective it is only money.

 

There will never be a right time, there will always be an excuse. No matter how much you have done, it will never be enough. You can never stop learning. You just need to take the plunge.

[Tams 20]

Trading is easy --- just don't argue with the market and you will be alright.