On a more serious note, I have been trading for around 15 years. In the good old days of wide spreads and fractional equities spreads, I daytraded the bid-ask spread. In a post-decimalization world, I moved to intraday swing trading. In response to lower volatility in the early 2000s, I moved the bulk of my trading to inter-day swing and position trading. I have stayed an inter-day trader since I feel that I am able to make better decisions when not they are not required to be forced real-time decisions.
You'll have to be patient with me, I'm a novice. Does this mean you were placing orders to buy at the bid / sell at the ask, using the level 2?
When trading the spread, yes. When I moved to intraday swing trading, no -- I traded stocks making unusual intraday volume, since I was looking for clean and sustained microtrends.
Yes, by position sizing differently and by modifying reward to risk, I was able to maintain and in fact increase aggregate annual trading expectancy.
You've summarised your progress through trading styles, which I'd like to ask you more about, but first can we roll back to the beginning. How did you first get interested in trading - what was it that drew you in?
I met someone who traded for a living. He showed me his set up and he discussed his profits. I was hooked.