Hello. I'm looking for basic and relatively simple direction advice. I have a full time job. I have been trading for about 1 year through tdameritrade with very good results scalping and so so results swing trading. I'm only at 20k. Is there a way I can daytrade with less than 25k? I am currently spending WAY too much in fees trading about 500-1m a month. Which online brokerage should I use to gain exposure to overseas and premarket as well as low fees? I am primarily trading ETF's.
Let me clarify this a bit. I'm not asking how to trade. More like when Buffet comes on at 7am..which brokerage could I use to get out before TDameritrade's 8 am? Secondly, it's time to start reducing my fees. This alone could add 1k a month.
Interactive Brokers has a big following and gives you access to everything I've ever thought of looking for.
Keeping in mind That I dont need most of the tools yet, is it relatively simple to execute orders and view quotes without programming abilities?...Like is it similar to etrade, td, etc?
I hope you do realize that if, you are doing descent volume you can negotiate your fees with TdAmeritrade or any other brokerage. Lightspeed uses prop platform and charges per share as opposed to per trade however, you will have technical issues which you do not face at TdAmeritrade. I would however, recommend that you join a prop firm e.g. Bright Trading, Assent, WTS etc..
I was under the impression that I needed 25k min at TD..I'm on my second lockdown/sec daytrade rules. As for the prop firm...I work fulltime and enjoy my job...are you talking online? If so where would I start to look at this?
Yeah, it's not rocket science. You don't have to be able to program - they've got a java console app (good) and a website (which should be used only in emergencies - it sucks). They're not very eager to hold your hand. You basically need to be able to read and follow directions.
You could always switch to futures and avoid the pattern day trader rule completely. If you primarily trade the index ETFs (QQQQ, DIA, SPY), then you basically have the direct crossovers in the e-minis (NQ, YM, ES) and there's plenty of other action to go around as well (gold, oil, etc, etc). Some of the futures have good liquidity and can be traded around the clock (for example, the 6E/EC Euro future is pretty active during the London session as well as the US). As with any trading vehicle, there are plenty of potential "gotchyas", and you can get your ass handed to you on a platter quick if you're not careful (but I think that applies to anything), but it is one option. If you're not a huge volume trader, you'll pay around $4-5 for a round trip per contract, but as was stated before, if you're a bigger fish, you can negotiate (ah, to dream). I have a full-time day job (that I have no intention of giving up), and I'm studying the futures markets right now with the intention of eventually (after lots of practice) day-trading futures and also using options on ETFs as longer term trades in my IRA. The cool thing about IB is that they let you trade futures in an IRA. (I'm sure there are others, I'm just most familiar with IB)
As far as executing simple orders (MKT, LIMIT, etc), IB is pretty much point and click (they have a rudimentary implementation of the standard DOM screen). There are also 3rd party order management systems out that allow you to do more complicated order entry (submit a stop and target order simultaneously) as well as additional automatic trade management (move to breakeven after a certain number of ticks, etc). Again, there are bunches of software out there, since IB has a pretty well defined API, but two that come to mind are the shareware program "BracketTrader" (I think it's $25) and also something like NinjaTrader (which is free to use for charting, but $60/month to execute live orders through IB).
Thanks for the help and not flaming a newbie. As far as futures go....I really have no exp at all....In the simplest of terms...are they like a stock?..ie: in/out/in/out or is it more of an option thing. Better yet..can someone just lend me 5k so I can keep hitting faz?.......again thanks guys. On a side note...I see much reference to strategies. I realize Im soaking wet behind the ears, but I just watch charts and hit something with 20-40k and then get out peeling off a few hundred. I'm like 90% on my daytrades over 12 months and before today was about 60% on my swings (faz fkd me up today)...does this sound retarted to any of you?.....lol