Pitufo,your firm must LOVE you for all the commissions you generate for them. I think it would be better to trade higher priced Nasdaq stocks(at least $30 or more)instead of $10 stocks,and target 5-10 good trades a day with a profit goal of 30 cents or more per share.
I so agree with you in trying to shoot for the .30 and .40 cent moves, this is my strategy in the morning. I would definitely be much better off if I just stopped right then, discipline, discipline, discipline, I am addicted!!! I shold definitely stop after that!! I trade the same three stocks everday, C, MER, and TYC . I believe we trade for the same firm. Echo?
Yes Tom, I get whipshawed a lot, it is a fierce battle just to make a few cents, I enjoy the fight though.
Hey Pit and Bachelier a few questions... I have talked with others about the "SPU's tick up buy, tick down sell" strategy. I love to crank out volume on my watcher like platform, but struggle with finding enough entries/exits. I have always felt that I should balance my expectations for the trade with the reason for entry. If I am just buying stock because the Spus tick up, then I should expect no more that 2 or 3 cents since they may tick right back down. With low commissions you can still be net profitable. ANd if they happen to run while I am in....great...maybe I get 2 or 3 of those a day. However I have never gotten into discussing this style in any great detail. My question is, what do you count as an uptick or downtick in the SPU's that would actually make you take action? For example, you could have the price of the SPUs in a market minder and watch its price change in decimals print by print, or in a tick chart and watch it on a chart print by print, or in on a one minute chart, etc. So say you were looking at the actual price and it changes fractionally higher, would you consider this an uptick in regards to you then buying stock?! If so you would be buying and selling literally every second of the day! So please let us know how you define an uptick in the SPUS that would result in you buying one of the stocks you trade. THanks. Also, if you sell immediately if it does not go with you, ie at a one cent loss or scratch, have you found listed stocks-with their much slower fills but lower price chaos-to be better for this style? I am listed ignorant so any insights here are appreciated as well.
If you are actually getting a rate of .2 cents a share, or less than a half cent per round trip, then you may be able to grind it out with a very high volume style. That rate is key. Just don't sneeze in the middle of a trade, or there goes the profit for a week.
pitufo, I know there are folks trading large size and volume. I saw them do that 5 years ago during the SOES era. There seem to be many claiming huge size here on Elite trader, and using a 100-1 ratio (or more) of real trader to posters, that would mean a massive number of individuals doing that huge size (and MAKING MONEY at it). Seems a bit unlikely, but not impossible, is guess.
I am not sure how you conclude that most say they do huge size. however, the active posters usually trade and the board being weighted toward scalping it is true size matters. scalp without size does not make sense, ain't worth it. when you scalp you work for your broker, so to have enough left in your pocket there is no other solution. members not posting are much less active traders. surely they don't move size. more like investors trying to trade, that's not the same. you just can't survive size if you can't trade. tntneo
Pitufo, I trade MER every day too, but not much size. How do you limit your losses to a penny or two? The spread is over .05 over half the time, and my fills are painfully slow. Then there are the real fun times when he opens the spread up .40. I would appreciate any tips on limiting slippage.