What is daily average volume on the stocks to you do best with-- low, medium, high? Example: 20 million shares daily average volume and higher. What is the price range of stock you do best with, and why? Example: 10 to 20 dollars. .... What are the reasons you think you have done best in the groups you listed?
Great topic.... I trade mostly stocks and ETFs with minimum 1m shares daily volume, priced $15-$40/share Main criteria is range eg >1.5 point intraday range
Volume greater than 1,000,000 for easy execution and price greater than $80.00 for lower transaction costs versus average daily range. I primarily scalp and day trade. I also look for beta greater than 1.00 and average daily option volume greater than 30,000 contracts. Additionally, I look for timely, or “In play” industries. This yields about 45 stocks I watch for earnings plays, divergence setups, and other strategies. By the open, I usually have narrowed my intraday trading choices for the day to three. Top of mind, I have been luckier with scalping higher priced stocks such as AMZN using odd lots because of the wider spread, but good reliability getting fills while attempting to provide liquidity.
Those wider spreads.. So you are mostly providing liquidity on the stocks over 80 on the way in, or both in and out? Thank you for your reply.
After reading your other posts, I want to be fair and say that I do not think you will make it as a scalper, especially on your high priced stocks. Uneven playing field: high frequency traders have things they are allowed to do that you are not, such as front run your orders to give you adverse selection on your fills. You are up against faster, better informed and more sophisticated opposition. Algos can even react to news quicker than you can. The largest trainer and employer of manual traders and full time scalpers fired them many years ago and went Quant-- Shoenfeld. The owner of the firm is a billionaire from his market participation. AND what works in day trading often stops working as procedure and market efficiency change. Thid is not as simple as work real hard to learn a mothod. _________ One of your key goals should be to develop a personal relationship with someone who currently makes a living day trading-- mentorship. Extremely ard to do. Pass on gurus-for-hire. ________ Also, you should absolutely read Traders of The New Era. There are many reasons, but for one, you truly will have a better idea of what you are up against. Best wishes.
%% Prefer stuff like qqq/upro/spxl..............many millions. BUT did fine withCLIX/ EBIZ/semi-liguid; they actually have done better ytd than upro/spxl. So really it varies/have no complaints about any of those listed………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...
I try to provide liquidity both ways, but early in the trading session, I want to guarentee a fill, so I will often be more aggressive in getting filled for half the order while working the other half. My exits, especially on profitable trades, almost always provide liquidity, as I tend to exit on a wide 1 minute bar or a timed exit once price reaches a perceived support or resistance area for my scalp trades. Early in the session, I look for a penetration of S/R on a wide bar; later in session, my target in relation to S/R will be dependent on relative volume. For day trades, I look at %ATR(Daily),VWAP, and a 65 period moving average on the 1 minute. I use these indicators to help with my discipline, but really support and resitance levels, time of day, and perhaps context considerations are all that is needed. Trading is easy. Dealing with the guy, who I should really know better, who is working the mouse and keyboard based on what he thinks he sees on the monitor, and who likes to over complicate things, not so much!
Thank you for your detailed reply. In return, I suggest you buy Trader of The New Era on Kindle today. Many excellent interviews and scalping is chatted about. The book's author, Daal, is a prolific poster on ET.
No matter how you look at it, working with stocks is always relevant, because it leaves the strongest levels in the market, so I keep it in my work even in the most volatile times. I just try to control it a bit more strictly and pay more attention to how the company copes with these difficulties. I think there's a lot more to do here, depending on how exactly I'm used to working as a trader. I'm convinced that each of us has our strengths and only we can figure out what to use in this or that situation. You should never rush to jump to any conclusions. But over time, you definitely begin to navigate a little faster, and therefore make more informed decisions.