Iceman here is why. I trade out of my home office. Today my lovely wife and I were in a bit of a spat so that threw me off balance. Thats the truth, life gets in the way of trading. Its a rarity but happens once in a while I can admit it. You married guys know what I'm talking about. Thats the one thing people who don't trade have a hard time understanding. When you work at a corporation you can take time to talk on the phone with your friends. Go to lunch for an hour. Put off doing your morning duties until midday etc etc. The reason is that your paycheck will be there as expected (unless your fired of course) at the end of the week. In trading the paycheck does not wait for you. The market is dynamic and the window of opportunities open and close on its schedule not yours. Thats it in a nutshell.
Well there are a dozen of high volume stocks moving for points everyday. They can easily handle your 5k shares. These point plus moves are not that hard to catch and do not require the break out moves. If you are good at calling these breakout moves, I would suggest risking your money on options instead. I'm actually interested in your selection process. Do you use a scanner of any sort?
How many do you catch per day if there not that hard to catch? I'm curious to find out. As for scanning, I actually follow about 200 choice stocks, both large and small caps, at all times using realtick. I have filters that alert me to new highs and lows. I study the charts of all these stocks each night. I also look for new ideas and actionable stocks during my research at night as well that may not currently be on my regular watch lists. Hope that helps you out. As for stocks that can handle 5k shares, there are many of them. However, I like it when the odds are really in my favor and I dont like to play noise moves with heavier shares. If I am going to play a noise move, example of such might be a stock that bounces off the 15 day ma in the morning marking a low for the day, only to run up all day afterwards and back end a 5 day ma, thats the kind of play I will use less shares on. The reason I will use less share on it is because those plays happen all the time, thus I can spread out my risk by trading smaller on those plays ,as they are more frequent. The CNET play is a rarity play in terms of frequency thats was my point of the quote you mentioned of mine.
Here is a chart example Mecro for what I consider high frequency noise. Its not breaking out, volume is low. Its just a noise day as I call it. A multi point mover nonetheless, like you said, they happen all the time. I just trade less shares on them. I did not take this trade by the way, this is something I just posted here for an example.
sorry for not replying sooner... just got back online now... I definitely agree... and I can certainly identify with what you said....!! If the corporate guy has a spat with the GF or wife, he ain't gonna lose a weeks' pay or more from lack of focus or decisiveness. He can slack off all day, have a martini or two at lunch and still get paid. Of course like all things... there is always the proverbial double-edged sword to other occupations, businesses and professions... as a trader you can choose, unless you position/swing trade... not to trade and not to enter new positions, that day or week; the corporate guy usually can't really do that. We our are own boss(es). If we do not monitor our emotions with self-awareness and choose to participate... then we can't very well be surprised when our energy and focus..... and thus performance....... is compromised by life events as described. regards, ICe