Before opening bell, check foreign markets and pre-market futures to determine domestic market potential for the day. Scan news/weather headlines for any events that may affect the markets.
There is no secrets to learn and become a trader. Any profession, including trading, is a skill. Just like swimming. Is there any secrets to learn and become a swimmer ? Here is a brand new book on 20 common mistakes made by 1000 failed traders and their trading stories. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...committed-by-over-1000-losing-traders.305385/ Is there any book titled like "A dozen common mistakes made by people who drown in swimming pool." ? Is developing a skill straight forward or so complicated ? Another question : Can we swim with car driving skill ? Can we learn trading with analytical skill alone instead of psychological skill ? If a group of robots are trading and i am the only human being allowed to trade with the robots then my analytical skills may be most handy. Yet another question : Or are we struggling to differentiate between humans and robots ? Is human interaction nothing more than a logical thing ? Have we forgot that a human's life is an art of imagination which we call as creativity, intuition, psychology, etc and not just analytical thinking ? One last question : Are we with the robotic logical crowd or stand apart to lead ourselves imaginatively ?
Thanks for reminding the facts. These factors create gap-ups and gap-downs in positional trading. That is why i call it gambling, because gaps can easily bypass the stop loss and upset the risk reward ratio. Day trading is a stand alone and decent business. As per the mobile recharging analogy (mass psychology), a day trader need not watch out. I don't do it. As a day trader I need not bother about the external factors. Regarding the potentials, everything is hinted before actualized in intraday's chart. The only way to see day trading as a disconnected event is by applying our imagination. Once we see it we will never do swing trading (positional trading) again.
Analyzing is mid level intelligence. Imagination is the highest level of intelligence available to humanity.
https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/frequent-small-profits-rare-large-losses.305343/#post-4378738 An imaginative way of responding by pointing to the answer within the question, without jumping into compulsive answering. Overnight gap-ups & gap-downs can be avoided by avoiding swing trading. Spikes within day trading can be avoided by trading only when swings are intense.
There are many different trading strategies. Which one works is the best for you. I have day trade for years with seasoned day traders and realized it's not for me. I developed my own strategy and it works fine for me and my associates. Yeah, imagination will get you everywhere. To the rich house, and even to the poor house just as fast. In some cases faster. I guess the first part is true in an imaginary world. But in real life, with real money. I trade conservatively, consistently earning 1 to 5% per month.
First, developing a successful strategy is TRULY a creative process, whether you accept yourself as a creative person or not. Second, you can always go beyond your conservative approach, safely and effectively, probably in near future. I guess you will agree that there is always a scope for improvement. Third, on behalf of Elitetraders community I wish you to grow with your creative imagination The meaning of "conservative" changes with time and creative insights. Earth was flat until Galileo said it is actually a globe. What is conservative for us today must become obsolete tomorrow. This the law of life.
I've been doing this for a long time. So my imagination is to be as conservative as possible, preserve capital and profit along the way. What is conservative to me maybe too risky for others. As you should know, the depth of your pockets changes the game. For example, a trader with 50k account will trade different than trader with 500k account vs 5 million account. Apply the percentage, you may understand. Then again you may not due to your age and position in life. Think about risk management. Obvious this maybe outside of your sand box.