You on the other hand figured it all out, especially when you day trade with a small account while having payments and family to support.
To gaj: oh no, they are facts: You and people like you are against Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and the biggest institutions around. As you try to reach for the gold your little fingers get chopped. Here is an example: Automated Trading Desk among the other things is able to trade algorithms on news. Do you know what it means ? By the time you read the news it is too late. ATD and others trade in milliseconds 200 millions shares per day. Citigroup Inc. (C.N) said on Monday it agreed to buy closely held Automated Trading Desk LLC for $680 million to increase its ability to allow clients worldwide to trade stocks electronically. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN0233485120070702 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algorithmic_trading Who is making asinine assumptions ?
that would be you. the thread's title is "day trading is a pipedream". i've done it, others do it as well. anyhow, i'm off to the city. it's my day off, and i'm going to enjoy it. if you wish to keep believing that no one can daytrade, go right ahead.
If trying to predict the market equals trading, You'll be winning a little here and then losing some overthere. It doesn't matter what frequency you choose. You won't be able to make it . It doesn't matter if you're a daytrader or a long term investor, the results are the same. The following is a typical case - you have a tight money management but your "system" is crappy - Money management will keep you afloat for a while but it won't make a losing "system" a profitable one. You're just wasting your time. I won't go to the"account busters" - those with 100k capital blown out in a matter of weeks - we know them already. Also, I won't touch under- capitalization, leverage etc. I think we're adults here, right? If you're going to have a fixation on consistency/making money, Have my word, you won't make it on this business. Period. Consistency/making money, is the end result of your improved ability on reading the markets and act accordingly. Same rule applies doesn't matter if you're a daytrader or not. That, my friend, takes time, especially if you're a newbie. In this business, you can't have the meat without chewing the bone first. Learn the craft first and then we can talk money. The business of trading is nothing more than trying asses crowd behavior. Is not just predicting, you need to have a pulse of what's going on. Is not just the"why " or how" but to be able to react(or not) on market changes and go with the flow. I am speaking on the technical side, although you need to be aware of major news. Here's some problems I've seen on that traders generally speaking - there should more but here's the one's I have on the top of my head now" Not just the lure for riches a downfall for daytraders(especially newbies), but this "buy when the candle touch the bollinger bands" stuff - or buy when MACD is crossing up/down. This is really where daytraders get burned. I am not banning indicators here, but in top of everything you must know the unique characteristics of the market you're intending to trade. You must know how it reacts at opening, at closing, if there's any "sleeping time" , how trades overnigth etc. You need to observe the market and make sure if you're comfortable trading on a particular range/volatility - or lack of. Can you read your market? Do you know what's going on? can you track momentum/lack of? Can you see a common - repetitive behavior in the market that you can capitalize upon? is there any particular sensitive area/level/price etc.? If you can't answer this simple questions, then my friend you have no business whatsoever trading. If you can't read the market your trading anymore - simply - SWICTH.. Another problems I've seen on daytraders. Trading price action - with all respect, 99% of traders confuse reading price with reading candlesticks/pinbars etc. Sorry but I must disagree. Although candlesticks/pinbars are good, that is NOT reading price. Price action is simply the reaction on the market when it gets to xxxx level/price/area. It is price action because there should be a reaction(or a lack of) on that particular price/area/pivot ect. Back 30 something years ago, you didn't have the luxury of charts. You were thrown in the NYSE floor (or any futures floor) with a broken pencil, and a 3x3 pink sheet of paper and your only "indicators" were price, pivot points and support and resistance areas . I tell you, those guys were making money on tick reading. Later WSJ had the sheets printed with PP - R1 - S1 - remember?? well, enough of history lesson. This is just my point of view on the subject. I will stay now on the sidelines, with all respect I am not interested in a pissing match with anyone here. PD: somebody should start a thread on the most common pissing matches here on ET - you know, the Jack hershey' s etc - they're fun to watch.. Back to my cave. Thanks.
Very sound advice. The problem with ET is there are just enough dingbats floating around to cause confusion for those just starting out. A while back, one poster even had the stupidity to state that "tape-reading" was no longer useful. It can get quite comical at times.
Classic... your advice here is for new traders to start with a $10k account, trade at 40:1 leverage "each and every day," and head to Vegas if they need more cash. And I'm the moron. ...LOL
As far as trading against Goldman etc. -- so what? They're buying size and as a small trader I can get in and out with much smaller trades before they buy (or sell) 500K shares of whatever. As far as ATD -- they're right down the street from me. And I think you're a bit misinformed about what they do. All kinds of trades go through them. When an investor sells shares of stock through a Web site such as E*Trade or Ameritrade, there is about a 1 in 10 chance that the online broker will route the order to ATD's banks of computers off Johnnie Dodds Boulevard. Using complex equations to crunch thousands of statistics and variables, the machines decide in a fraction of a second whether they can buy the stock and sell it a few seconds later for at least a fraction of a cent more. Often, ATD's computers pass and simply match the order up with a buyer on the open market. Sometimes they buy the stock and lose money on it. But this version of cyber-arbitrage usually pays off in pennies or, more often, tiny slivers of pennies. I could care less if they can make 1/2 cent off of my trade. What's important to me is if I made a profit. Your apparent mindset that individual traders are chasing a dream is flawed. I started full time in March 1996. Trading has been my sole source of income since then. I've done well enough that I take 2-3 afternoons off each week to work with some inner city disadvantaged kids in math after school. Just as I was a competent and successful engineer prior to trading if one works hard they can succeed with trading. You guys with a negative perspective have much less chance of success given the focus of how/why people fail.
Day trading is a time frame, that's all, what else is it? Why is it a pipedream? To generalise daytrading as a pipedream is just plain ignorance, bordering on insanity.