Man is daytrading a b****. (Or at least daytrading profitably). I have been trading live for 2.5 mos and my account is even. I am a member of the undergroundtrader, so Jay's methods are at least a blueprint. Basically he uses the Nasdaq futures as the lead indicator and they work! The problem is they change on a dime and sweep over the market like a tsunami Tidal Wave. They can turn up and they can turn down. My question is this: who controls the futures, because it seems like the stock prices are like puppets on a string and the futures are the puppeteer. Also, I had posted earlier on chat rooms, so I would like to share my experiences thus far: UT, teaches a method, but it is not easy to learn. KingCambo, voice comments are helpful, but no education. M-T, wow look out. Lots of calls, but they refuse to educate, I will cancel at the end of my current membership. Let me expand a little on that, they make a lot of calls, but they are always attempting to catch tops and bottoms. They consider their entry set-ups proprietary, and will only educate you on stops! Perhaps some people are OK with this approach, but IMO, you will never learn to trade in that chatroom. I just did a trial at Reality Trader and I liked it a lot. Emphasis is on education and it makes sense. I will join them soon. I would also like to comment on paper trading. It is pretty much a waste of time. When real money is on the line, well I can't even explain the feeling. Something like INTENSE!!!!!WOW!!! I am determined to learn this business, but it is without a doubt the most challenging activity I have ever attempted to learn. Anyways, if anyone can explain who or what controls the Nasdaq 100 futures I would love to better understand that aspect of this incredible game. Good luck and good trading! --arky
Nobody controls anything in the markets, at least not for very long. Traders, large and small trade the futures, and they go up and down just like stocks. You better learn the basics. Go to CME.com for starters. Alex
Arky...it's not impossible, just takes time to acquire the "feel". The first thing I would recommend is trade listed to start out with. I know you don't want to hear it...but it's the truth. That's how my firm starts all new traders, then after you prove yourself, you can dabble in OTC. In fact, I'm pretty sure that's how most Prop Daytrading Firms are going. You're looking for the one mystical force that controls security prices...it doesn't exist...except listed stock and their specialist...sort of. Anyway, pick 1 or 2 listed stocks, priced over 30 or so, daily volume greater than 5 million shares, and trades technically... meaning it respects the MA's, evident price patterns, and a fair specialist. After you have your stocks, watch them, relentlessly, get in the specialist's head. Pay attention to how he handles big order flow, how and when he spreads his market and so on. For example, when I first started trading here they put me on HD. I watched and traded that stock for a month....straight. I was trading my firm standard 100, then to 200 shares, and made a little over 3500 in it. I know it isn't where the excitement is, but I'll tell you what...I'd trade ladies underwear if I could make a living at it. The advantage to trading a slower listed stock like HD, AOL, GE and so on is that if you stick to mental stop losses, the most you should lose is a dime ot 15 cents at MOST... potential gain can be a quarter plus. How many NAZ stocks can make the same claim? Secondly learn price patterns, uptrends, downtrends, support resistance, pullbacks, flags and so on. The best place i have found to learn about such is Chris Terry's website: www.stocktrendwizard.com The site is loaded with education about price patterns, S & R, etc. Be sure to check out his videos as well. Each one is around 45 minutes and invaluable to a trader. Check out his chatroom that is run by himself and Linda Raschke, instead of underground trader. A few guys in my office follow the room. Lastly, Paper trading. I haven't found a way it can be done daytrading. I don't know about you guys, but I'm a papertrading millionaire right now....of course you'll always give yourself the fills you want and like you said, the dollars aren't clouding the judgement, inducing fear. Hope this helps.
If you are breaking even after two and half months, assuming you take at least 5 shots a day, you have to be doing SOMETHING right. You are already ahead of most when it comes to the learning curve and all it takes is to cut down on the number of mistakes and you will be ok. Nobody should be expecting a break-even point shorter than six months, NOBODY. There is no shortcut to a six figures income, doctors/lawyers have to go through extensive educations, traders have to go through countless defeats. Or may I suggest look into one of the prop/prof firms in your area, professional traders have triple the chance of homers making it (30% versus 10%).
"Or may I suggest look into one of the prop/prof firms in your area, professional traders have triple the chance of homers making it (30% versus 10%)." I doubt that that statistic has much significance as the sample of traders at prof firms is pre-selected whereas the population trading from home is much more random.
At our firm you can start with little to no capital, enough said, case closed. Number one killer of newbie traders is the lack of capital. And 30% is not a Don Bright guarantee, it is the actual percentage of traders who made it at our firm.
Arky, One thing that I looked at over the past year is how much I paid in commissions. When I reviewed my trades over the past year, commissions were a big chunk. In the case of daytrades (which is not many) often my losses were caused by commissions (along with some stupid trades):eek: And I am with you on the day trading. My account goes up and down, and it is hard. One thing I have done is to couple this with some swing trading and option strategies. This lets me do some work at night which I prefer, and when the day turns crappy I go read or take a nap. Finally, for the year I have a cash account to live on that does not depend on my trading results, which takes some pressure off of me. Best wishes