ebenson gave the response i would expect. lots of guys on here talking, but is anybody making money. i can tell you i have been in the business for 6 years now (all daytrading in an office in nyc - not at my home part time) and i do not know of one still successful NASD trader and i have come across 100's of traders. so that is why i ask your profitability. i can tell you it is almost impossible to make money in all of those stocks except goog. that is the one exception. however, google's day will end soon. the real money is made trading the likes of lss, fdg, xl, bni, osg, syk. i could keep going on. as for my profitability, i have had profitable months in 65 of 67 months. so lets try to help guys make money and not talk about a favorite stock unless you can back it up with evidence.
Thanks for all the replies... didn't realize it would touch a nerve with some... I've been day trading RRC with excellent results but wanted to expand with a small stable of good quality, high volume, high volatility stocks. IMHO, its much easier to day trade stocks that you become intimate with, know their ticks, their personalities. When one stock is not trading good for one day... move to another that your very familiar with. I've been moderately successful over the year (79% return to date) with a simple concept.... I don't concentrate on making the money..... I concentrate on making a good entry / exit.... the money will follow. This simple idea has taken me a couple of years to get comfortable with. It helps me remove the emotion. My setup is simple.... QT w/ 2 intraday charts. A 1 min and a 5 min heiken-ashki candles with stochastics tracking below. It works for me but maybe not others. I keep it simple. I wanted to get some fresh ideas on potentially new day trading candidates and you guys have helped... much appreciated.
SethArb.... my bad... I always spell it wrong... its Heikin-Ashi candlesticks. Here's a good link on them: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/technical/04/092204.asp
why is nasd so hard? good question. i think back in the day 1998-2000 it was easy for a bad trader to make money. when amzn moved 10-40 points a day it wasn't as hard. (plenty of people still couldn't do it and lost there shirts) Now most nasd stocks don't move enough. i don't know a single nasd guy that makes money. i know plenty of nyse traders that make money. i do however know plenty of nyse traders that don't make money. so what is the point. the point is that i think there are too many traders on elite trader that don't make money. and this thread is not going to help someone getting started because you don't want to trade yhoo and amat. you will not make money. also, nasd traders focus on 1-4 stocks at the most. this is because they have to watch level 2 quotes. if you trade nyse you can easily watch 20 stocks and track quotes, prints, etc. you are going to have a better chance with nyse because you can gauge money flows better watching level 1 quotes on multiple stocks. if you are thinking of day trading nasd DON'T do it. give yourself a shot with listed stocks and try to hook up with someone that actually trades and makes consistent money (5-50K) per month. hope that helps