good points. I trae NASDAQ b/c I was aNAS market maker for a few years so I felt more comfortable with them. Now I find most of my winning trades are in listed. There is obviously choppy and fake outs in both but I feel that listed might be easier. One theory I heard is that NAS is basically all program trading and it is hard to beat the algorithims..
this is a pretty interesting discussion. Aren't there some firms dedicated to trading NAS? I believe there was a place in chicago where they did that. i've only been doing this for a little while, but i've noticed its easier to hold a trend on listed issues. For small little scalps, i don't mind some of the NAS stocks. I guess there are always exceptions like GS...seems like it can be a little more erratic than some other NYSE issues.. Are there any nas traders out there that are having a good time?
I've had good luck day trading GM as well as other DOW stocks. GM tends to either dip in the morning and reverse or the opposite happens. It will have a day range of a full point at times or more. The key is watching and knowing when it's either time to go long or short. It doesn't have crazy volume, but can have crazy news that can either work for you or against you. If you're short, all you need is a guy like Kerkorian back in the news again offering for more shares, and ooops, a squeeze, or if you're long, bad sales.. So, I think the key to daytrading a stock is quite like someone else said on this thread earlier. You have to know it very well and know it's temperment. There are very few stocks that I can get to know, follow and not make mistakes. The key is finding one you like and working on it. I always remember not to get greedy and try to make a quick 1000 one side, then on the other. Mix that up a few times a week and that's not a bad profit. I think why people fail at daytrading is they get greedy, go for the big kill or buy really unsafe stocks. Granted GM isn't the safest, but it's no penny stock either. I've also learned not to buy into the hysteria or try chasing, it rarely works. Sometimes I get lucky. When DELL collapsed the other day I shorted 4000 shares, picked up 3,500 by it dumping almost a point for me. I wished I could have been short the night before it dumped, but I'll take 3,500 for 3 hours of bs work anyday! I tend to like to trade NYSE first before NASDAQ. NYSE doesn't have some of the silly fluctuations. NASDAQ can kill you quick. NYSE is for me.
i found CHK these days is the right one for me do all of you trade listed than nasdaq? i trade CSCO some times, but hard to make money, just make even.
you mean that he made 20k a month just trading CHK? wow, how did he do that i trade TWX and PFE almost every day, putting CHK in my list few weeks ago. and i make only 4k/month......
Yeah, 20k+ in Oct and probably a little less than that the previous two months but nonethesless he has made good $$ in that stock recently. How did he do it? I wish I knew too, but he is a very good trader and I am sure he knows when to really size in.
I only trade NYSE stocks, and I try to stay away from Dow Jones stocks due to the "thickness" they present. Volume between 1,000,000 and 5,000,000 is more appealing to me. I also stay away from Oil stocks and Mining stocks, they move in tandem with Oil and Gold adding more complications. I have got scalped several times in XOM and CVX for not looking at the Oil Futures. A good source of ideas is the front page of the Wall Street Journal, there you will find which stocks will experience movement during the day. Also look at the stocks (in the WSJ) that closed at the 52 week high and 52 week low. And during the day check the stocks that are making new highs and new lows that's an indicator of movement.
Lots of guys are making decent dough on NASDAQ just take a look at the P/L thread right here on ET. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=50472
In the NYSE there is a guy whose job is to keep fairness in the game (while making a nice profit), and order in the stock, that guy is the Specialist. In the Nasdaq you have several Market Makers per stock each trying to profit in a greedier way than the Specialist. Even though sometimes I'm tempted to trade Nasdaq stocks due to large gaps they might experience in the opening I stay with the old NYSE.