Curious. What made it a bad strategy? It would seem to me that if one's criteria are strict enough, there are no bad trades. There are only slow times when few trades meet the criteria. If a market is whipping around in a seizure-like frenzy then that is clearly observable in the charts, and I am on the sidelines. I'm equally happy trading 40 times a month or only 1 or 2 times a month depending on the opportunities I see- I went through too much pain learning the value of patience to give up the benefits of that lesson.
>Also could someone enlighten a futures refugee on the difference between a direct access >broker and a run of the mill ('not' direct access) broker. My educated guess is that direct acess >just means there's no middleman on the phone between you and execution? >And as long as I'm asking questions, could someone with experience give me an idea of how >much slippage I can expect trading big liquid names (S&P 500 stocks) while using a run of the >mill broker who offers online order entry but probably ain't quote unquote direct access. Hey! You are talking my language I started out as a daytrader, and have been steadily moving back in timeframe ever since. I love multi day trades. Take you positions, set your stops, and have a nice life. The OCA order is my best friend. I see a spazz head fake on a 5 min chart that would have hurt me a few years ago, and could care less. Chasing fills, slippage, all the joys of very short term trading. PFFT Not my cup of tea anymore. If you are a futures trader used to phone order type trading, then that style should be fine with a run of the mill broker. But if you trade professionally, then you really should look around at direct access brokers. It's just another level of speed and control. Many offer their services for commissions that are about the same as the web brokers of the world. As for slippage, of course it will vary but in a deep listed or NASDAQ stock, your buy stop should be executed in .03-.05 cents maybe as much as .10 in some of the more spready stocks. Direct acces means YOU are on a peer level with the floor. your orders are out there posted just like those from Goldmans. You are actually inputting and executing your trades. Interacting with the market on a one to one level. It's a good thing Hope this helps a bit.... Good Luck and Good Trading -Bo Yoder
Swing trader here, while going to univ, but I might dump it for daytrading if I had the capital to go to NYC and live for a year or so.