If you want tips on your 5 rules... Rule #2 has a problem in relation to the amount of leverage your using. You are using so much leverage that if you get slipped on a stop it could be, and most likely will be a loss many multiples of 2% total equity. Rule #3 Don't switch between long and short in general... that is called overtrading which is not good. Also when you do this you are effectively picking tops and bottoms which is one of the worst things a trader can do. Lower your leverage and make your trade accordingly but do not leverage so much that your position has to be an absolutely top or bottom... give your trade room to move. Rule#4 is discretionary. Holding positions overnight isn't always a bad thing if you do your due diligence before hand. Sure a blackswan event could happen and it could gap against you, thats always a risk you have to figure worth taking or not. I would personally never hold a position over the weekend cause all types of stuff can occur then. Rule #5 is also discretionary. A lot of earnings occur before and after market hours. You can make good moves during these times depending on how wide the spread is.
What software were you trading with Were you paying any software fees how much commision were you paying - ?
Questrade in Canada charges min $5- max $10/trade depending on the# of shares. No software fees I paid.
You seem to have a pretty solid rules. But rules alone will not make you money. Like the guy in Ameriprise commercial said "You my friend, you need a plan!" No matter how solid your rules, if you don't have a road map you will get lost before long. Just as if you were embarking on a trip, you should know in advance where you'll enter and exit.
An excellent trader should be trading with 75+% of his personal liquidity, because he understand his money is best working when he's actively managing it. Big boys keep most of their cash in their managed products. OP - it was gracious of you to share with us your experience. Apart from coins I haven't found anything I prefer to managing my own funds, at the exclusion of all other investments.
That depends on how he is using his 75%+. Unless you have some rock solid 100% reasoning as to why something is going to move and where, 75%+ of your total equity in one trade is absolutely stupid. It leaves nearly no room for even a slight move against you before your account is devastated. I agree that having a huge portion of your money at work is much smarter than letting it sit on the sidelines, but at the same time putting all your money to work on a single trade is pure stupidty most of the time.
If you are day trading, then why are you holding over night? Also, why no targets and stops? Reports usually come out in the morning. These reports move the market. If they are positive, the market will go up which means individual stocks will usually also go up. You need to decide if you are going to trade these reports and if so maybe subscribe to some type of news service like trade the news. Or you can like me not have a trade on when a report comes out, it just depends on what type of trader you are. I trade futures, which can move much more during these report. If you are investing, daily reports don't matter as much as the reasons you bought a stock. If those reasons are still valid, then you can continue to hold the stock, if something changes like an accounting scandal, then that could be a reason to sell the stock.