Why do some of you attack newbies on this board who "think they can trade like a professional without doing the necessary homework"? Don't you understand that those people are the ones that provied for our survival, and if anything we should be encouraging them to over-trade?
Disagree. If newbies always get killed quickly when learning to trade, you not only get rid of the newbies quickly but it will be more difficult to recruit new traders. Best to teach the newbie traders just enough so that they think they have an edge, but slowly bleed overtime. Not only does this encourage other newbies to try and obtain that hard to find edge, but the "slow bleed" allows these net unprofitable traders (but with spurts of success which further supports their disillusion), to continue to work and feed their trading accounts. This will keep a perpetual group of traders transferring income from salary to trading accounts. If you think I am being facetious, I am, but there is truth in what I say. When Thorp's "Beat the Dealer" came out, casinos saw a huge increase in profits as would be card counters continued to try to "beat the game". They lose a little, go home, then come back later with more money. A few win enough of the time to perpetuate the dream. If everyone were to lose their entire bankroll in a short period of time, no one would go to casinos anymore. The "99.8%" payback in slots was the best thing the casinos ever did.
Newbies that aren't taught or are taught the wrong way ruin the market. They tend to uptick or downtick stocks before a move is over and trigger stops unnecessarily. This has created the choppiness of getting stopped out quickly the last couple of months, excluding July and parts of August which were extreme panics in the market.
To add to my comment, as much as the NX rule has helped in entering trades on the NYSE, newbies tend to over use it getting out. They tend to try to time an out strategy rather then letting the stock move, and allow the specialist to end the move after he's moved where he wants it to go. This triggers the stops on the bid or offer, ending a move. As much as people don't want to believe it, but 100 share uptick or downtick can easily an a stocks momentum.
My wife's an orthodoc. Any you know what they say about them... "strong as an ox and twice as smart!"