Mockingbird I highly reccomend specializing on one stock or better yet, one tracker. I did not make any progress in my trading until I stopped running around like a chicken with its head cut off and settled on one instrument and a couple of basic setups. Even then it took awhile but I stuck with it and it has certainly paid off.
Trading strategies are like women ... some men stick to one and are happy, others can only be satisfied with many.
I take it that bullets are distinct and different from the practice of having "linked accounts" where you would be long the stock on one account and short the stock in another account, and use this effectively neutral position to be able to go short at any time -- there were lower margin requirements for this type of position as I understand it -- I have asked around and retail brokers tell me they are not doing this any more since the SEC has cracked down on the practice.
Trading strategies are like women ... some men stick to one and are happy, With the right one, this leads to a healthy long-term relationship with the market... others can only be satisfied with many. This only led to disease and decay of my...trading account Kirk
mockingbird, trade the emini's S&P or Nasdaq 100.IMHO if you want to stick to a few stocks with no overnights eminis are better. You can start with the Q's on Island for a few months then go with the eminis. Basically with stock index futures you only have market risk, with stocks there is the market risk and the specific risk, so more issues to deal with (specific fundamentals, correlation to other stocks etc.), stocks change personalities faster than the whole market then you often have to trade another stock.