I started daytrading successfully in 1999 up until I finished flat for the first time in 2004. I closed my daytrading account and concentrated on looking for a really strong edge. I finally found it but now its not the trading that bothers me. Its the brokers. For example, I was planning to open an account with Lightspeed who uses Penson as a clearing firm. As best as I can tell, Lightspeed is privately held so I really didn't know how to check on their fundamentals. On the other hand Penson is publicly traded and their stock is down 85% and earning while still positive are also down considerably. Now why should a clearing firm that would be holding my money have such a downturn while millions of shares are still being traded. Moreover, will sipc pay off if Penson goes under. After this financial crisis, who really knows. I think I've developed a serious neurosis. I just can't bear the idea of some insurance company cheating me out of my money. Its happened to me before.
This kind of post is annoying. Read my post again. Who said anything about discrediting positional trading? Who said anything about positional trading is weak? It is about a choice of an approach. It is about risk management. We, day traders, just choose to AVOID a gap risk. I said if someone - If I hold a short 1000 shares RIMM overnight, I will have $15000 in losses. And I said day trading, swing trading, buy-and-hold can all make good money. Now how did I discredit position trading, PLEASE? Who said anything about CONTROL? Who can CONTROL the market? It's about RISK avoidance. We cannot control what's happening in the world and where the market is going. What we can do is choose whether to accept the risk of overnight holding or not.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/quickchart/quickchart.asp?symb=rimm&sid=0&o_symb=rimm&freq=9&time=1 RIMM 1 minute chart take a look at how many gaps are on that 1 minute chart. Intraday trading is more volatile, it should be understood apriori. You saw a freaky gap on a "hot" stock and you think overnight trading is awful. Problem is, people apply overnight fear not only to stocks but to everything(futures, forex).
those aren't gaps... do you really trade??? Ive always wondered what percentage of ppl are real traders on this forum... I find that the journals are the only really worthwile thing to read... its just too much of a hassle for someone to make it up...
I don't know why I am debating with an amateur. No serious trader will use these freebie, web-based charting software to trade. Trading with delayed charts. No wonder that you would not day trade. If you day trade with these, you would have lost a lot of money. Those are not gaps. "Gaps" of any significance in intraday charts are almost unheard of, especially with popular stocks like RIMM. No one will big enough to "gap" the price with a 1-minute interval. The arbitrageurs will come in and eat them like pancakes. Apparently your "source" does not have clean data. Here is the 1-minute chart of RIMM on 4/3/09 Friday from TradeStation. Tell me where you see the "intraday gaps".
You think using tradestation makes you a pro? I don't day trade for reasons I already mentioned. And I have not traded stocks since 2004. I deal with forex now. N.B On second thought, bigcharts chart scale is in .25 increments while your chart is in 1 dollar increments. So big charts may not be wrong.
You know... you are forever on my ignore list. I don't usually curse in open forums. You are just too much. You are not only ignorant but arrogant. It is the worst attitude for any individual. Have I ever said using TradeStation makes me a pro? You twist other peoples' words. I said "No serious trader will use these freebie, web-based charting software to trade." Did I ever say I am a pro? Or anyone using TradeStation automatically makes him/her a pro? I do trading for a living. I won't even call myself a professional. A professional would almost imply working for financial firm, gotten a series 7 license or something. I don't. I have my own trading LLC. That's it. I am done talking to ignorant and arrogant amateurs. And who the hell cares if and why you day trade or not, stock or forex or marbles?
Weakling. It is funny how people can have such weak nerves. I deal with imbeciles all the time and have exactly zero people on my ignore list.