Profitseer, Once you enter a position, do you immediately enter an order at a .25 point gain, and what kind of size are you able to do this with? Do you use an indicator to give you a direction, or do you just use your gut feeling? Just curious... Thanks for any input. KB
If you have been to the pits in Chicago there is an interesting thing that occurs. The pits are in a huge ring, with the experienced traders in the center of the ring, and the "newbies" on the outer portion of the ring. What happens many times is a price break occurs in the center of the ring, then by the time the newbies get it on the outside of the ring the S&P is down (or up) 4-5 points -- and at this point the guys/gals in the center start taking the opposite side of the trade. Anyway, this is a long way of saying that it pays to take the opposite side of your own emotions and take the contrarian view.
KB96, No, I haven't figured out a way to make it on .25. I need a bigger move. It's a matter of finding the right numbers for your style and temperment. I found both gut instinct and indicators to both be right about 50% of the time, so now I use neither. Size takes on a whole new meaning down here. You start thinking in terms of your place in line, and what the market will bear means how many will take the other side at your price right now. But it is all a moot point if you're not a scalper. If you're a scalper, you will know first time that you're back in Kansas, alls right with the world, and you will quickly start to suspect that 90% of the traders are not scalpers.
I suggest you read "The Market Maker's Edge...Day Trading Tactics from a wall street insider" by Josh Lukeman. It's written by a former market maker and offers great insight on the market and trading. Learn about risk management, position sizing, spotting trends, how to tell what side of the stock to trade on, entry and exit points. I'm about halfway through it and I think it's a great book. Just my 2 cents..................Good luck!
Marc, I don't know anything about stocks or tickets, I only trade es. I have had zero failures with aol, when I'm in, I have a limit exit and an emergency stop, besides, I live in the country, no dsl. What me worry?
It's not a limitless market at every tick, the average trade size (I read this on this site) is 1.5 contracts. If you think you can trade for smaller gains and make it up on size, I think you will be dissappointed. Life is very delicate for a scalper, there is precious little to waste.