The past few days have been tough for me, and for many of my Scalping fellows. I'm not finding many opportunities to make money, 3 or 4 cents per trade is the maximum profit I've been able to grab. Many people say that a scalper does well with a 3 cent profit, but make your numbers guys, after coms and SEC fees you are not leaving much in your pocket. Your broker is getting fatter while you are in food stamps. Scalpers by definition are weak hands, we easily get shaken, but be patient with your winners, let them happen. If you found a reason to get into a trade stay in the trade until that reason dissapears. Don't be afraid to let your profits roll, never be the first to down-tick a stock when being long, or to up-tick it when being short. We screw ourselves a lot of times for trying to grab a miserable profit. Be greedy.
fuck going in and out. it's stupid and self defeating. in 2004 i spent 700k in commissions and made 350k. in 2005 i spent 86k in commissions and made 574k as i held for hours and days not to mention the huge stress of going in and out all day long
Quotable quote. Applies to futures too! Never use bid/ask alone. Always verify with T&S. Osorico [futures trader]
hmmm... u might be looking at the wrong stocks; every day on aapl u can scratch 20-30c or more dozens of times...also any stock in the news covers pretty big ranges; many opportunities there also.
Easier said than done for many scalpers. The volume based black boxes that scalpers set off when they pile into a stock can be a killer. If you don't get out when you have a chance, the boxes will do some nasty damage to your P+L (especially in a low volume, illiquid stock). That being said, if the stock is rolling your way it's great if you can hang on for a big chunk of the ride.
I trade the old NYSE, never touch the NASDAQ. I have never scalped the NASDAQ and I will like to see a NASDAQ scalper in action in order to understand how they do it. I get dizzy when I look at the Level II of the NASDAQ, is too fast for me.
Well i trade the nasdaq and i have to say It is a waste of time scalping casue if the stock make a trend it will be very hard to trade Especially when u trade stock like aapl Brcm ebay goog yhoo rmbs sndk I think it is better to hold for some time Less stress
So you're not a very good scalper, we all have our strengths and weaknesses. There are many legitimate reasons to scalp. I think that short term trading is the only way for those with small accounts to build them. A good short term scalper, can take a 5 or 10k account and double it in 60 to 90 days(if they survive the learning curve), from there, they can double it a few more times before they finally run into a wall. At that point, they diversify, and add short term swing trading and/or other markets into the mix. Then you really start to build some wealth. It's a solid plan, and I know many that have done it successfully.