I do better day trading/scalping, it fits my personality which is key. Overnighting stocks vs. flat at each close are different business models.
Miners were not playing a zero-sum game. It is a wholy different ball game. I agree some analogies can be drawn but trading is way harder in comparison, orders of magnitude I should say.
How long have you? Let me guess, if I say 11 years you will say...15, you do not agree with my statement about business models and you want to start some pissing match over who has been trading longer - so what . I do what do I best and I am sure you as well. Overnighting is a different technique and takes a different approach to scalping.
Nope, it was a straight forward question. I am asking how long you have been trading. It is an intro to dialog. I day trade / scalp myself. I have no intentions of a pissing match. If you are profitable, I am interesting in sharing ideas. Brendan P. Byrne, Trader
I do not sleep the same when I carry a position overnight. Even if I wanted to I could not stomach swing trading the same as daytrading. Chose peace of mind over returns a long time ago. No Heat
Look at the situation in a different light. Over the years there have been many really good traders that toiled day in and day out working for the man at Goldman or some hedgie fund, etc. They see all the money they produce and feel cheated even making a ton as salary and a bonus. Mind you now, they traded the employers cash. All they had to lose was their job if they reached to far out on the risk curve and crashed and burned. After so long they get ants in their pants/panties and decide to leave the reservation and go out on their own. Since they were used to playing craps with the employers cash most probably feel like some sort of trading wunderkind and decide to do OPM because thats where the BIG bucks are and indeed they no longer have the companys cash to play with. GREED is guiding them, not smarts. Lets face it, if you were a really good trader why would you not be a daytrader? Only a greedy person would want to start a hedge fund and be a slave to results and whinny investors. Surely some great traders break away from the corps womb and just trade to make a decent living and are never heard from again. Yes, swing trading is fine for some, but there is more FREEDOM when you can pop up the screen and make a nut to your desire and just call it good. Daytrading is not such a chore as those that do not make a living at it claim. Losing is a chore, be it daytrading or swing trading. Winners can pick and choose, losers will have their undies tied up in knots so they really can not answer the question properly. What was more fun when chasing skirts as a youngster? Right, quickies. Chicks after two dates think they own you, thats the same as swing trading, it requires committments. Forget that!!!
day trading in a way goes against the saying "let winners run" you might be happy taking .25 cents on 5000 shares, so what if it goes up 2pts or even just a dollar during the day?..you only took 1/4 the potential profit. Good enough some say, but you'll have losses too most likely, so now that 1/4th doesnt look so good. Next day you see the same stock, boom up another point either on a gap or during the trading day. "damn!" you say to yourself. "If only........... " In the mean time the guy that bought at the same time you did, is probably on the golf course, or doing something relaxing, because he knows the stock can go much higher. Like I said its only opinion, but you cant argue that day trading is much faster, and stressfull in general than swing trading.
I have been slowly swing trading the market in small amounts since September, so about 5 months. I am still down a small amount but the last few weeks have seen some very nice positive moves. I have set a couple of rules/targets. Any thoughts........? I am using MACD (12.26,9), RSI(14), Momentum (14), Money Flow, and Stochastic (14,3), and the 9, 20, 50 DSMA I screen for MACD above the signal with PEs at 1-2 month lows. 1) I only trade equites, no options, forex etc. Not yet. 2) Little to no margin. Not yet. 3) I am targeting 1-2% ROI per week return before commissions. 4) Holding period can be 1 week to 2-3 months. If the orginal trend is still in place and moving in the right direction and profitable, hold the position if returns are also consistent with my targets. 5) Don't get greedy. Any position that returns 4x my target gets closed. 6) I am following trends. Not investing. If the trend turns negative by 1% or more in a week, I'm out, particulalry if I am clearly wrong with the first 2 days. 7) Maximum 10% in any one holding. I trade every day and I do not use stops. I have heard too much about the market makers or whoever riding the stops and taking you out and I believe it has happened to me. I only take a position short or long when the indicators are 100% in line and there is no room for abiguity or no trade and I keep screening. Comments welcome and much appreciated