It is possible, of course. Many did it. Many do it. Am I one of them ? Yes. Or maybe I just lie to you. Does it really matter ? From your post anybody can tell that you are not ready for this. Try it... if you want to lose your pants.
So true, OP had so many really profitable day traders reply him here, me included, and he can not see that. How he can read charts correctly? Where does he get idea that day trading is for those who had less then 500k? Sorry, OP, you will be more save at your job for now.
OP It took me about 7 years and 8000 hours to become consistent. It's pretty cool once you get there.... it's ALOT of WORK I have spent thousands of hours testing systems that I have designed. Options, futures, stocks, you name it I have traded everything. I would recommend hand testing, after all that time, I am gifted now in pattern recognition. Start small, your first couple years will be tough. Lastly, if you are going to trade short term... trade longer time frames... hourly etc. Don't look to trade the short term noise tick 1 min etc.... If you can't trade the longer term charts, you will never be able to trade the shorter term charts...just my 2 cents.
The problem that I see in the opening is that there are times when the price moves very very quickly, I suppose due to the high frequency machines. It is difficult to capture the movement from the beginning. How do you manage the situation? When you go, the high frequency machines have already done their job.
Another problem is when the market opens and has no strength, the lack of energy makes you jump the stops. They are the two problems that I see, that the price moves too fast, or, that it moves too slow. Any expert who can give me advice in both situations?
Although futures is a continuous market, there is enough of a difference between RTH and extended hours that separating the two as distinct can provide clarity by separating context. By annotating charts with tapes/traverses/channels, each prior day’s end of RTH, upon degapping with the current day provides a ‘carryover’ price channel that either continues or changes with the opening bars of RTH. On one level of awareness the above would not make any sense for the price is the price, regardless of the path that price took to get there. On another level of awareness, degapping so that the RTH data is what was continuous, provides a filtering of low volume price movements that occurs during the extended hours. By degapping the prior close to the current open, context is generated from this perspective that is otherwise discounted as a logical fault. The independent variable (volume) leads the dependent variable (price). It’s a logical hurdle to transform stumbling blocks into stepping stones. The thinking that generates solutions is distinct from the thinking that identifies problems. The place to start is to post an annotated chart.
It is called discipline, to wait for the trades as per your well back tested set of rules, you don't like fast action, write rules not to take them. But once you have knowledge, fast action might be all that you wait to trade.
I've got to tell you, i've said it before and I truly believe it. Shorter term trading, is much harder than medium term trading in my opinion. If you are worried about your analysis of the opening, I can't even analyze that well and I'm 8 years in. I find the 4hr chart time frame, is a great learning tool. Start with that instead of 5 minute, your going to lose your mind on the shorter term stuff. People try to over complicate trading. Why don't you look through 2000 stocks, make a list of the 40 strongest trending stocks, and design a system that get's you in on a pull back. This is trading 101 freshman year in college. Make it basic and grow from there. Here is another pointer, are you going to be one of these guys that trys to win 90% of the time? or 40% or 75%? Either one does not determine how much money you make, you have to be comfortable in your win/loss/scratch profile. My profile is: 45% win 35% loss 20% scratch (BE + 1) Virtu Financial, one of the largest High Frequency shops, is similar to my risk/return profile. I read they are 50, 25, 25. It starts with an edge, then design a system around the edge, and understand the above profile. Your edge is you are certainly not fast at trading decision making... you are slow... so start with longer time frames and learn.
Hello TTT, I am not a consistent profitable trader right now. I am still in the trenchings putting in the work, keeping my eye on charts daily, taking daily notes, recording trades in a journal, practice practice, make errors, thinking, try this and trying that, managing my risk per trade per day per week, watching the price, putting in the hours, scratching my head, and most importantly having fun. And I am doing it all for Free ($0.00) via live paper trading. My advice is prove you make money consistently via paper before risking your hard earn cash in savings.