I've been doing swing trading for the last 6 months, basically breaking even for my efforts. (Maybe I'm just not patient enough to let profits accumulate.) So, I figure, what the heck, I'm at home for the next few days, I'll try this "daytrading biz." And.... I managed to scalp SPY profitably, 6 of 7 times. Six little profits, one moderate loss. Netted about $250 overall. So, what was that one unprofitable trade? It was one that I ig.. ig... ign... (C'mon! Say it!) Ignored my stop! :eek: Oh well, lesson learned.
That is a good start but please be wary of what may lie ahead. You are going to get a run of 4-5 losing trades that will affect your confidence and then judgement. You will then make adjustments that seem to work a bit but then you have a few losers then you adjust again. Then you have a few winners and a few losers so you look at an indicator and change your timeframe a bit. You have a winning streak followed by a losing streak so you try a new indicator and bring in some MA's and try multiple timeframes and ...yadda, yadda, yadda..2 years later you haven't got a clue what the f$%& is going on.
Yeah, after I posted that message, I made one more profitable scalp, followed by one that could have been profitable... but I waited too long. Finally had to cover at the end of the day for a small loss. NO WAY am I gonna carry size short overnight, with the possibility of news that Saddam was in that bunker! I can see why this gets addictive, though. Make money now. Lose money now. No waiting for weeks to see if you're wrong. And I can have a beer while watching the screen. The workplace is not so lenient.
Well you're right, I tried it again today and go whipsawed all over the place. But I knew going in, it would be a difficult day to trade. Options expiring, war starting... But I figured I should plunge in and give myself a taste of evil. "Normal days" should be easier in comparison. Even though I lost money, I learned some things. (1) Market orders SUCK. Even with highly liquid stocks. From now on, I'm sticking with limits, at least on entries. Better to miss an entry, than get a crappy one. There's always another starting point down the road. (2) Inferior software is expensive. This conclusion is based on several things. The more "confirm" buttons and drop-down controls you have to work to enter your order, the more time you waste. 3 seconds really matters in a fast market, where you're trying to protect 20 cents. The software I'm using doesn't allow stops, they must be handled mentally. So... you can't leave your terminal for longer than a piss break. And if you decide to "bail", you waste time (see above) typing up an exit order. Crummy charts are crummy. Scale should be preserved as the chart fills. And charts must be truly "live". Clicking REFRESH every few minutes isn't good enough. (3) Hand-holding brokers are a pain, and they cost MONEY. After about 10 trades, I started getting a "please wait while an account representative confirms your order." Huh??? I said "sell !" Don't f***ing review my order. Just DO it. While waiting 15 seconds for somebody to approve that order, the market is moving. Arrrgggghhh! Aren't we in the compter era yet? -------------- I'm not just whining. I quite likely would have lost money even if I'd had a better platform... But I know I would have had more effective stops and orders with a better one. Needless to say, I'm going to work faster on closing out my positions, and changing brokers.
"I've been doing swing trading for the last 6 months, basically breaking even for my efforts. (Maybe I'm just not patient enough to let profits accumulate.)" you started scalping on the very best week for swing traders in years.
Hate to say it, but it seems like all new daytraders do well their first few days. Beginner's carefree attitude gives way to downright fear once you lose a few in a row. Despite your previous experience, you'll basically be starting all over again.
Trader924: It's TD Waterhouse. I know about IB now, of course, but I'm inclined to move the account to Cybertrader. I do like to keep some mutual funds as a hedge (since I'm personally incapable of doing any true long-term investing.) I already sold most of my positions Friday. I've got half my account ready to go walking! Today I tried a bold move, which worked out well. I took a very large short position on SPY and rode it down into the midmorning hours, picking up a juicy $2K profit. I figured it was worth "going for it". With France and Germany down 5%, and the UK down 3%, it smelled like sure money...