Hydro, I am not a scalper that is for sure. I get most of my trades from Trade-Ideas or stuff I hold over. Here again are my two main Trade-Ideas set ups. 1) New Highs and Lows for Volatile stocks. This keeps me looking at things that are interesting. http://www.trade-ideas.com/GettingStarted.html?name=New+Highs+and+Lows+for+the+Most+Volatile+Stocks 2) Highs and Lows 40+ This is a variation of the New Highs and Lows window with one special thing. I am only looking at the New Highs or New Lows after the 40th instance for the day. Basically I have found that these tend to in general follow through more. http://www.trade-ideas.com/View.php?O=3_19_0&MinCount=40&WN=Highs+and+Lows+40+ I would love for you to follow along tomorrow and look at the same things I am looking at. This way you will see exactly what I see. You will have to sign up for their free trial but at least you will know where my style comes from. I think if you can make consistent money using a good tool there is nothing wrong with that. We should all be trying to help one another. I believe the more people do well the better for this board. I am not trying to tell you to use TI but if want to get an idea of how I trade just get the trial and have those two windows open. The mystery will be solved and I think you will see how and why I am consistent. Personally I like their Pro version over the Web but it really doesn't matter. Either will work.
You can't say that without showing your blotter. I'd take $1600 every day ($380k/yr) and I've been doing this for 7+ years.
I am not sure what you mean by lousy? That averages to about $360,000.00 per year. I'm not rolling like P Diddy but this is not the 90's and I am not complaining one bit.
I have Whisper, it has all that. I mainly use % gainers/losers mostly. Thats where JAS came from. 3 way trading opportunity, bottom pick, short, bottom pick. I scalp though cause the moves arent big enough anymore to compensate for the slippage. But the play of the day was DJO. Risky stock, though. You can put up 20 filters if you want, it won't change much. My question is about your trades, for example what did you long/short and how long did you hold for? How much size are you taking? Where is your out? Where do you plan take your profit? Are overnights a regular thing for you? I'm more concerned about the Naz stocks so that I can see a good approach to play with when I actually take the plunge.
Whisper is good, I don't think it can do the same things as TI but Ti can't do all of whisper stuff either so it is the closest thing I have seen to what I use. We are on similar pages. The big thing for me is volatility and follow through. If a stock makes 40 highs the prob of it going to 50 or 100 is better. When I trade things like GOOG, SHLD, RIMM, TZOO and the like I am usually in between 200 to 1000 shares. I usually get in at 200 and buy more as I get more profitable. As you know the outs is a science in and of itself. I don't trade for specific amount. Stocks like GOOG and SHLD can run 5 points in either direction. This is where feel comes in and why again to me P/L is very important. I trade off of the alerts and P/L as my P/L rises I get into more things if it falters I cut back. If I get up like 5K or more on any one day I try to only play very sure things so as not to churn. For listed I trade 500 - 3K shares again stepping into it as I see me doing better. Today I was never up huge so I kept at it and over traded some but it was fun.
I have been following your thread. It is kind of you to share your stuff. I have a couple of questions too. When you say you add more positions as your p/l grows, has there been times when the market reversed leaving you stuck? How wide are you stops for you positions? I have been scalping, but lately it has been tougher because stocks are choppier. I am trying to learn how to ride bigger moves. Your style of trading has given me some insight.
Here is where I am this AM. Thank you all for the compliments and questions. As far as the question of how far I would let something go against me, the answer is P/L related. If I am pressing and things turn around I use as a general rule of trying not to get from positive to negative in a postition. I will cut everything if my P/L is turning red. Here is an interesting philosophical fact. 2 days after having a big losing day I never think about the stock names that caused it, just the fact that I lost money. One of the hardest things for me to have learned was not to over think things. Many people spend years chasing their tales trying to figure out everything and the market is not like that. Additionally I think as the market has evolved you have to evolve with it and for me it is the scanning tools that make the difference. Wether it is something like Whisper that Hydro uses or my Trade-Ideas I do not think today you can trade very well without this sort of technology.
Here is where I am an hour into it. I have added some stuff and traded in and out and back into EBAY. For those that are following closely you can see what I am in.
You're making me as well as others look bad. This is the last time I post my P&L at least until I get back to doing 200-300k a day. P.S. To new guys, do yourself a favor and stay away from most of those stocks cause they are very dangerous.