1. 20-50 trades per month. Some in the same stocks. Mixture of volatile stocks and trading smaller moves in index stocks. 2. Holding times between 5 minutes and 5 weeks. 3. About 55%-70% of trades profitable. 4. Most of the profits come from a few big trades, and riding them to the max. The rest is trying to avoid big losses and getting in on something that could turn into gold. 5. Leverage 2-3 x capital. 6. 2-5 trades on at the same time. Not too much to focus on. 7. When I am 100% sure, and there is absolutely no way the stock can die on me I can go 100% (but using no leverage) into one stock for a short period of time. (I was in the market when the planes hit on 9/11 and the exchange was open, so I know what to do when the black swans appear in the distance). 8. Heavily influenced by Jesse Livermore. Use support and resistance, as well as order flow. Know the way the stocks behave to spot unusual activity. Watch increase in volume accompanied by price moves. 9. Sometimes mixing long/short, with a bias on the broader market trend (Oslo has had a bull market). I just kept the words sparse here to get the basics across. I am a firm believer that the biggest money with the least risk can be made in 3-6 month holding periods of stocks that are being re-priced. There is a lot of potential in such moves, and I hope one day to be able to capitalise on these moves and adapt my trading style to catch the "big swings". For the thread-starter: If you're completely new, you should be very careful getting into trading. It will take you a lot of time to figure things out and confidently making money year in year out. Especially in the US markets, as they should be regarded as the most competitive and sophisticated equity markets in the world. If you've got enough money put aside to live on for a few years, I would suggest you spend some time in the beginning working on scalping and short-term trading using just a tiny fraction of your capital (say one E-mini contract). This is great for learning about the microstructure of a liquid market, and also gives you great insight into the psychology of trading as well as fear and greed and how you respond to those feelings. (One contract may not be enough to make you shiver though, but once you bring enough size to make that happen you've also got a real chance of busting out). I would like to say that there's good money to be made in scalping, and that the upside is to be flat quite a lot plus from one day to the next, limiting your risk. You do however need discipline. Scalping is only suitable to a special breed of traders, and if you're lucky you're one of them (I'm not). If you decide you need/want to move to a larger timeframe, then your lesson is to distinguish between pullbacks and fake moves, and proper trend changes. It's ok to sit with a negative position for a while, as long as it seems likely it can come back. Sometimes small losses shouldn't be taken, as the position is just in having a microstructure pullback. The same goes for profits. Learn to ride profits and stick with a position until you get a reason to exit. Having earned 5 or 15 % is not a reason, but a trend change, sign of a top, end of momentum is. Other than that, theres a lot of good advice on this thread. Good luck to you! And expect to put in a few years of work before knowing what trading style suits you and being able to be profitable in a consistent manner. Also, be prepared to take long breaks away from the market to analyze what you've done wrong when it's not working out. I hope you'll do well from day one, but my impression is it takes a few years.
I trade "whoops-retracements." <IMG SRC=http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=762445>