It's good to hear you've been treading water, but don't expect profits to magically come if you don't feel like making any changes. To have been able to keep your account afloat on the sea of slippage and commission you must be doing something right. So sit down. Look at your trading clinically. Take what's working so far in what you're doing -- money management, patience and selectivity, whatever edge you are exploiting that's keeping your head above the market rake -- and intensify your concentration and application of those ideas. Take what's not working so far -- letting losses run, hope and complacency, desperation (revenge) trading etc -- and strive to minimize those things. There aren't too many shortcuts to success in this business, but using what you've learned so far to improve further is the closest thing, don't let it go to waste. Think of yourself as the first rough diamond ever discovered, that needs to use its own dust to cut and polish itself. We're all on the same road to one extent or another -- good luck on your journey!
The less I know the better off I will be. Seriously though, Gordon had one bad period in one afternoon in one day. The day before that he was kicking ass. I fail to understand why a trader is going to put rope around his neck for one day. Trading is probabilities over time -- not single occurance events. Did they call Babe Ruth a bad hitter each time he struck out? Does Tiger Woods put away his clubs when he losses a tournament? We all want to be one notch better than we currently are -- even if we were the best.
Amkeer, People have made a lot of good posts already, but one thing I would add is that you need to consider dumping your web broker if you hope to have a chance. There is just no reason for the added delays and inferior executions. A place like IB is cheaper, faster, more reliable...why give money away? You owe it to yourself to research direct access brokers before you make any more intra-day trades. It may not make you profitable, but it will at least slow the bleeding. Good luck.
WarEagle, I am using Freetrade. I get 25 free trades a month then its 3 dollars per trade up to 100, over that 2 dollars then 1 dollar. The executions are normally within 2 seconds. Freetrade customer service is excellent. If a problem arises I get fast service. Would IB be better?
hello im new to trading also. i buy(or short) about 1300 shares (priced around $13 now (INTC) each time I mostly swing trade using support and resisntance till about a month ago i was making like 0.3% (of my 50k capital) a day. for the past 20 days i didnt have a losing day and making average 1.5% im just so happy finnaly i reached this stage maybe im lucky but just happy. I dont know how you trade but believing ur way of trading ( have confidence) and fine-tune it (till you have that confidence) is very important i think.
ahhhh forgot what i wanted to say.... i think that in my case i pay around $35 per a round trip and if i scalp i cant make money....so i dont do..if up 5cents i make $30 and if down 5cents i lose $100 buying and selling 1300 shares........ very bad..... but if i swing trade i would have more chance of winning so i stick with it and Ive never try to trade when i have abit of unsureness just wait wait wait till i have more confidence. (i used to trade more often like 10-15 round trips per day now i just trade 4-5 round trip).....overtrading .......vry bad.... another thing i tried to do was that I set how much i wanted to make per aday...if i make 150$ per a day then i make 3000 per month and its not bad too.........again overtrading.....vry bad......eatin up my profits sometimes. these are what i tried and they worked in my case..
Amkeer, I don't know anything about Freetrade, but if they are giving you 25 free trades, then they are probably market orders (correct me if I'm wrong) which they sell the order flow to a market maker. Paying the spread on each trade can add up. But 2 second fills is quick for a web broker.
Pretty sure they are market orders. They are the same bid/ask on my charting software. Sometimes its 1 second fills and others are 3 so the average is 2 seconds. Just trying to get the push over the top to profitability. Every response here has been helpful in one way or the other. If i can correct things soon it would be wonderful! My wife is 3 months pregnant with our second child and it would be nice if I could smooth out some of the kinks before delivery. Keep the responses coming! Any and all input is much appreciated.