Simple MK, YOU are moving it at the wrong TIME, for, as we keep saying, TIME = MONEY Now, ponder this, and go back and look at your trades where the stop was hit. What would have happened if YOU had re-entered after your stop was hit? When you are targeting GOOD money, commissions do not matter, really, so, if you are piddly pissin around worrying about a few $ in comms, then, odds are you will never master the art of taking money from thick idiots The wind can change direction very fast, and, so must a trader if the need be such! Remember the child who can make money trading, and says; "Look Daddy, it's going UP so I am going to BUY it, and, when it stops going up and starts to come down, I am going to SELL it" "Can I keep the money Daddy, when I make it?" "Son, you can KEEP all the money you make, but, ALWAYS remember, it is not YOURS until you take it out and put it in YOUR back pocket" "Thx Daddy, and I will give you some of it for bringing me into this kind and generous world" " It's OK Son, for Daddy does not need the money, but, if YOU like YOU can give some to your Mammy, as SHE is the one who had to do the REAL hard work" TE
I've read BR, thanks. I'll have to use free stock charts to view NYSE Composite Index and $TICK as my broker doesn't supply those either. I'm not sure if either is delayed though. In fact I'm not familiar with how to use $TICK so I'll do some research.
I actually did re-enter my best trade today right after being stopped out. One other really difficult part of trading is knowing when to cash out & when to hold on. If you keep cashing out every time you are up a bit you end up with small winners which are easily negated by a couple average losers. Of course it seems the times you don't cash out your small winners quickly disappear; the times you do cash out are the times it keeps running. My biggest winners have been when I entered a trade, put in a stop and a target and walked away for an hour or so. If I had stayed in front of the screen I would have probably been fooled and cashed out long before my target was reached.
Well MK, I am not sure if you said it before, but, from the way you are speaking it is clear that you are trading Ftrs. Never do something just because you HAVE TO:eek: There is always another way of doing things, but, very few will put the time and effort into finding the best solution. Having traded many markets, for many years, daytrading US stocks is one of the least risky ways of daytrading, far less risky than daytrading Ftrs, for OBVIOUS reasons. Risk control is ALWAYS the first priority when gambling, so, the first real job for any real gambler should be to find and utilize the least risky way of gambling. Once the process has been chosen, it is just a matter of fine tuning the variables to get the odds on your side. Know that a real gambler will ALWAYS have winners and losers, for that is part of gambling, but, it is the SIZE of the winners versus the losers that matter most. As I have demonstrated in the past, you can do 5 trades in a day, have 4 losers, and still come out making GOOD money, for, that is the REALITY of daytrading, but, knowing what is REAL and doing what is REAL, are not one and the same. Know this, no one gives a shit about YOU when it comes to making money, so, YOU MUST not give a shit about anyone, and, YOU MUST look on all other traders as idiots who you are going to take GOOD money from Knowing + Doing = $$$$$$ TE
Totally disagree with this post. Can you please explain why, you think trading stocks is less risky than trading index futures.
Why is trading stocks less risky than index futures? 1. Spread 2. Order Routing 3. Market Makers / Specialists 4. Rebates 5. Sectors 6. Pension Funds
1) Major liquid index futures have 1 tick spread, can not beat that 2) This is a disadvantage with stocks, since the market is difragmented, and you will need to know in which situation which routing to use. With futures, just one exchange 3) I am surprised you think this is an advantage. With all these HFT shops around, and with sub penning, flash orders and so on, this actually is a huge disadvantage, especially if one trade manually and can not compete with extremely expensive hardware. 4) This is a good plus, if one does decent volume 5) Not sure what you mean here 6) Once again not sure what this means. If you talk about tracing volume, the real decent size is hidden in dark pools these days. With all of the above. Socks are not safer or a better vehicle. Each one has its pluses and minuses. Futures, however do provide a more level playing field to a small trader, plus they are much more advantageous when paying taxes. Regards, redduke
1. Major stocks have 1 cent spread, and less, can't beat that. 2. Auto routing (with right broker) gets best offer / bid from several exchanges. 3. It is only an advantage if you know how to use them to your advantage. 4. Some traders just trade volume for rebates. 5. Money moves from one sector to another. 6. Pension funds can not sell short, as it is too risky 7. You have a very large pool of high probability candidates to choose form. 8. You can "predict" the future price movement of "certain stocks" based on the index futures contracts. Futures are highly leveraged products and are not for those with small money to be messing around in the markets with:eek: There is a time and a place for everything. Cash is KING. Taxes are but part of the business, and, there is more than one way to reduce your tax bill TE
pension funds do certainly sell short....i don't know where you came up with this gem...but you are incorrect. certain ira accounts cannot be sold short, maybe you are confused. the retirees are not really concerned with how they get their return, as long as they get it and despite the bad press of a few hedge fund blow ups...hedge funds generally earn excellent returns. the bias is that individuals have to be qualified investors to invest in hedge funds...but as a whole the mass dollars in a pension certainly qualifies. these kind of comments speak strongly to the lack of financial and trading knowledge prevalent in this thread...most of this stuff has nothing to do with profitable trading...its theoretical nonsense, and much of it is even incorrect, even before it has no practical application.