Yeah, but it's a form of cherry picking. I want to see both good and bad. How a trader gets out of a trade gone wrong is the most important part - the part that deals with risk.
Day trading a suckers game?
- Thread starter BearTrades
- Start date
I’m not trolling... I was genuinely curious if there was anyone here turning a consistent profit from day trading. I have personally spoken to several full time traders and every single one of them are swing traders. The only people that I see turning a consistent profit day trading are gurus. Seeing a video from an ex Goldman Sachs trader saying that day trading is nonsense really spiked my interest to ask this question.
They cover this in various places though not through the review process, but as part of reflections. At least as far as I can tell, they focus on the process not the results.
Fair enough. Unless someone is looking for clients for let's say mentorships, online trading rooms etc., there is little reason to promote one's self as a private trader. Ego gratification is NOT a good reason. I know and have known a number of day traders who have earned a nice living for decades but most are just that...private.
Anton Kreil has switched gears - he is now a promoter of selling training for portfolio mgmt.
Whatever time frame works for you, go for it. I do both day & swing, adding size on breakouts during the day & holding the winners to catch larger moves that may last weeks or months.
Day session all noise? I don't think so, not every symbol, not every day. When volume spikes or volatility driven by an unexpected event a highly directional trend day can develop with a line miles long of institutions getting positioned - takes them hours to days.
Whatever time frame works for you, go for it. I do both day & swing, adding size on breakouts during the day & holding the winners to catch larger moves that may last weeks or months.
Day session all noise? I don't think so, not every symbol, not every day. When volume spikes or volatility driven by an unexpected event a highly directional trend day can develop with a line miles long of institutions getting positioned - takes them hours to days.
I took that random strategy and looked at how things behaved.
Conditions:
- Gap up (close -> open) < 1%
- No high impact economic releases
Outcomes:
- close -> high < 2%
- close -> close < 1%
% of days where this happened in the last few years: ~95%
Change condition 1 to gap up (close -> open) > 1%
% of days where this happened in the last few years: ~50%
So with just a simple change, there is a huge change in the percentage of days following this pattern. Can you trade this? Probably
Maybe successful day traders can tell me where my thinking is wrong.
Conditions:
- Gap up (close -> open) < 1%
- No high impact economic releases
Outcomes:
- close -> high < 2%
- close -> close < 1%
% of days where this happened in the last few years: ~95%
Change condition 1 to gap up (close -> open) > 1%
% of days where this happened in the last few years: ~50%
So with just a simple change, there is a huge change in the percentage of days following this pattern. Can you trade this? Probably
Maybe successful day traders can tell me where my thinking is wrong.
There could well be a basis for a strategy there, there are no limits to variations of viable trade plans. Personally, I just take defined signals and don't really care why they are formed. Going for a run, happy holiday to all.
Do you aim for specific percentage returns?
No it isn't, its just extremely hard.
- Need nothing distracting in your external life.
- Need nothing distracting health wise.
- Need to eat very minimally.
- Need to monitor markets 24/6.
- Need to have disposable funds where you can take immense leverage.
- Daily returns need to compensate for lack of returns some days.
- Need to monitor your internal state of 'model' creation in reference to market behavior.
- Need previous multi year history of pattern recognition/screen time.
- Need good understanding of external scheduled events and how they played out in the past.
- Need charting reference points/pivots/lines/levels/support/resistance/ema's... to reaffirm your model.
After a few days of doing this, you will lose 5-7 pounds. You will see past most everything, your brain even when not looking at screens will be replaying price action. Main thing is to aline your existing model built in your head with market behavior, than you can predict the next set of ticks as they happen.
Regards,
Chris
- Need nothing distracting in your external life.
- Need nothing distracting health wise.
- Need to eat very minimally.
- Need to monitor markets 24/6.
- Need to have disposable funds where you can take immense leverage.
- Daily returns need to compensate for lack of returns some days.
- Need to monitor your internal state of 'model' creation in reference to market behavior.
- Need previous multi year history of pattern recognition/screen time.
- Need good understanding of external scheduled events and how they played out in the past.
- Need charting reference points/pivots/lines/levels/support/resistance/ema's... to reaffirm your model.
After a few days of doing this, you will lose 5-7 pounds. You will see past most everything, your brain even when not looking at screens will be replaying price action. Main thing is to aline your existing model built in your head with market behavior, than you can predict the next set of ticks as they happen.
Regards,
Chris