Day trading questions

[infolode]

Quote from stockerup:

In looking at your post again, I would suggest laying off stocks like aapl sndk and rimm-- you need to refine your strategy before trading stocks like that-- especially if you're putting on a .25 or 60. stop.

Pick some slower moving stocks and cut down on your share size till you develop your strategy better.

Hope that helps.

Agreed, If I were you I'd seek out stocks that are in tight parallel channel trends. Bars that are uniform in size and volatility is pretty much the same day to day. That makes buying and selling on measured moves quite simple and you can make a good living scalping it. Avoid ones that gap for now and especially avoid the favs like AApl and Goog since almost no one has an edge and most traders think alike, read charts the same and use the same stops. Of course choose stocks with enough volume to let you in and out each day. There's no law that says you need to trade the gogos.

OP: I'm sure many will disagree with my advise but try it and see for yourself.

 

[ess1096]

Quote from cashmoney69:

I'm a litte lost as to why I've lost money 5 of the 6 days I've

been "In business".

Some of the things I always do:

1. Set stops (Usually .25 to .60)

To this point, telling us your stops are .25 to .60 doesn't say much. For example, a .60 stop in SIRI is huge and in GOOG it's suicide.

Position size should be based on your stops and your stops should be based on the volitility and time frame of the instrument you are trading. Here's a hint, keep ATR displayed on the chart you are trading and always know what it is. The rest will follow.

 

[cashmoney69]

Quote from ess1096:

To this point, telling us your stops are .25 to .60 doesn't say much. For example, a .60 stop in SIRI is huge and in GOOG it's suicide.

Position size should be based on your stops and your stops should be based on the volitility and time frame of the instrument you are trading. Here's a hint, keep ATR displayed on the chart you are trading and always know what it is. The rest will follow.

Your right, I need a system for my stops according to position

size and volatility. I'll look over my trading book for more on the

subject, but are there any good links on this as well?

 

[TimothySykes]

Quote from cashmoney69:

It's been a week now, maybe not enough to measure success,

but I'm a litte lost as to why I've lost money 5 of the 6 days I've

been "In business".

Some of the things I always do:

1. Set stops (Usually .25 to .60)

2. Look for good set ups

3. Sit on the sidelines most the time

4. I never "over trade". I lose x amt of money and stop

5. I tend to trade the same stocks on a daily basis ( RIMM, TNH, GS, AAPL, GRMN, SNDK, VLO, OIH, ICE)

... yet I'm still losing.

I guess my questions are:

1. What are some of the things I might be doing wrong that many traders over look?

2. Are my stops too loose for day trades?

3. Should I trade more to take advantage of the days action?

Here's my thought, why trade those same stocks that everyone else trades--I've never done well following the crowd, but sticking to my Penny Stocks has worked for me. Check out charts of CRDC and SCON, they act like pendulums, just don't get caught on the wrong side of the price momentum

 

[Wiseowltx]

You seem to have alot of posts. I am very impressed with your persistence, based on time spent on this forum.

Assuming you are not under capitalized, reduce the number of stocks you trade and look at your record to see which type of trades you are good at.

Ask somebody else to look at your trades and see, if you are being candid and honest with your work.

reduce exposure when you are losing and add exposure to market when you are doing well.

May be quit trading, if it is emotionally draining...

Best wishes

 

[joepepper2001]

Quote from cashmoney69:

Your right, I need a system for my stops according to position

size and volatility. I'll look over my trading book for more on the

subject, but are there any good links on this as well?

hey cash

look in the classifieds under, vhs,dvds and cds and books, I have a thread there with loads of tapes, I wanted 450.00 for the whole set but i'm going to drop the price to 375.00, theres enough knowledge in those tapes to help you out

 

[NY_HOOD]

after reading my post about my account nearly blowing up you may think i'm the last guy that should respond to your post. you are trading very volitile stocks,especially ICE and TNH. you will always get stopped out of those so use set ups and stick to your conviction. you also need to be a good chart reader.

 

[illiquid]

Quote from cashmoney69:

Some of the things I always do:

2. Look for good set ups

It's likely that's where your key problem lies. You must have a rationale for your setup that has a clear line between success/failure, and I'm not simply talking about chart lines or S/R.

The reason for this is that your "stops" become very clear; you will eventually find that placement of a stop often has very little to do with the price distance between it and your entry, in other words, your entry is your idea/setup/scenario, not a number, and once price action violates your setup you exit at once, whether the position is profitable or not.

Once you can think of your stops in this manner, you begin to discard setups for being too vague, such as buying/selling just because price is too "low/high", because how can you define a stop if the lower it goes, the more you want to buy, etc.

 

[Ansare]

Quote from mde2004:

bottom line, you are a losing trader. You have no edge and should stop before you blow out punk ha.

Do you have a small unit or something?

Really, you think that tough guy act is impressive? It would if this were 8th grade. Ok, 6th grade.

 

[cashmoney69]

Quote from ess1096:


Position size should be based on your stops and your stops should be based on the volitility and time frame of the instrument you are trading. Here's a hint, keep ATR displayed on the chart you are trading and always know what it is. The rest will follow.

Is the ATR on trade-ideas.com daily ?..

example: CAT's atr is 1.92 ... while aapl's is 5.43

based on what you and others are saying, is that the more

volatile the stock, the wider the stop required. This also means

larger losses, so I should also reduce size.

How do you guys calculate all this in your trading?..