Day trading, where to start?

Quote from kjones5159:

I've messed around with a demo account for forex, and lost on nearly every trade, the spreads kill me which means I probably just suck as of yet, but in stocks the bid/ask wouldn't be as much of your potential profit, so maybe I still suck but I am sucking at the wrong ballpark.
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well..yesterday i was wrong 23 times in row..how about that? nice business\hobby..isn't?

kill yourself now wasn't bad advise..it might save you some time..don't know what you are trading or planning to trade,but day trading stocks is a dead business now..
 
Quote from kjones5159:


Why do you say to stay away from crossovers? I've started by learning basic indicators like the Bollinger Bands, MACD, RSI, stochastic, etc.

Candle charts also.
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Most who attempt to day trade have zero or little experience. Not knowing the level of experience you have, I suggested learning to swing trade first, the faster the chart the noisier.

Regarding cross-overs, that is the first indicator most Snake-Oil attempt to exploit the uniformed with, because it appears soooo easy to use and visualize. Excellent for hindsight. It is a LAGGING indicator, it can only tell you what price did in the past.

Only price can tell you what price is doing in the present, and nothing will tell you what price will do in the future, statistics, risk mgmt, expectancy, etc... bla, bla, bla... are the best we can hope for .

The indicators you listed all have their uses as Supplemental information for an experienced trader. I have ZERO desire to enter the TA debate... and I have ZERO desire to enter an indicator debate, but imho for a beginner, aka noobie, they will only hinder ones progress.

Once an individual has a working methodology, system, etc... then these indicators may be used to assist, confirm, augment, etc... and working strategies have been built around them, but not as first level guidance, and not in the hands of the inexperienced...

I use candle charts, they provide a quick graphical representation of OHLC, and many BASIC formations are used to augment my trading as well as confirmation. Doji's, engulfing bars, hammers, shooting stars, etc... just another tool, not a methodology on their own...

There are thousands of ways to extract money from the markets, and tens of thousands of ways to lose money in the market. Trading can be as difficult or as simple as you make it out to be. I try to keep it simple, I am a firm believer in the KISS principle.

The best suggestion I have for any new trader, is only take the advice of successful traders, ignore everything you here from the unsuccessful ones... take your time, get informed, be prepared...

ET has many intelligent and successful traders, but the only way to identify them is by carefully monitoring them and researching their previous posts... Most are here for comic relief, entertainment, fend of the daily boredom inherent with trading... the rest, well lets just say are still "inspiring"

In the archives there are many more eloquent and insightful posts regarding the subject from traders more knowledgeable than I. If you review my post history you will find links to some of these.
 
Ok, this is helping a lot. I'll keep what you said in mind about the cross overs and keep paper trading until I can formulate something.

I'm good with the longer term more business sense oriented avenues but day trading, mainly just off the charts, I know next to nothing about.

I've read and am continuing to absorb investopedia.

I did probably the common noobie mistake and read the MACD as the end all be all just watching for cross overs since I didn't know where to begin. But as a generalized statement, one thing I should be looking for would be something like an imminent MACD convergence/divergence combined with whichever candlestick pattern has formed, with fibonacci range guesstimates for potential lows and highs?

I have the same thought process as far as the KISS method, I'm going to take my time with this until I get a good feel for it, that being said I'm content with learning one or a couple patterns to look for as a foundation of knowledge and progressing from there. Any further tips or advice are much appreciated.
 
Generally, you should try to absorb as much information as possible, investopedia, forums and especially books. That said, you will never be profitable, find a strategy this way. You have to take what you learn, plus your own creative abilities, and develop your profitable strategy.
 
I am a market maker and have traded for about 12 years for various firms..Would like to convert to Day / Position Trading my own Capital. Would welcome some feedback as to what some of the best day Proprietary Trading firms are for experienced Traders not requiring any instructions and/or training..Thanks and Have a great weekend...Tradernj1952
 
When I started my trading career, 13 years ago, I read a lot of books. I think the best advice I read in all those book was this: get with a prop firm where people actually make money and learn from them.

I still think this is the best advice anyone can give you.

Trading never was easy but it's harder now than it ever was. I've seen tons of people try but only a handful succeed. There still IS money to be made though, but the odds are not exactly in your favour ... Nevertheless, good luck to you sir.
 
i would say something in basic math ,statistics and programming..if you planning some systematic approach..seriously..

something like this-

http://www.amazon.com/Professional-...&keywords=build+a+trading+system+tradestation

the book itself-sucks,there is no holy grail,some shitty cherry picking results,but it will give you an idea about how to create,develop your own system or set of rules if you will. how to calculate results,filter bad trades etc.

maybe this one-

http://www.amazon.com/New-Trading-S...436219&sr=1-1&keywords=kaufman+trading+system

you will need it,cause you have to back test your ideas or someone else ideas, from those books that you are trading. it will save you a lot of time and most importantly-it will save your money.
but all this stuff is really time consuming and outcome...well ..we know the outcome..99% failure rate on retail level

you can probably find them on P2P..



http://www.smartmoney.com/invest/stocks/from-pink-slips-to-powertrading-1344974209772/


Only about 1 percent of traders are consistently profitable over several years, and investors who trade more frequently tend to underperform the market, according to Brad Barber, a finance professor at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management who has done extensive research on the issue.
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