daytrading:Futures or Equities?

[traderob]

Hi,
This must have been discussed somewhere and if there is a recent thread please direct me.
Or we can start again here.
Don Bright said somewhere that he trades mostly equities. I have been focussing more on futures but have had slightly more success with equities (lost less) . I hold both for short times - average 3-5 minutes.
The uptick rule on equities causes me to miss some short oportunities which is why I have gone more for futures. Tax is not an issue as I am not American.
Really it comes down to which is one more likely to be consistently profitable at?

 

[IndexTrader]

I don't see how anyone can turn a profit holding a stock for 3-5 minutes. Are you buying the bid/selling the ask?

Quote from roberk:

Hi,
This must have been discussed somewhere and if there is a recent thread please direct me.
Or we can start again here.
Don Bright said somewhere that he trades mostly equities. I have been focussing more on futures but have had slightly more success with equities (lost less) . I hold both for short times - average 3-5 minutes.
The uptick rule on equities causes me to miss some short oportunities which is why I have gone more for futures. Tax is not an issue as I am not American.
Really it comes down to which is one more likely to be consistently profitable at?

 

[traderob]

I look for breakouts. On stocks I probably hold more towards 5 mins. average.
Here is a trade (that I missed, of course) on Friday. I should have placed a stop limit entry above the consolidation and would have got in about 93.06-.10.
And closed out 3 minutes later.

 

[SethArb]

I don't see how anyone can turn a profit holding a stock for 3-5 minutes.

most of my equity profits came from holding only 3-5 seconds

( arbitrage opps usually only last that long )