*EXPERIENCED DAY TRADERS*how would you recommend starting out as a trader?

[J_Smith]

It is unbelievable, I take the same approach, except waiting for 30 minutes and trading with real money. My results so far are close to JoshLowe005's, also with 30K invested.

This must be my lucky day to stubmble in this thread. Can't wait to read more posts from J_Smith, Ken Busch, EPrado, and especially AT for being such an indispensible facilitator.

Josh, lucky you, starts at age 20. Hold tight this unusual opportuity offered by J_Smith. Accept his challenge and learn from him.

Best wishes to you!

Swift

The only thing I know, is that I really know nothing

The kid will be fine, he is not going to lose much with me as he learns a few tricks, that is a guarantee.

J_S

 

[JoshLowe005]

Josh-

I'll throw in my 2 cents. While I haven't been day trading very long, I've been in the business over 25 years as a broker. Day trading is a completely different animal. It sounds like you have done some good things already by coming up with a strategy, and testing it in a sim environment. Keep in mind (as you have heard before) that real money on the line makes trading a whole different deal from sim. You have gotten some solid advice from J Smith and EPrado. It is good to be teachable.

While strategy is important, the psychological aspect of trading is far more important in my opinion. I think there have been studies done that show even random entries can be profitable with proper money management. Money management has everything to do with psychology. Can you cut your losses? Can you ride your winners? It's all a mind game.

Prado gives some really solid advice. If you make it, it will take much longer than you think. I would say multiple the time you think it will take by 2 or 3. I'm not even kidding. If you think you can make a living in 6 months, plan on a year or 18 months. If you aren't discouraged by then, you stand a decent chance. Save your money and keep a job for as long as you can while you learn to be profitable.

Lastly, I would say stay positive. There may be days, where every trade turns to shit. But people are doing this for a living. It can be done, and you ask the right question. Why not me?

Wow Ken im glad I can get your opinion considering how long you've been in the business. Thanks for the advise!

 

[JoshLowe005]

It is unbelievable, I take the same approach, except waiting for 30 minutes and trading with real money. My results so far are close to JoshLowe005's, also with 30K invested.

This must be my lucky day to stubmble in this thread. Can't wait to read more posts from J_Smith, Ken Busch, EPrado, and especially AT for being such an indispensible facilitator.

Josh, lucky you, starts at age 20. Hold tight this unusual opportuity offered by J_Smith. Accept his challenge and learn from him.

Best wishes to you!

Swift

Thanks! I want to learn as much as I can.

 

[heavenskrow]

Solid advice Ken. I am also in the camp of the psychological part of trading is more important than the strategy. Whenever I go through draw downs (they happen to everyone) it's not the strategy, it's me over thinking things, not taking trades. My strategy is very systematic. The set up is there, you pull the trigger, EVERY TIME. There is no room for thinking "Do I do the trade or not ?"

In the past what has gotten me in trouble is after a few losing trades in a row is to start over thinking and coming up for excuses for not doing the trade. Then I pass on a set up. The trade would have been a lay up. To me losing trades are really no big deal, part of the game. But to pass on a winning trade you knew you should do is absolutely horrific. So now instead of making a good chunk of the draw down back I'm in the same place P/L wise. To me that is BAD trading.

This happens less over time the more you trade. One thing I do now is once I'm done for the day that's it. Forget whether it was a good or bad day and move on. When I come into the next session I forgot what happened yesterday. In my opinion you have to....trading really is a giant mindf*ck at times. If you can get through that, to me the trading part is easy if you have a solid well defined strategy.

I have a similar problem but it is a little different from yours. I will take a trade no matter what, if I see the setup. My problem is sometimes the market will try to fakeout bears into covering by taking the market for a bounce for better liquidity such as recent Friday or 8/19 after FED announcement.

Just because you knowthe market is going down doesn't mean it's going straight down. My weakness is I start to doubt my position when the market starts to bounce huge counter to my directional bias. I consistently doubt my positions with market action but sometimes it pays to be bold.

 

[EPrado]

I have a similar problem but it is a little different from yours. I will take a trade no matter what, if I see the setup. My problem is sometimes the market will try to fakeout bears into covering by taking the market for a bounce for better liquidity such as recent Friday or 8/19 after FED announcement.

Just because you knowthe market is going down doesn't mean it's going straight down. My weakness is I start to doubt my position when the market starts to bounce huge counter to my directional bias. I consistently doubt my positions with market action but sometimes it pays to be bold.

Yeah I hear ya. But the line between being bold and being reckless is a fine one. Being bold is setting a stop or an "out" and sticking to it. That's a great thing. Thinking that you "know" the market is going down and saying "screw it, I am not getting out" is reckless. Trust me...been there. Years ago I would turn 5 point ES losers into 15 Point ones. I think most traders have done this type of reckless stuff. Of course when trading with that mentality we don't think about those. It's the ones that go from 5 point losers, to 15 point losers, to 5 point winners. The problem is those trades in my opinion don't happen a lot. Even when they do, trading like that is a free trip to AdiosAccountVille. You need 3 of those to cover one losing trade. No bueno.

 

[TimtheEnchanter]

For your bankroll avoid stock indices. DO the rest...seasonal spreads, calendar spreads etc. There are lots of books....

What kind of risk per trade in $terms are you talking about, as to be honest, I did look at some index futures spreads, but could not identify any trading opportunities, but that means nothing as I know very little bout spread trading futures and futures options.
J_S

 

[J_Smith]

For your bankroll avoid stock indices. DO the rest...seasonal spreads, calendar spreads etc. There are lots of books....

Now that is so obvious, why didn't I bother to do a bit of serious searching - I said I wud never buy any trading realated material again, but 2 have now caught my attention - thank you for pointing me in the right direction and I will let you know what I think, as many are talking about other books and courses, but you could well be 100% correct and most are just "looking" in the wrong place for the "right" information.

This subject has always been of interest to me but I never really gave it some serious attention - I shall now do so, as it might well suit my current situations

You now have 2 followers, and I only follow anyone who I think is really worth following, meaning, if they help me get a better understanding of what it is I am trying to understand so that it makes me some money

J_S

 

[TimtheEnchanter]

There is a database of seasonal spreads and my book (yes, I did write the one I linked) contains a large segment of that. There used to be a service of this database called spread scope but it is defunct by now.

Now that is so obvious, why didn't I bother to do a bit of serious searching - I said I wud never buy any trading realated material again, but 2 have now caught my attention - thank you for pointing me in the right direction and I will let you know what I think, as many are talking about other books and courses, but you could well be 100% correct and most are just "looking" in the wrong place for the "right" information.

This subject has always been of interest to me but I never really gave it some serious attention - I shall now do so, as it might well suit my current situations

You now have 2 followers, and I only follow anyone who I think is really worth following, meaning, if they help me get a better understanding of what it is I am trying to understand so that it makes me some money

J_S

 

[J_Smith]

There is a database of seasonal spreads and my book (yes, I did write the one I linked) contains a large segment of that. There used to be a service of this database called spread scope but it is defunct by now.

Just as well I didn't say I was gona "find" it on the internet..lol
That is handy, as I will definitely have some questions for you - I will order it tonight.

J_S

 

[J_Smith]

HW, I have a question and would like to see what your answer will be?

Say I want to go long the AAPL call as follows - Oct 02'15 115 Call @ limit 0.65

AAPL currently @ 112.72

My loss is capped at $65 per contract plus commission - to keep it simple we will say 1 contract - so total risk is $66.09 but we will forget about commissions for this question.

How can I protect my downside risk of $65 for small money (say round $20) by going long an option on another instrument, in case AAPL falls and does not come back up before expiration next Friday?

I do not want to use a stop order for this trade, but am willing to pay a little bit more for my other long so as to part protect my $65, so if my long call expires worthless I will have made some money on my other trade in the meantime, as if AAPL falls my other trade should go up and I will close that out for a profit to either offset some of my loss, or even make a profit - and if AAPL rallies after that before friday, I might even make more profit?

I can not sell calls or puts in the account - hence any trade has to be long only.

J_S