How you guys do it?
- Thread starter Merc
- Start date
Quote from Merc:
What about scanning for stocks with tools like:
1. Pristine's ESP
2. OZ Scanner
3. TS2000
etc...
Don't you use them for day trading?
Or may be these scanners are for swing trading?
Appreciate your help!!!
you seem to be searching for the holy grail, it does not exist. only by trading will you learn how to trade.
best,
surfer
For daytrading you want liquid stocks with good volatility. Low volume stocks are trouble, as they can dry up and leave you high and dry.
A good list is posted every night at www.daytradingstocks.com. My impression is most daytraders have a set list of 20-50 stocks they watch pretty closely, and a much smaller list of 4-10 that they watch very closely and do most of their trading on. I don't like to daytrade stocks that pop up on a scanner because you have to go and check for fundamental news. Also, it is dangerous to trade stocks that you are not familiar with.
Bottom line, what you watch and how you generate your list depends on what style trading yu pursue. If you try to trade with the overall market, then a small list of representative stocks is adequate. If you trade news or scans, then you will have to deal with a lot more.
A good list is posted every night at www.daytradingstocks.com. My impression is most daytraders have a set list of 20-50 stocks they watch pretty closely, and a much smaller list of 4-10 that they watch very closely and do most of their trading on. I don't like to daytrade stocks that pop up on a scanner because you have to go and check for fundamental news. Also, it is dangerous to trade stocks that you are not familiar with.
Bottom line, what you watch and how you generate your list depends on what style trading yu pursue. If you try to trade with the overall market, then a small list of representative stocks is adequate. If you trade news or scans, then you will have to deal with a lot more.
Another view that we have used for a few decades....pick 2 or 3 stocks on the NYSE, and become a surrogate specialist. This way, you're playing the same "poker game" everyday....not "picking a pony"....and, if your desire is to make money, not be the best "picker"...then you can follow the lead of those who have been making money for centuries...the NYSE Specialists....much simpler, and generally more lucrative.
(But then, what the heck do I know?)
lol
Don
(But then, what the heck do I know?)
lol
Don
I agree
that is my strategy for the most part... and in the past year or so, particularly. I trade often in the same companies and/or sectors... thereby becoming very acquainted with the behavior of their options and underlying... and get a feel for the way the specialist/MMs and other traders/sponsors move the stock. It also gives me a feel for arbitrage patterns that I would not be familiar with in a brand new puppy (pony); and there are definitely patterns to how they trade and IMHO (as DB says) these provide an assist over merely trading each day (or week) in and out of stocks of which I know little or nothing about.
And of course I'm typically a swing/position trader so this makes life easier in holding overnights...
Since more consistently adopting this 'strategy' I have done well and do not believe that would have occurred to the same extent but for reducing my universe of tradable equities/options.
Ice
Quote from Merc:
After learning TA I am still confused how to find right stocks to day trade.
Is it a constant watch list of 10-20 stocks?
Is it a scanner?
Thank you all for your help!!!
As you've seen from the many replies, this really depends on what you want to do and how well it matches your skills, temperment and resources. The most important thing to understand is not the market, but yourself. I don't mean to sound trite but that is really true. There are many, many markets and many, many different approaches to each.
The permutations and combinations are perhaps infinite. So to narrow it down you have to use yourself as a filter. That takes time, trial and error (as nitro said, blood sweat and tears). No one just steps in and gets into the flow (maybe in the late 90s when turkeys flew in the galestorm but not now).
Take notice of high Beta when choosing a stock. Many stocks exhibit similar patterns to the general market on intraday. (Especially bank stocks.) You may as well just trade the ETFs.
One reason I like it is it's easy ... the other is because it works for me.
On my day job (of 21 years) I work for Intenational Paper (a component of the DOW)
IP is the largest paper maker in the world and they are not very exciting ... but few surprises means few negative as well as positive surprises.
Our largest competitor is WY.
I've had a good degree of success on calling when and where they will move.
On my day job (of 21 years) I work for Intenational Paper (a component of the DOW)
IP is the largest paper maker in the world and they are not very exciting ... but few surprises means few negative as well as positive surprises.
Our largest competitor is WY.
I've had a good degree of success on calling when and where they will move.