Is it really necessary to trade 100K-300K+ shares a day to make a living trading?

Quote from gnom:

As been told here on ET 0.05 per share is pretty good average. So with 50K shares that's about $2,500. Does this sound right?

Even 50K shares is a lot I would think. Do you think it is possible to use tight stops like 10c when trading volume like this ?
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I think you're just thinking about it the wrong way. Don't worry about averages: per share, per day, per year etc. Just worry about your setup. I've had 5-figure days trading less than 20k shares, but it goes the other way too. Profit per share is more a function of the price and volatility of the stocks you trade; if you like to trade BIDU, FSLR, MA day in, day out, then you really don't need to trade many shares at all to win or lose big.

I don't see the connection between stop placement and daily avg volume.
 
Quote from illiquid:

I think you're just thinking about it the wrong way. Don't worry about averages: per share, per day, per year etc. Just worry about your setup. I've had 5-figure days trading less than 20k shares, but it goes the other way too. Profit per share is more a function of the price and volatility of the stocks you trade; if you like to trade BIDU, FSLR, MA day in, day out, then you really don't need to trade many shares at all to win or lose big.

I don't see the connection between stop placement and daily avg volume.
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If you trade a lot of shares you either go quick in and out with smaller size or scale in and build bigger position in several stocks in my opinion. If you build bigger position and it doesn't work how do you close it if you have 5000 shares? In that case tight stop could hurt, right?
 
Interesting to read the different perspectives.

The more capital I trade the more money I make, if I trade insignificant money, I make insignificant gains.

No Heat
 
Quote from gnom:

If you trade a lot of shares you either go quick in and out with smaller size or scale in and build bigger position in several stocks in my opinion. If you build bigger position and it doesn't work how do you close it if you have 5000 shares? In that case tight stop could hurt, right?
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Tight is all relative. I think most of the high volume is done in liquid stocks with relatively larger positions; it's not hard to do half a million shares if you're trading say BAC or GE at 5-10k shares a clip. As long as you can get out of your position with decent slippage, a tight stop might be fine.
 
It also depends on how you define "making living". A manging director from a major investment bank is as likely to spend all the money he/she earns as a street sweeper working for the minimal wage.
 
Quote from gnom:

Was reading old p/l threads and numbers that lescor, Red Ink, Dustin, etc. posted daily on ET. What do they all have in common? They trade hundreds of thousands shares per day. Is this really necessary? Does anybody here on ET make $2K-$3K per day and trade less than 100K shares?
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Look up the word 'leverage' on Investopedia
 
You can operate a low margin, high volume business or you can make a higher markup on fewer items moved. Both businesses can have the same bottom line.

You can trade a million shares a day for a penny or you can swing trade a couple thousand shares a day for a couple dollars and make the same amount.

There's a LOT of different ways to make money in the markets.
 
I found a mixed bag of tricks work out best..I trade with 60-75 k in my trading account . I swing trade 90% in stocks with an ave of 0.75-1.5 % daily profit and trade 5-10 ES cars for 20-30 ticks daily..10% in cash to cover losses or quick news driven pops. I started this March 1st , so far I am up 7%.
 
If you're just swing trading you will have more P/L volatility than if you're scalping. Scalping should have a smoother equity curve since you place more trades. If scalping stocks under $100 I don't see anyone making a living with less than 50k shares traded daily. If you're a good trader not going through a slump the more shares you trade the more money you make.
 
Quote from gnom:

Was reading old p/l threads and numbers that lescor, Red Ink, Dustin, etc. posted daily on ET. What do they all have in common? They trade hundreds of thousands shares per day. Is this really necessary? Does anybody here on ET make $2K-$3K per day and trade less than 100K shares?
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Why does one have to make $2k-$3k a day to make a living. You know that that accounts for $50,000 a month and close to 1 million a year? 20 times more than a regular employment pays out.

The number of shares traded is totally irrelevant. A 10% profit trading a $150 stock is the same as trading a $15 stock or a $1.5 stock, just 10 times less shares but the same gain.
 
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