Should I start day trading?

N

neutrino

Hi, I've been trading since 2003 and I am profitable at swing trading. My holding period is either 2-3 days or a couple of months on average.

I wonder if I should be more active in the shorter time frames, i.e. day trading?

It makes sense, because whatever edge I have should also be applicable to day trading and since day trading implies more frequent trading, it should improve my overall performance. It's a mathematical fact that the more often you apply your edge, the more profitable you will be given the same risk.

I will be trading a $500,000 account. My statistics are not spectacular but still show some edge - 40% winners, and average profit to average loss is 2.0.
 
you're the only one who has the answer.
why ask some board of strangers such a question? give it a go and you'll get your answer soon enough.
"scared money makes no money."
 
theres an article within the last week about the vix, volatility, and duration of moves you could read, you can scrolldown for different days www.tradersblog.com lower vol means shorter moves ,means less profit on your 2-3 day swing moves, vol annually tends to rise towards end of may ,early june,so your profits in swing trading should ratchet back up, if u have a profitable trading business going,i would think hard before changing
 
If you want to try day trading, I have two suggestions that will prove a benefit to your account.

Before you try day trading with real money, you will need to adjust and get used to the short time frames - subscribe (free) to: http://youtube.com/user/SnP500Trader

The stuff he teaches works for all time frames.

Next, http://www.updown.com just went real time. Sign up and practice risk free for a while and see how you would do day trading! It's a great site to test strategies risk free!

Best to you!

Steve
 
Trading intra-day is a completely different animal than holding for the longer-term swing moves.

However, you're an accomplished trader and have a substantial base account to trade with, so there's really no point in asking us.

If you want to, Just do it. But try to set yourself some rules, like:
  • Only play with a relatively paltry amount ... like say, maximum 2% of your total net worth. See it as being venture capital (as in nothing ventured, nothing gained).
  • The amount that I listed is more than enough performance bond to trade any of the markets with intra-day, it should give you a good barometer of how successful you're going to be at this game.
  • If you can make it grow, add more capital accordingly (up to about 10% of your total net worth). That is more than eough to trade with for a daytrader.
  • If you lose it all, that's fine too. The loss is next to nothing for you (and would be madeup in no time from your longer-term strategies), and you will have satisfied your curiosity.
 
no problem, i tried a weeek ago t subscribe and had no luck, did u have a problem initially and how did u solve it,thanks
 
I had no problem at all.

For SnP, just go to the link and hit the big "Subscribe" right next to his name - or the same button appears off to the upper right when you watch his vids - here is his most recent lesson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhZ7qdoocA you should be able to hit the Subscribe button here - look to the right of the video and up just a bit.

For his subscribers he does little extra things.
 
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