Quote from TTONE:
Here is my message in an easier to read format. I hope that helps. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Hi, I spent the greater part of 2004 studying tech analysis and daytrading. In March I started day trading live. I trade 1000 share blocks. I traded everyday for about a month and did very well. I have a seasonal business and couldn't dedicate full time to trading so I stopped and concentrated on my business. In August I went to the online trading academy for a week to reiterate what I had learned. November 1st I went back to day trading full time and have not been able to get on the right side of the market since.
I have what I believe is a decent knowledge in candlestick patterns. When I trade I screen for increased volume and try to trade stocks that are moving for one reason of another which worked well in the past. I have experimented with a lot of different studies and feel that candlestick patterns and price movement work best for me. I use moving averages and Stochastics as a secondary study.
I will now try to explain what I think my problem is and would like some feedback. I come in during the morning and find what I think is a good setup (poss mover). Normally I wait until around 10:00 AM to get in. I use a mental stop at first because I feel if my stop is out there market makers see it and come after me. Once I have a 12 to 15 cent profit I set a mechanical stop and move the stop up as I take the ride.
I usually end up making money ($100, $200, $500, $800 etc) and a lot of the time within minutes. All these numbers should make me happy for the day but because it's so early in the trading day I want to keep going. At this point I feel like I'm trading with their money and I think I end up with bigger noogies and not really looking for the correct entry point. By the time the morning is over I'm down $200, $500, $100, $1800 by the end of the day.At night i think about my mistakes and try to get my head right and tell myself to go in the next day, look for my setup, trade it, make my profit, and be done. Every morning I find my setup, trade it, and then contunue trading and give it back and then some.
Can I plase get some feedback on how to try to get myself some discipline in day trading. Go ahead and yell at me and tell me that 3 or 4 hundred dollars on 100 shares should be a satisfactory profit for a day. I think my mind is saying subconsciously that I'm looking for a 1000 a day because I was doing that without much effort in the spring. I think I'm focusing in the early trading day and the get sloppy as soon as I get up on the market.
