What approach should one take when starting day trading?

J

JonathanAV95

I'm extremely new to the world of stocks and investing. I'm literally coming from the world of engineering and science. I could say the two can go hand in hand since we are analytical individuals that study charts, graphs and data. I'm interested in the DAY Trading. What tips and advices can one suggest for someone who has never touched that industry. What books can you recommend for the absolute beginner. I understand that the journey of trading at first will be rigorous and made of loses. However, i feel that with that mentality i will never grasp how to day trade. In other words, i am not scared to lose hard earn money if in the end i come out winning with either experience or new attitudes. Any other recommended software i should use, preferably mobile so i can see it on the go.

I apologies if this is the wrong thread for this section, i was hoping this site would welcome noobs and beginners but from the sections offered, it seems it is only for the experience.

Hope to hear from you all soon, thank you,
Jonathan Vazquez
 
JonathanAV95 said:
What books can you recommend for the absolute beginner.
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Here are some of the well-reviewed and frequently mentioned books (in no particular order):

"Reminiscences of a Stock Operator", Edwin Lefèvre
"Market Wizards", Jack Schwager
"Trade Your Way to Financial Freedom", Van Tharp
"A Random Walk Down Wall Street", Burton Malkiel
"Liar’s Poker", Michael Lewis
"Fooled by Randomness", Nassim Taleb
"Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds", Charles Mackay
"Trading in the Zone", Mark Douglas
"Trading for a Living", Alexander Elder
"Mastering the Trade", John F. Carter
 
fordewind said:
Swing trading.Daytrading = high frequency/low trade expectancy/poor money management
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:rolleyes: Why would you add "poor money management" as a given for this timeframe? Isn't poor money management a trader problem more so than a trading timeframe issue?
 
"What approach should one take when starting day trading?"

Learn Long term trading first and how to chart & know charting better than back of your hand, the amount of what you have to learn is incredible, where as in Long term, the more you know the better the entry but you learn slowly and start memorizing and start programming ideas. You have all night to consider the trades, after few years go to swing trading then 60 minute then intraday. You will often have to consider 50 different questions in seconds and if the you are not able to breath the answers, you will lose and continue to lose until you have no account several times. It is said you need 10,000 hours of screen time and can very well still become one of the 95% that lose.

You have HFTs, program trading, commodity funds and hedge funds, some of the brightest people on this Earth to compete against, and if you can't figure out how to coat tail them, you be trading against them.

You will make more and have a life by doing longer term Stock/ETF/Commodity trading, just ask Buffet. Also, buy a rental house and each year buy 2-3 more houses, you put 15% down on 30 year mortgage, by time you pay it off, most likely it has tripled in price and others paid the 85%.
 
JonathanAV95 said:
I'm extremely new to the world of stocks and investing.
I'm literally coming from the world of engineering and science.
I could say the two can go hand in hand since we are analytical individuals that study charts, graphs and data.
More...

I would have to kind of disagree with you here...I personally think that these two fields are greatly different.
Trading is much more...open-minded, and perplexed. Specially with shorter time frames, or day trading, as you mentioned you're interested in doing.

Engineering/science is extremely left brain for robotic linear people -- trading requires more...creative...people. in a sense. who are open-minded, independent thinkers who can see or sense the greater picture in an almost artsy or philosophical manner :confused:o_O

Handle123 said:
Learn Long term trading first and how to chart & know charting better than back of your hand, the amount of what you have to learn is incredible, where as in Long term, the more you know the better the entry but you learn slowly and start memorizing and start programming ideas.
More...

I disagree with you here, there is no so-called hierarchy of learning in trading before you can or should progress to another level or area.

Under that assumption, you're kind of assuming all excellent traders...can excel greatly in all areas of the marketplace. And that's never the case; usually a very excellent trader has laser-like specialization where they are able to kill the market in their corner.
 
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JonathanAV95 said:
I'm extremely new to the world of stocks and investing. I'm literally coming from the world of engineering and science. I could say the two can go hand in hand since we are analytical individuals that study charts, graphs and data. I'm interested in the DAY Trading.
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Hmm, sounds like you're about to fall into the trap like so many before you.

Lots of people are interested in day trading because you hear all these stories of successful people who work from home.

The truth is, those people are the 1%.

99% of people who get into day trading end up being loosers. Greed and gluttony takes over and they end up wiping-out their account.

Honestly, if I were in your shoes, given that you have admitted you are "extremely new", I would forget about day trading. Take a few years to do proper investing first. Learn your way around the markets without having the added pressure of day trading. The bigger your timeframe, the less opportunity there is for you to make stupid losses.

Put your real money into long-term investing, and spend those years doing paper-trading so you can find a way to day trade that works for you, without risking your capital during your learning process.
 
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