Why Daytrade????

I daytrade because i know its a consistent way for me to make an above average wage. I know that given enough reps, I will make money. Because daytrading allows me plenty of oppourunities to trade each day, the chance of me making money everyday is very high. I have not attempted much swing trading, and what little i have has not gone well. I kinda think of swing trading as 'putting all my eggs in one basket'. If i succeed say 60% of the time, and i only take 5, 10, even 20 trades a week, that means i better hit one out of the park or im barely making anything. (unless my account is several million$$)

These are my assumptions on swing trading compared to the OP's assumptions on daytrading.

Its also easier to get large intraday margin, so that given the win % and number of trades per day, I can increase my profit take home faster than if i tried to build up a swing accounts a couple % at a time.
 
Quote from patoo:

Just stare at weekly, daily, and hourly charts its all there !

Thats the big picture
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Is it really? So we're in an uptrend, is that it?
 
Quote from retire45:

I see articles all the time on some that daytrade 100's of thousands of trades.. Doesn't this drive you MAD??? I am a swing trader.. the only time I end up with a daytrade is if I get stopped out the day of the trade. Me thinks swing trading is the ideal time frame (3 days to 10 days or so) to do well..

A stock breaks out of the neatest pattern I have ever seen.. As is sloshes back and forth intraday but on it's way to a traget 10 to 20% away on a daily basis why is the day trader taking scalps and going home flat?? Only if a truly gifted trader can show me a chart where he/she did much better (to cover commissions) will I understand why? Till then, my thoughts on why one days trades..:

1. Has no clue where the longer time frames/patterns are saying. During the late 90's I used to wonder how anyone could bear the sight of a weekly.. Now I cannot trade without one.

2. Insecurity about news events like earnings, 9/11.. Swing traders can avoid earnings reports.. I do. 9/11.. well stops can help here but one cannot quit holding stocks based on such a rare event.

3. So you can sleep better at night... So you have a runaway market.. the stress is even more getting back into positions you should have kept..

4. Has no patience whatsoever. The "sitting" required to make the killing is simply unbearable. Some people just have to "do something" all the time.. The "noise" can make almost anyone that cares to listen to it a daytrader. Anytime I watch a Level II it causes serious anxiety!

There must be other reasons because the ones above not good enough to me. Did daytrading ever create real wealth for anyone? We all know longer time-frames have... Or is daytrading purely for income? I find it hard to do anything only for income rather than becoming truly financially set.
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What works well for one trader may not work well for the other. Good for you that you swing trade.

I've been day trading successfully for well over 8 years.

I'll stick with my day trading thank you.:cool:
 
Quote from hbiawos:

Is it really? So we're in an uptrend, is that it?
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It aint that simple. You have to work at it a little bit!
Go back to the 1960's and track those three chart patterns on the S&P to the present day.

There are repeating, predictable, obvious, tradeable patterns.

They repeat over and over for the last 40 years.
 
Quote from patoo:

It aint that simple. You have to work at it a little bit!
Go back to the 1960's and track those three chart patterns on the S&P to the present day.

There are repeating, predictable, obvious, tradeable patterns.

They repeat over and over for the last 40 years.
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So you trade once every 5 or 10 years or how does this work exactly? By the way, no argument here about repeatable patterns...just wondering about how you trade this realization.
 
Well, not everyone has a mind quick enough to make lightning fast decisions on small time frames. It's true. Whatever suits you best.
 
Sometimes it depends on what your edge is fit for. Sometimes the edge is time-independent, ie. trend-following.

Edges can work just for overnight setups, or maybe it is based on an inefficiency in the intraday timeframe (ie. some big player steps in with buy orders at 3:30 pm every day, you would need to daytrade to use this edge). Or maybe your edge doesn't work in 5-days, 20-days, it needs 50-days to play out.

I'm reading Way of the Turtles now, and the Turtles used something called an edge ratio they calculated and it showed in the near term the probability was for them to lose money (<1), but over time their edge was (1.2+)
 
those traders making 2 million/ year has 2 million in their account

and they are probably have somebody else trade for them (automated trading systems) if they've been trading for 20 years ans still in the game.



Quote from WyckoffTrader:

Even been to CME or CBOT? Those locals who are top performers made fortunes and they where/are your classic day traders. Some 10 yr and 30 years traders made 2m to 10m each year for the last decade

You just need to find liquid markets where you can trade size and not have that overnight even risk.

A "Real Trader" will trade the best time frame per the best market environment ( day scalp, day swing. multi day swing, weekly swing, long term trend follower).

Time Frame is not static and one with a flexible plan and good money management and risk limits backed up by a solid option background to limit the risk, will make money and can make big money in any market environment.

The Secret: Emotions and self discipline
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Quote from hbiawos:

So you trade once every 5 or 10 years or how does this work exactly? By the way, no argument here about repeatable patterns...just wondering about how you trade this realization.
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What I meant was...

if you look over the last 40 years, the situation we are in right now is a repeat of several times in the past. What happened on Friday; what may happen on Tuesday has all happened before.

I have been doing this for 15 years. This little dip happened on 8/16 many times in the past 15 years. The way we handle it from here to the next dip is very predicable.

and if you look over the past 40 its the same stuff over and over.
 
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