FOR ALL TO READ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Let me say at the onset.....Our sympathy goes out to all that have been affected by Mark Bartons Shooting rampage in Atlanta this week.
His reason for the murder/suicide spree was his "daytrading losses". Is it possible, that you could sustain huge losses as well? It is possible, but only if you do not have RULES!!
RULES are the "staying power in daytrading" they make you survive on bad days and make you flourish on your good days. If you have no RULES, you will not survive as a daytrader...period!
First: Dedicate only a small percentage of your portfolio to daytrading.
Second: ALWAYS USE STOPS, let me say that again, ALWAYS USE STOPS and for those that think that I haven't made myself clear ALWAYS USE STOPS
Third: BEFORE entering a trade, know your buy point, your expected (realistic) profit margin, and your "acceptable loss" limits
Fourth: After the buy is confirmed CALL in your stop/limit order, do not use an internet based input system, CALL in your STOP/LIMIT! The reason is simple. The conversation is recorded, so any screw-ups and you are covered! Also,Canuck brokerages are plagued by the Know your Client (KYC) rule, this causes all Internet orders to be "queued". This Que can be 14-21 minutes long. If you follow up a confirmed buy on a stock, with a stop/limit, it will likely fall into the same Que!
Fourth: If .25c is an acceptable profit you have set at the onset of the buy and the stock is up .30 "SELL"!!!!! Don't hang around to see if it is going to go to .35c TAKE YOUR MONEY AND RUN!!! And don't whine that it is now up 60c and if you had stayed a little longer....yada, yada yada!!
Fifth: NEVER, NEVER, NEVER double up on a daytrade unless you want to remove it from the daytrading acct and treat it as a longterm buy! The only reason a person doubles up on a daytrade, is because they didn't have a STOP IN, and they want to average down.....in which case re-read "SECOND" above!
Sixth:NEVER buy a daytrade stock that you heard is going to move, wait for it to move!
Seventh: If you start to lose money continually, then revisit your rules, analyze the reason for your loss....in 90% of the cases, it is because you broke your rules! Seek help from others if you continually fail to make money! Our thread is a good place to get help...the difficulty is "bareing all" to the people you are daytrading with. If you find that to be the case, send a PM to me or some of the others here who can help.
Eighth: Be honest with yourself, daytrading may not be for you, you may be genuinely lousy at it!!
If mark Bartons murder/suicide rampage was truly proliferated by daytrading losses than this unfortunate circumstance can be isolated to one large thing in his daytrading life>...NO RULES! We should all learn by this...there is a message in this for us all!!
May all those who were harmed in anyway by Mark Bartons action "find peace"!
the Chief |
