Making money doing something that both challenges you and is fun seems eminently sensible.
I opened a small margin account at IB not long ago to check it out and to get comfortable shorting, which I had never done before. That in itself was a major mental and psychological hurdle for me. It is not a large enough account to day trade, so being limited to 3 trades in five rolling days, I limit my shorting to trying to catch big afternoon moves on down days. When I'm sure I won't lose my shirt, I'll fund that account for day trading. I find IB's executions to be fast and the fills good. Far better than anywhere else I've traded.
I can long as much as I like, however, in an IRA. You would no doubt find my trading very dull, as I NEVER trade before 9:50AM EST, and if there is a significant gap, not before 10:45 EST. I trade one minute bars, but only if five minute bars are in the same direction. I trade a trend following system, never breakouts or trading ranges. I much prefer to trade after 2PM. Also I never trade a daily range less than sixty cents unless price is at the edge of that range.
I will post trades that I think illustrate good trading practices, but I'm not as courageous as you! I think I'll keep the bad ones to myself unless they exhibit an important "don't try this at home" principle.
What data service do you use? Mine is NexTrend. |
