Steve: great post! You hit the nail on the head when you stated that, normally only 2 out of 10 make it. Day trading takes great self discipline; and, I too, would never recommend that anyone quit their job to try it. I, myself, have been quite fortunate. In Oct. of 1987, I saw two stks. trading at .5 of book [GT @ 14. and MCI @ 1.75]; begged and borrowed on everything that I had [about 100k] and got in, the rest has been history.
I employ what I call an assett pyramid: level 1 [or the base] contains all of my hard assetts (home, car, ins., etc.]; level 2 contains income and growth assetts (stks., bonds, etc.); level 3 contains speculative assetts. Everything flows from top to bottom. As my second level now has a net value of 9 mil. plus, I can allocate more to my third level than most. My second level contains large cap stuff, and produces a total annual return of around 15%. My third level, however, has been producing an annual return (for the last 3 yrs.) of between 60-80%. In it, I allocate 150-175k, and do day trading, position trading and play with a few penny stks.. In my day plays I never keep a stk. overnite.
Like irby, I use A.B.Watley, along with PCquote. I have found them most to my liking.
Thanks for your insight, very valuable.
GeneM |
