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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SteveJerseyShore who wrote (364)	6/9/1999 12:27:00 PM
From: Dave O.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18137

< Seems to me, trading stocks under $10-15 per share is looking for trouble. Too much volatility. > Too much volatility on lower priced stocks???? I don't see that at all. Rather, I find trading stocks in that range provides decent opportunity. Depends in part on ones daily goals. But to trade 1000 shares of a lower priced stock ($7 -$10) and make 1/8 or 3 teenies offers a couple potential advantages over higher priced and more volatile stocks. (1) you don't have a lot of volatility and are not as easily whipsawed out (2) buy at the bid or split the bid/ask (3) offer it out at the ask when it hits your target. You're not going to see low priced stocks move 1-2 points intra-day very often. Thus, they don't present "big" profit opportunites but they often are a low(er) risk trade and limit a trader from potential major losses. And making the consistent $75 to $100 per trade adds up. The home runs are nice but singles add up too. Dave

To: SteveJerseyShore who wrote (364)	6/9/1999 12:47:00 PM
From: -	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

< by your own account, you need a small fortune to start daytrading> I would say, $50,000 is rock-bottom to have decent odds. $75 is OK, $100K is a good number - not to big, not too small. Even with $50, you'd have to be extremely cautious. Not to say that it can't be done - I've read account of successes starting with as little as $5k. I've day-traded and swing-traded $25 and $50k accounts, at times in the past myself. Below $25k, I'd recommend instead of trying to day-trade swing-trading positions to build up the account, not day-trading. It CAN be done! You just have to be really cautious, since there is less margin for error. What I would do with $25K, is position-trade (swing-trade) it up very carefully (buying pullbacks on reversals upwards with ~3% stops, ONLY when the market is trending - not now), getting familiar with 3-4 of the strongest stocks in the strongest sectors. Do that for a 50% gain. Then go into daytrading business with %50K, when there is enough capital to shift the odds in your favor more. For some reason, what people seem to want to do (with $25K) instead, is trade the "junk" stocks looking for a big gain - a.k.a. the 36-year old in USA Today article. Good trading -Steve