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

To: Eric P who wrote (1280)	6/22/1999 9:50:00 PM
From: Magnatizer	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Eric I understand most active daytraders have a list of stocks they trade regularly. I am trying to develop such a list and would like suggestions. Either stocks themselves or stock traits. ht david

To: Eric P who wrote (1280)	6/23/1999 1:06:00 AM
From: mel221	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 18137

Newbie Homework assignment #1. Yep, its true...I'm a NEWBIE. Not only that, I have a day job. So, my challenge is to learn how to trade part time. I am going to present my whole story, so I can become a "case study". But first, I want to thank everyone here for contributing so these SI threads. Its because of all these posts I spend more time reading than trading... so far. My current situation is spent learning 2 endeavors; 1. How to day trade. 2. How to position trade. I started this process last August by reading many of the popular day trading books. I have aggressively studied Elder's book, even working through the study guide questions. Given my full time job(software engineer) and that I live in Phoenix, I have used MB Trading(Jan-Feb) and now Polar Trading(May-June) to try to daytrade the first 1 1/2 hours of the opening before I go into work. Other than my disasterous over night trade of NITE(from 48 to 33), I have been focusing on scalping. My day trade plan is to scalp trade to cover costs. I have been taking advantage of the $5.00 commissions. I have not been profitable, but I have learned quite a bit. My primary goal is to learn day trading without losing huge amounts of cash. I am well capitalized, so I know I can do significant damage. I seem to have a different challenge than many traders. I have the captital, but I don't have 12 hours day to learn "how to trade". My position trading plan is currently applying the BTTT(SI- Befriend The Trend) techniques(Thanks Thomas!). I am trying to force myself into entering a new position every other day. I use the word force as I believe this is the crux of my current problems. Being an engineer, I could always be certain of the outcomes of any situation I might encounter. However with trading, I cannot be certain of the outcome of any action I take. And this has been a real problem for me. I have read the recent bio's of many of the contributors to this thread and have noticed a pattern that most of the successful traders have been working hard at this for several years. My challenge is to accelerate this learning curve to minmize the time and that initial drawdown. My biggest question is "How do I get the experience and wisdom that TraderAlan, Palo Alto Trader and Eric P. have acquired (after many years of effort) in a much shorter time frame? I am not expecting to find an answer to this question, but I am looking for techniques to condition my thinking and apply what I learn. I can read this information, mostly understand the content, but I don't have ability to quickly condition myself to evaluate trading situations using this information (in real time). So, I want to position trade, but I don't have the confidence to make more that 2 trades a week. So, I try scalping (CSCO only) with a day trade broker in order to make more trading decisions and build up my confidence. I find myself staring at numbers all morning having no idea how to succeed. I enter trades and enforce my discipline by taking 1/8 point loss. By the time I get out, its 1/4 loss or more on 100 shares. 2 or 3 trades and I'm down $100...Every day. After a few days of taking hits, I spend my days just watching the numbers. Then I realize that I am spending 2+ hours a day just watching charts and MM activity and not studying all the other valuable sources of information available. I also realize that I haven't successfully transformed myself into a morning person who thinks crystal clear at 6:30 AM. I am currently trying to condition myself to get out of a trade properly(position trading). I have been agonizing over the issue of giving a trade enough room, and not taking a loss( the break even stop). Last week, I traded TCAT at 54 7/16. It went in my favor up to 56 and then traded as low as 51 1/2. I managed to get out at 53. My initial stop was 51. I agonized over a winning trade turning into a loss, but the trade was still above my initial stop loss. I got out with a loss and sold a winning position to get out even. Taking the loss isn't so much my biggest concern, but rather the agonizing over what to do. I am seeking ways to condition myself to doing the right thing quickly and confidently. The week before, I set the break even stop in QCOM. I got in at 92, it went to 98, then 91(I got out at 93). It then went to 104, 110 and now 120+. Well, its time to wrap this up. 2 questions. 1. There is a good amount of information in this tread. I can read it and study it. How do I condition myself to use this information. 2. Eric has created the thread summary and this is very helpful. What I need is a blueprint for building my trading foundation. This would prioritize the valuable trading information. I originally planned to scalp day trade to condition myself to position trade. I have since concluded that I need to position trade for 2 years before I begin to scalp trade.(given that I maintain a full time job). My question for experienced traders is "looking back over your learning process, what is the best order of learning(from the topics on the thread summary) that would have shortened the time it took you to learn how to trade well?". Wow, what a mess. Mike

To: Eric P who wrote (1280)	6/23/1999 2:01:00 AM
From: Maui Mac	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Eric, Where does a newcomer start when cosidering this method? Can you suggest reading material, software, seminars or web sites which are most helpfull for educating a future daytrader. Thanks, Mac.

To: Eric P who wrote (1280)	6/23/1999 10:33:00 AM
From: sherry	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 18137

Eric....Topics I want to know more about are Shorting Stocks and Options Trading....In simple, basic English.... For me, most of becoming comfortable with something new involves learning the language, or jargon, of that discipline. The first time I bought a stock while on the phone with the broker, I kept wondering "Am I saying the right words? Does he understand what I want? Do I know what I want?" Well, that was fifteen years ago and I continue to broaden my vocabulary in going long stocks. But now it is a language in which I am fairly fluent. Well, I've never sold stocks short and I don't think that I'm alone. Many others have never gone short either. It is something I want to become more comfortable in doing. Looking at charts, one can see real opportunities in selling short. I guess what I want from this forum is a confidence builder in taking the plunge. Options trading....Maybe this is not the proper forum for this. I have eavesdropped on several here at SI who seem quite comfortable with options....(OJerry, there must be some reason you carry that handle)....Usually, though I have to tune the conversation out 'cause it all seems so foreign. If discussing options is an acceptable topic for this thread, I'm all ears..... Sherry