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Strategies & Market Trends : From the Trading Desk -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mark Myword who wrote (3208)	6/9/1998 11:40:00 PM
From: Darren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4969

The two Market Wizards books are a good start. They don't deal with day-trading per se, but they do encompass a lot of trader emotions. I, frankly, didn't think much of the Q&A style, but it was obvious that these were very good traders the author was talking to... Jack D. Schwager, The Market Wizards The New Market Wizards They are in paperback, you should be able to get them pretty cheap. One guy took 8 years of losses before he finally found his niche. A woman took someone elses capital and lost it all, only to become a better trader for it. If you like People Magazine, these are the books for you. If you want trading details, skip them.

To: Mark Myword who wrote (3208)	6/10/1998 7:37:00 AM
From: steve goldman	Respond to of 4969

I gotta tell you William, between this thread, Irby's Final Frontier, Cybertrader, Momentum traders, heck the list goes on, you have the best, free book in the world, where you caneven ask the authors questions... That is why i think such a discussion had merit. -Steve Lack of discipline (albeit in a few forms) is in my mind absolutely the #1 reason why traders fail. Lack of discipline in not setting stops, not taking small losses and letting losses get large..making 1/8, 1/8, 1/4, 1/2 and then getting hammered as some disaste de jour tears them up. Not only is the damage to principal (the most important asset in a day trader' business model) significant but it keeps the trader from doing his thing. Traders that start talking fundamentals and 'it'll come back'...no-no..that doesnt work. Daytrading is an entirely different beast than position trading is an entirely different beast than investing. Investors know that every so often you get tagged on some loser. Heck, today I'll be eating lunch on WDC. I've been buying the hard drive sector for the past year, looking for it to turn, accumulating it as a value play. Quite simply, it hasnt turned...the bottom has been forming and fundamentals in the industry are improving but WDC with an average cost of 17 comes out and announces bad earnings last nite. Stock should be down, could infact go to zero. The key is my approach, as an INVESTOR in the stock (which is what I have always been in this company, although I do daytrade it here and there) must be distinct from a trader. You never let the position get more than xx% of the account. You never buy it all at once, so you might look at lower prices with glee. (although never too much <gg>) As an investor, I know I will be out x points on the stock today, but I als oknow that I was up y points on GE, Z points on WLA, etc. so its how the account/positions net over the time frame you set. A day trader cannot let a stock drop 5 points on them because it takes a lot of work to make the 1/8s and 1/4s back. A daytrader will tell you, it aint easy. They dont come waltzing in, the winners..you work hard, real hard for them, and cant let a OXHP or MANU or other disaster set you back 6 weeks worth of work. You must contain your risk. Daytraders that don't have this discipline will fail, maybe not quickly, but eventually. Also, I think thestreet.com has a section of Cramer's most revealing blunders. Trust me, we all have them. I simply like the fair and open way he is willing to say, 'i screwedthe pooch on this one'. www.thestreet.com i believe. -Steve@yamner.com -Steve@yamner.com