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Non-Tech : CYBERTRADER -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mad Bomber who wrote (1621)	1/9/1999 4:49:00 PM
From: William W. Dwyer, Jr.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 3216

Mad Bomber, For initial learning trading, I highly recommend small shares (100-200 only) for the first month or more until you are convinced you are consistently making very good trades (80%-90% winners). Larger shares will be more difficult to buy in and sell fast and you will lose big on your losers, which will probably far exceed your winners in the beginning. Remember, the first goal is to be able to trade and consistently NOT lose money.....if you can do that well, then try to trade and make money. Since it is far more likely that you will lose, just assume that and trade small shares. Small shares can be bought and sold much easier than, say, 1,000 - 5000 shares. You can have 2,000 shares of something and get ready to sell with a nice profit, then end up losing because the stock is tanking (you waited a bit too long to sell) and you're trying to sell all your shares while everyone else is doing the same thing. I've seen a potential $1,500 profit turn into a $1,000 loss just because I got a bit greedy, or whatever, and waited too long and couldn't get out fast enough. On the other hand, if you play slower stocks, you can get filled pretty quickly and can trade larger shares. But, the slower stocks sometimes keep your money tied up way too long and never go up anyway. I'd much rather spend an hour waiting for the right stock that goes right up and gives me a point or more in just a minute or two. I really hate waiting for an hour with a slow stock, only to finally dump it with a small loss, then see it go up later in the day. I look for good, healthy, high volume momentum stocks, usually expensive ones that are really flying, buy small shares to protect me if I get caught in it, then ride them carefully for several points, making a day's profit in just one good, well-chosen trade. After I make enough for the day (my goal), I just slow down, relax, or quit altogether rather than risk screwing up and giving it all back (which I have done many times). The best trading is the first hour or two. Middle of the day is slow, boring, very slow moves if any, and later in the day is totally unpredictable. After the first two or three hours of the trading day, you're just basically gambling, trying to "make" something happen. Sometimes you do, but it's a lot more difficult, imho. Remember, though, the initial 100-share trades you do will not make you rich and sometimes will barely cover your commissions. If you trade a month or two and breakeven, you've done a quite remarkable thing, you're probably in the top 5% of traders already. Remember, most lose for the first year. So, focus on preserving your capital....you'll be glad you have it to trade with when and if you finally do learn to trade well. How disappointing to realize you finally know how to trade, but you lost most of your money learning. I bet it happens more than you think. Now, I do not know anything about a tool that M.B. Trading has that lets you record your trading and review it later. But, CyBerTrader software allows you to select to trade "live" or in "demo" mode, which is really papertrading. In demo mode you get all live quote and chart data, decision-making tools, etc....but your trades are not really executed, they are recorded on your pc only. Like papertrading, only a lot better! At the end of the day (or anytime you like) you can print out all the data from your Position Manager and review all your trades that way....it's a GREAT system and a truly great way to learn to trade and monitor your progress.....there is a LOT of data you can get for review, actually more than you could ever want. But it's all there and it's all free. I highly recommend it. Hope this helps. Bill