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Strategies & Market Trends : Are you considering quitting your dayjob to daytrade?! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	1/17/1999 1:56:00 PM
From: Sword	Respond to of 611

Dave: Another great post. Thanks for your insights. I've printed it out for my files. I've also added you to my favorite profiles list. -Sword

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	1/17/1999 1:59:00 PM
From: Mike Perras	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 611

Great post Dave .. a few more thoughts: 1-) I truly believe we could make 50% on our money every year by staying out of the market after August .. watch many stocks that fall in October .. now a tradition & buy up the tax loss selling stocks that truly have value .. out of the market in January. It's all relative to which stocks you play of course. But some of the best blue chips fall every October & rebound. 2-) As mentioned, follow some SI people. Some really do great DD and offer great tips .. but no one is truly bullet proof either. 3-) STOP LOSS, STOP LOSS, STOP LOSS (should be #1 rule). 4-) Averaging down can truly be a killer. 5-) Buy nothing between 9:30 & 10ish. 6-) Don't ever be afraid to be a contrarian. 7-) Always pay attention to the news wire, the Clinton thing looks like it has zero effect so far .. but if it looks like he'll be removed, the markets will get very rough. 8-) Also wire stories can put a stock in play for a few hours & you can ride the news. A week or so ago Ticketmaster had a wire story about them buying into an auction company (hot of late) stock moved quickly as TMCS is already a hot stock (went from 60ish to 75) Just from reading that wire story that hour on line I bought at 67 & got out at 73. 9-) Know what you are doing with options & warrants! 10-) Don't ever be over exposed in one sector, gold, internet, health etc. The internet has many plays right now. E-commerce software companies, retailers on line, database companies, ISP providers, etc.. The net plays will be here a long time. Sure the YAHOO's etc will come down but there are a ton of net ways to go. 11-) Don't borrow money to play the markets, we have all done the margin thing & sometimes putting money on a credit card etc .. these can really work well .. but you had better be prepared! 12-) Have 2 ISP connections for sure, really can't afford not to. 13-) Giving up a great paying job is not easy, also be aware of what industry you are in .. you might be about to be downsized anyway. Always better to plan your day trading life on your own terms. As in when you are really ready. 14-) Everyone has different amounts they are prepared to start day trading with .. but you still need an income. My rule is simple, I need at least 6 months of my current income as protection if I go down the drain as a day trader. That 6 month dollar figure can not be used as money for day trading - that's your insurance policy. 15-) Never live or die on any one trade, the odds will always be against you. 16-) Explore stock splits as often as possible .. there is money to be made trading 6 weeks up to the actual split date & holding for a few after. 17-) My final point today ... "there is no such thing as a small profit, profit is profit" . Sorry for rambling on & I could go further but I did want to share a few thoughts, surely many have been posted already. This is a great thread & we'll all learn from it. Good luck to all. Mike

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	1/17/1999 6:13:00 PM
From: Mike Perras	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 611

Dave: Tkx for the thoughts .. I think most people 'if they are honest with themselves' will know just when they are ready to day trade full time. It's not something you toy with full time, you can toy with it on a part time basis & have some success & think this would be a great life. Remember it will be YOUR JOB .. fun maybe yes, but you will have to perform! We are all having fun right now, seeing some nice profits. I for one would have died a thousand deaths when Bre-X was taking all the junior mines right off the table. They went down & took the entire sector. So if ever there was a lesson to diversify you holdings that was it for me .. glad I wasn't day trading then. On a more serious note, as bullish as everyone seems, we will have another correction .. day traders have to know how to play it. The supply of money in the markets will disappear compared to now. We have a cash cow market to play with right now. This is not the norm. A few extra reality check points, Mike PS Don't mean to be negative, my eyes are open a little wider these days .. a few good losses does that to you.

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	1/18/1999 9:39:00 AM
From: majormember	Respond to of 611

>I am now looking for other firms....anyone??? Dave, Late to this party but Great Post! I had similiar problems with Waterhouse, am now with E*trade (good so far), used T. Rowe Price Discount Brokerage, was good but high commisions. Was told they were going to compete on commision, worth a look. >over the next 3 years lost $50K in options. Took me just 3 months. I was buying 100 at a time (real smart), but wanted to make a killing....instead I got killed. Had 165 OSTE Nov 30 calls (cost= 25k) expire. If "only" I had bought the Jan 30 calls...stocks at $45 now..LOL!! There are too many "if only" with options. Since I quit them, my trading has improved considerably, as has my bank. Right now I am daytrading more sensibly, but nothing compares to having your own business, of which I am exploring options. Skane

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	1/18/1999 9:08:00 PM
From: Harry Hamlen	Respond to of 611

Hi Dave - Great comments, loved 'em! I have been using Etrade with mixed results. Wouldn't consider day-trading without a real time ticker (I use DTN) and I like it very much. I use Etrade's direct modem connection sometimes. Forget about trying to call them on the phone. Hour and 15 minute waits are not uncommon. Until Sept 15, I'd never owned a stock, now just did my 350th trade. I think this is too easy and I'm in for a big letdown. We can throw darts and make money now but I think there will come a time when we're all looking for 1/16ths! Sell them all before 4 p.m. except, sometimes I try to anticipate a next day stock's rise at the next days opening and buy some the day before. I'm really upset that we small investors can't trade afterhours. It's like swimming with sharks who are playing with different rules. I'd like to make that money when a stock opens up 10 points from where I sold it the night before. I know it's possible but the guys who can do those trade for me on instanet, etc scare me. They want me to make 1000 trades at a time and tie up at least $50,000. I had Broadcast.com the other day and was up 2,000 when trading was halted. When it reopened, and after a period of time while I was trying to figure out what happened, I was down $7K. Then like an idiot I held it over night after watching it go to minus 55 points, what a jerk. Then I watched it open up another 72 points down. I was so di

To: Dave Gore who wrote (52)	3/19/1999 4:06:00 PM
From: Dow Jones Reporter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 611

Dave: I stumbled across one of your early messages in this thread. Part of it read... <<One of the things psychologists say is that day traders who get lucky in the beginning, perhaps because of the Internet frenzy, sometimes get cocky and feel invincible, and this is perhaps the worst thing that can happen. They may be destined for huge losses doing somewhat. I got cocky a few years back. I won big on my first options trade, but over the next 3 years lost $50K in options. I came to find out that 90% of all people LOSE with options, so I rarely do those anymore except for hedging against a long or short position of a common stock I own.>>when reality sets into the stock market, as it now appears to be I was wondering what psychologists were you referring to?