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

To: Mad Bomber who wrote (2515)	5/20/1999 5:31:00 PM
From: William W. Dwyer, Jr.	Respond to of 3216

M.B., Another very good question. Imho, Friday is the worst possible day to daytrade, especially Friday afternoon. Most traders are looking to get out of the market, take profits, be in all-cash for the weekend. Therefore, the volume on Friday is usually low and the sentiment is usually very mixed, conservative, maybe even bearish, maybe even paranoid. Not much going on and what is going on is cashing in whatever you couldn't dump on Thursday. Many, if not most, daytraders take off at noon on Friday. Only worse time to trade, I believe, would be Monday morning, especially the first thirty minutes or so. Market usually hasn't established any clear direction and I find it tough to do well. Regarding taking a week off between trading days, another good question, but I would have to recommend against it, too. Reason is, it's better for one to follow the market action day by day, try to pick up on trends, observe sector/industry group rotation and take advantage of it. Certain cycles develop and repeat themselves, and astute traders learn to ride these cylcles for profits. Also, if you establish some positions you may occasionally want to keep them open for a day or two or more, consecutive days, meaning you would need to watch them, be in the market, for several days at a time. Also, you might like to open a long position on a strong stock at the end of the day, hold it over for a possible gap the next morning, strategies like this, which make it difficult to trade for only one day. In addition, it's good to see which stocks run up in an obscene, absured fashion one day, then short them the next day, and so forth. Lots of daytrading styles that lend themselves to trading for several consecutive days. Finally, daytrading only once in a while, imho, would be like flying an airplane (in instrument conditions) once in a while, or playing the piano once in a while. It's a difficult and very exacting proposition, and one would most likely never do very well just doing it part-time. You might want to study and practice short term trading styles other than daytrading, such as position trading or swing trading using daily charts, get some experience, develop some skills, then decide on daytrading. Frankly, rather than daytrading on Friday, I would recommend daytrading each morning (or several mornings) only during the first hour or so. My experience shows that the highest and most consistent profits are made during that time. As the day progresses, the odds of making a profit on a daytrade decrease steadily. All this is, of course, my own personal opinion and I'm sure there are exceptions to be found for everything I've said. But, at least these ideas give you something to think about as you develop your own personal trading style and strategy. My only suggestion would be to treat trading as your profession rather than something you do once in a while. That's what casino's are for - once in a while. :-} Good luck! Bill