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Strategies & Market Trends
Daytrading Psychology

An SI Board Since December 2000

Posts	SubjectMarks	Bans
104	23	0

Emcee: the Chief	Type: Moderated

Introduction Compact

First: I'll try to get the spelling corrected on the header!!!LOL

Everyone that is a daytrader wants to be a "successful daytrader". Daytraders guage their "intelligence level by the number of books they have read, or the number of TA books they have on their bookshelf.

At best, daytraders treat daytrading like golfers treat golf. They will spend $3000.00 on a new set of golf clubs but are very reluctant to spend $25.00 on a golf lesson.

The analogy to a golfer is valid. I have found in my 11 years of semi-dedicated to finally dedicated daytrading that daytraders don't want to spend anytime on the one tool that is the key to successful daytrading.....emotion.

I have been doing this long enough to know that controlling your emotions is the key to daytrading. I started a daytrading thread on SI a number of years back because their was a need to seperate the bullshitters from the traders. I got tired of people saying:

"ya I bought xxx this morning at $22.00 and just sold 200,000 shares at $30.00"
Many were " excellent daytraders in their "own mind". The people that have survived the world of daytrading are the ones that "developed discipline and a set of rules". Those that violated their own rules died, those that could not exert discipline over their own emotions...died.

I believe that even if you have a "poor system" as long as you are disciplined and can control your emotions, eventually you will see the need to adjust your "system" and you will prevail. Without discipline even the best system will fail.

I would like this thread to be an open discussion on how to "control the mind" during tough trades. Lets create a thread that allows one to "spill his guts" and have a cybercry on what went wrong or what made you better.

I am winging this header, so I will add and subtract things as we go. Don't be surprised if I start adding "don'ts" to the subject so that we can keep peopl on track.

The thread should be for people just considering or starting daytrading and for those that are already daytraders.

the Chief

Go to reply# or date (mm/dd/yy):

Reply	Message Preview	From	Recs	Posted
104	Being posted to keep thread alive,last post was in dec of 2000. ****************	Knyyt	-	4/7/2001
103	<I>which is as useless as the information the forecast provides.</I>	booters	-	12/11/2000
102	Excerpt from Gary Smith activetradermag.com	traderjamie	-	12/5/2000
101	When trading concentrate on the immediate prospects of a market and ultimately t	the Chief	-	12/5/2000
100	Dan, Thanks for posting the link to the IB thread. I'm interested in them	Ken Adams	-	12/5/2000
99	I am amused by the various things I have found that can detract a trader from hi	the Chief	-	12/5/2000
98	<I still contend that too much "knowledge" can be a dangerous t	bobby is sleepless in seattle	-	12/4/2000
97	Guess I still trade by the seat of my pants. I still like the KISS theory. I use	LawStor	-	12/4/2000
96	Hi Chief et al, Many of you claim to ignore the information I mentioned,...but	russet	-	12/4/2000
95	>I never use the indicators you have stated russett, but that does not mean t	dpl	-	12/4/2000
94	russett said <i>Price and volume are but a fraction of what one must know.	the Chief	-	12/4/2000
93	< Price and volume are but a fraction of what one must know. You must know wh	Dave O.	-	12/4/2000
92	Message 14938270	the Chief	-	12/4/2000
91	russett, I, too, support Dans and Brandon's point of view. To me your list	Threei	-	12/4/2000
90	I think back to an interveiw I read with a trader from the CME, he was at the ti	Brandon	-	12/4/2000
89	russett, <I>Making money in the market is always more work than most of y	Dan Duchardt	-	12/4/2000
88	I'm not convinced that one should study martial arts to be a good trader. Ho	Nick Morvay	-	12/4/2000
87	Dan,... My long list of musts do not run counter to those who make money consis	russet	-	12/4/2000
86	I saw this post on MDD thread that I felt was worth posting here From Temple Wil	Vitalsigns	-	12/3/2000
85	russett, The long list of "musts" in your message runs counter to the	Dan Duchardt	-	12/3/2000
84	rok, Let's move the IB discussion to the IB thread. Here is a place to sta	Dan Duchardt	-	12/3/2000
83	technopeasant - as for stops, I normally set them according to the moving aver	couldawoulda	-	12/3/2000
82	This is what I do. First I try to think in terms of points instead of money.I	dpl	-	12/3/2000
81	It seems to me that your problem is that you do not seem to have adequate knowle	dli	-	12/3/2000
80	Nicholas; All depends on how you use SI as a "trading tool". Using i	couldawoulda	-	12/3/2000

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