What was your experience with day trading? A question for those that have tried day trading?
I am considering taking a course for around 0 u.s. dollars that comes with software. Its a 2 day seminar with 25 people where you learn to day trade and the guy who does it is very conservative and very successful with it. I am not trying to get rich doing it but would like to have a goal of 150 dollars a day on average. I have about 20,000 in the bank to work with. I know a lot of people are negative about day trading but there must be people making money out there. What was your experience with day trading and did you go to a seminar to learn? Thank you.
Please do not try and sell me on a course or website.
Comments
I am an active trader (have done "some day") so I speak from experience.
First of all…i think if you want to give the seminar guy a present of $950, you should send it and skip the class. It’s worthless. SEC requires you to place 25K in a brokerage account before you day trade, and if you do that…your broker has all the tools you need to daytrade FOR FREE!
Use that money to buy extra computer monitors, which you will need.
But anyway, here’s the problem with daytrading-
If you decide you want to do it you will have to
1- sit at the computer all day
2- stay committed to momentum riding (up or down)
3-understand that your gains vary
4-your blood pressure may suffer
The central problem is the momentum riding. Because day trading is so rapid and volatile, by daytrading, you are basically saying that you’re committed to following the crowd, whereever it goes, for better or worse. Day trading doesn’t allow for any research and does not allow for the substantial benefits of going long"er".
I trade alot, but sometimes, I have to hold a stock for more than a day, maybe a few days, maybe a week or two or longer in order to see some decent returns. My thinking is "why sell just because the stock went up $.50 cents when if I hold it for a week or two, it’ll go up 5 dollars?"
That’s my issue with day trading. But, if you want to do it, at least try it so you can know for sure whether or not it’s right for you.
June 30th, 2010 at 2:13 am
I’m not going to talk you out of day trading, I ran a firm that had traders in various markets, who acted as in-house proprietary position traders, specialist, market makers, and dealers. But I hope you’re not going to be dependent on green lights, red lights or arrows.
All our traders worked in trading departments, on various floors in various makets, and traded various products, all the traders had years of experience. This is how we all made it in trading, not of them ever attended a seminar, (some gave them).
You can not learn in 2 days, what most traders do, and spent years doing it.
$150 a day, is not worth entering the order, you should set your goals for at least $10,000 a month.
By the rules & regs. to be a day trader you need a margin account that maintains minimum equity of $25,000.
If your going to trade/invest you must have the following, if you don’t, you’ll never have any success.
1 – A written sound trading/investment plan with rules that will not only help you but more importantly protect you, mostly from yourself.
2 – Sufficient trading/investment capital. Use your own money, there’s no need to go into debt so that you trade/invest.
3 – A written money management program in place.
4 – A full and complete understanding of the rules & regulations of the industry.
If you can do all of this in two days, you’re amazing but to be a decent trader you will have these four item in place, a professional considers them a way of life.
From the voice of experience, there may be other avenues you should try before you go buying packages, but you’re at least trying to better yourself
You do what you have to do to get you where you want to go, don’t let anyone ever talk you out of it, especially those that have never done anything to better themselves.
Good luck