Day trading

DankeyKang wrote: »

I've spent the last year trying my best to learn how to day trade through books and demo accounts, sort of at the stage where I feel comfortable now before I pull the trigger. Wondering if many here are day traders and if you guys have any advice for a beginner?

At the moment I'm doing all my technical work on Tradingview and I guess I'll be using Degiro for execution only. My concern is that Degiro won't execute orders fast enough for day trading, although I hope someone could correct me on that. What setups do you guys use?

The one bit of advice here is start with a small amount and money you can afford to lose. Real money vs demo is a totally different beast. Man people do well on demo and then struggle with real money so make sure you use an affordable amount when doing this.

I use IC Markets so cannot comment on DeGiro.

Thanks,

PHG

DankeyKang wrote: »

Absolutely agree with you about real money vs demo. My plan is to always trade with stop losses at 1% and never let a loss build up or hold one overnight in the hopes it will correct itself. From what I've seen so far I would actually say it's easier to make money day trading than to not lose it. The best "loser" would be profitable.

I am not sure what you mean about best way is day trading. I never hold overnight as touch on Indices but still may do 4-10max a week. My logic is it is easier to get 5 trades right than 10. But different strategies means different amounts of trading. I tend to place a trade and don't need to look for a few hours as set an alert on my phone if certain levels hit.

Best of luck with it though and keep the thread updated. Always enjoy reading the journey

kilns wrote: »

If you really want to get a good education check out Tim Sykes and then to really move on from that Steven Dux is a real genius

Interactive Brokers to execute trades, stocks to trade for charting and scanning

Don't pay any attention to people like Tim Sykes. He makes his money from marketing, not trading.

DankeyKang wrote: »

Absolutely agree with you about real money vs demo. My plan is to always trade with stop losses at 1% and never let a loss build up or hold one overnight in the hopes it will correct itself. From what I've seen so far I would actually say it's easier to make money day trading than to not lose it. The best "loser" would be profitable.

From these comments I don't think you are ready to day trade. Rigidly setting an arbitrary stop-loss at 1% could lose you lots of money if volatility increases. Your stop losses should be hypothesis-driven - at what point is the thesis of your trade invalidated.

Approximately 90% of day traders lose money. You're competing against bots and professional traders who have access to information and knowledge you do not have. What is so special about your knowledge or skills that puts you in the top 10%?

If you find long-term investing too boring, consider something in-between investing and day trading. One strategy is to look out for value points and let the market come to you. For example, silver is currently in the start of a bull market. You can let it re-trace to the 21 EMA and then enter with a tight stop loss. If you chase immediate gains you're account will get eaten up by fees and the randomness of the market stopping you out.

Day traders in 1999 and 2007 also probably thought that trading was easy.

Stay away from Tim Sykes, been there done that lost money. Newbies should not be starting with pennystocks. Look up livetraders on youtube. Hours of free valuable advice.

Anyone trying to sell you a program (Timothy Sykes, Warrior Trading etc), stay away, if they were so successful they sure as hell wouldn't be wasting time on anything other than making another million.

You can use real money but start small. Nothing wrong with executing your plan with 10 shares, then when you get comfortable losing money and paying comissions on your losing trades then step up to 50, 100, 1000 shares, you'll be funding your account again in no time!
But seriously, start small and if your thesis holds up see how you go with a slightly bigger size etc etc...

Day trading is a great way to lose money, it's also a reasonable way to make money.
Take as an example something that happened on Friday to see how quickly things can go very wrong. Look at the chart for SNCA, runs like crazy right out of the gate and then boom, warrants get exercised towards the end of the session. If you think your 1% stop loss would have protected you you would be wrong. Sh*t like this happens all the time, and it's legal... All the technical know how and chart reading ability, company research will not help in this case.

Stocks get pumped and dumped all the time and it's the little guys that get left holding the bag, that's just how it is.

Anyway, if you still think you want to jump in by all means do it but like I said start small and build yourself up slowly. Try (I say try because it's one of the most difficult things to do) and keep your emotions out of it or at least in check.

Don't rush into a trade, pull the trigger because you are reasonable happy with your thesis and that it's gonna go the right way for you. If there is any niggling doubts wait it out, there is always another trade just around the corner. Yes, it can be a painful thing to watch something go without you but the opposite is also true...

Don't let your losers run, get out as planned, hope is not a plan.

Stick to the plan, 2:1 risk/reward or whatever it is, once you hit your targets start to scale out or sell the lot, never let a green trade turn red through greed.

Stay away from shorting until you 100% know what you're doing, really!

I'm sure there are other pieces of advice I could offer but I can't remember them all :>)

I use Interactive Brokers, commissions are reasonable and data is something like $30 or $40 a month? They have the PDT rule though so you will need at least $30k in your account to start ($25k to satisfy the PDT rule and $5k to begin your career as a day trader) That's for an account with margin.

Good luck and trade well, I look forward to reading of your success!

Oh, paid services, there is only one I would recommend and it's the only one I use, Benzinga Pro, it's a news/research platform with a live chat, the traders are friendly and you won't be laughed at for asking questions. They have a free 1 month trial I think so check it out. I can't remember off hand how much it cost's after that but a month will tell you if it's worth it or not to you.

kilns wrote: »

Their platform is better, in the long run cheaper and you can trade US ETFs which you cant on degiro.

I don't think this is true, I'm pretty sure I tried to buy a US ETF on IB and was refused.

kilns wrote: »

Their platform is better, in the long run cheaper and you can trade US ETFs which you cant on degiro.

Plus check out how much of your capital is gauranteed under Dutch law if Degiro went bust

So how much of your capital is guarenteed if de giro go