Very Quick Question

[CarpeUK]

Sorry for another new thread but I have lots of questions

Is SB the only way to day trade? By this i mean you place your trade at 8am then at 4.30pm the market closes and your position is closed out either in profit or a loss.

If not please can you give me some info on others ways.

Thanks
CrapeDiem

 

[FTSE Beater]

Hi CarpeUK

What are you going to be trading?
Most brokers will let you day trade. It might not be an automatic exit at the end of the day, but you can still do it.
The problem comes if your trading US stocks, as you have to have at least $25k in your account to day trade more than 3 times in a week. The same rule doesn't apply anywhere else

HTH

 

[CarpeUK]

Thank for the reply. at this time I have no idea what I am going to trade as my lack of knowledge in this field is vast I need to learn more about the whole trading business first before I can make an intelligent decision

 

[FTSE Beater]

In that case, don't worry about it.
There are lots of alternatives to SB, if you can afford to use them. Some non-SB companies require fairly large deposits (compared to SB)

HTH

 

[Racer]

CFDs would be a better way to daytrade as you can put orders on the book but you need to know a lot more before using them as it is margin trading

 

[CarpeUK]

CFDs would be a better way to daytrade as you can put orders on the book but you need to know a lot more before using them as it is margin trading

+
What is CFD's?

 

[Racer]

Have a look at the forum about CFDs, several other threads about brokers etc

 

[CarpeUK]

Have a look at the forum about CFDs, several other threads about brokers etc

thanks i will do

 

[ChartMan]

Carpe- first mistake, never never open a trade at 8:30 am..... That's when the Market Makers earn their Ferraris. The spreads are wide and can look like a price is flying up to the un-initiated. Wait til at least 9am... by which time prices have settled to their "norm".

 

[Racer]

And you have to be very good to make money daytrading!

 

[stevet]

it is easier to make money day trading - than it is by taking longer term trades

simply because you will be doing more trades - and the more trades you do - the more you learn about trading

and there is no such thing as overtrading - there is definetly a thing about taking the wrong trades at the wrong time - but you can never overtrade when you are doing the right trades - and the more trades you do - the faster you will learn the difference between good and bad trades

a bad trade is not necessarilly a losing trade - its a trade you should not have entered in the first place or held too long when it was going against you

and being able to take a small loss on trades that go against you is a key element of trading - it is much harder to do this and learn to do it on longer term trades - and it is also harder to make your money back on losses that you accumulate on longer term trades - simply as you are doing less trades so your profit potenial to mitigate losses is greater

if you want examples of why longer term trading is harder - just look at all the money lost by mutual funds and pension funds etc - and remember that intra-day traders were the ones pickin up those bucks

 

[TWI]

Come to Daddy!!

 

[Racer]

if you want examples of why longer term trading is harder - just look at all the money lost by mutual funds and pension funds etc - and remember that intra-day traders were the ones pickin up those bucks

They have big positions and can't get in and out of trades quickly.
I disagree re longer term positions, if you time your entries correctly then you can let your profits run (cut your losses of course) and it is a much more relaxing and less stressful way to trade.

 

[Racer]

And lots more trades means more commision and stamp duty (if you trade shares) so you pay much more in costs

 

[stevet]

racer

i know longer term trading would be more relaxing, and i know its less stressful, and i used to do longer term trading when you could do it - when it took markets months to catch up with fundamentals - but that aint the case anymore

if you trade for a hobby, long term trading may be ok, if you dont mind losing over time - but if you need to make money to live - thats a whole different ball game

and by the way - the more you trade - the cheaper your commisions - way way cheaper - and no professional trader would trade something where they had to pay stamp duty - no way to overcome a cost like that

 

[Racer]

I don't trade for a hobby and I trade long term and I do mind losing over time!
I swing trade... e.g. 400 points on the Dow or 10 to 20%+ on a share

 

[Racer]

Incidentally, I have daytraded, several years ago now, when the vol and momentum was there, but it is too stressful an occupation for little reward.

 

[stevet]

racer

as long as you can tuck away 6 figures each year - and can keep this up - year in year out from trading the way you describe - you are onto a winner - i tend to be a bit negative on this point as i have personally never met anyone capable of this - and most professionals who intraday trade always get burnt on longer term holdings ( they'd love to not have to work all day long) - so well done - and all power to you!

 

[Racer]

But isn't it true that most traders (around 95%), either day or longer term, lose money. So it isn't really a question of the type of trading.

 

[stevet]

Racer

all professionals trade intra-day - you might keep specific types of spread trades on for longer - but the bulk of profesional trading is intra-day

there are a lot of facts around like the 95% thing - but no one has ever come up with the basis for the fact!

i guess that 99.99% lose money spreadbetting - but i only know that from what spreadbetting companies say - dont know it for sure - so there's another unsupported fact for you

there are a lot of funds - mutual and pension - low risk funds - that are down 20/30/50% - but again - only what i am told - dont have the p&ls

but i do know for sure that there a lot of intra-day traders making 4, 5 6, figures a day