Why is daytrading "not for beginners" ?

[Doomberg]

It seems that all the advice i've seen on here and other forums is that you should learn to trade on larger time frames, and if you want to day trade then you should slowly reduce time frames. Why does this seem to be the usual talk, in fact i've even seen people on here say that it's impossible to make money from day trading without some inside bank hints etc. Why would many have this opinion?

 

[Blaiserboy]

I think the advice could be inaccurate, I do not see any reason that a person should start with a higher time frame. I think the same rules apply. However, sometimes it is helpful to move to a higher time frame if entries are not working well on a fast time frame until the entries are refined.

 

[Balthazar]

Larger time frame - larger stop losses. Can you afford that? I personally don't mind but I know when I'm wrong and 2 ticks are my limit. Would I trade position, there will be dozens of ticks before I could legitimately exit the trade.

 

[Shakone]

Look, if you go to a casino, and you have the opportunity of betting every 1 minute, or betting just once a day, which do you think you'll end up doing better with at the end of the week? This is the answer to why daytrading is not for beginners. Beginners lose, beginners have no edge, beginners rarely even have money management.

 

[tradingteacher]

It seems that all the advice i've seen on here and other forums is that you should learn to trade on larger time frames, and if you want to day trade then you should slowly reduce time frames. Why does this seem to be the usual talk, in fact i've even seen people on here say that it's impossible to make money from day trading without some inside bank hints etc. Why would many have this opinion?

The reason a lot of people will advice you trade on bigger time frames as a begginer is it is a lot easier to define a trend and trade the trend on the bigger time frames.

Intraday there is a lot of movement and if you don't know what you are doing the marketing going to spend all day long kicking your ass.

You will buy and price will fall, you will get stopped out and think its good to sell since its going down, but then it flips and runs up again - another stop loss hit.

Your mindset gets screwed, you start to chase losses and trade eratically and you end up making up that statisitic of failed traders.

With a good strat, it is not hard to profit greatly from day trading, consistently.

I would strongly urge you to never trade under the 1hour time frame though.

 

[kwickwool]

There are somethings u need to work out for yourself and that is one of them, and with the correct money management and risk you should be able to find out either way

 

[Doomberg]

Trading teacher - why would you not recommend any less than 1hr time frames? Am i not right in thinking that most bank traders and prop traders are flat at the end of the day and mostly use 5m and 15m?

 

[15 min tlb]

It seems that all the advice i've seen on here and other forums is that you should learn to trade on larger time frames, and if you want to day trade then you should slowly reduce time frames. Why does this seem to be the usual talk, in fact i've even seen people on here say that it's impossible to make money from day trading without some inside bank hints etc. Why would many have this opinion?

Day trading per se is a losing game .There are many many factors why day trading has many disadvantages.You can't run your profits in day trading , not enough opportunities , some great trades happen outside day trading time , not enough opportunities in day time , too much change too quickly in sentiment.Just google day trading difficulties , day trading losers and enough negative search words

Day trading - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I have finally found an article which really sums up day trading.It is well worth a read.Most day traders are doomed for failure .

The Only Way to Day Trade

However, even trend-following tools that work in intermediate to long-term time frames won't work in day trading. This is because the trend component is so very small in short-term data that you must use a highly effective method to overcome the costs of trading.Tradeable trends do not show up often in the very short term. They certainly are not present every day. That is why the person who tries to day trade at least once every day, and perhaps even more often, is doomed to failure. The more often you day trade, the more likely it is that you will be a long-term loser

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/discretionary-trading/132606-why-day-trading-so-difficult.html

Day Trading Strategies For Beginners

There is no reason why a trader can't day trade only a few days in the week , when there are trends there.

 

[15 min tlb]

Look, if you go to a casino, and you have the opportunity of betting every 1 minute, or betting just once a day, which do you think you'll end up doing better with at the end of the week? This is the answer to why daytrading is not for beginners. Beginners lose, beginners have no edge, beginners rarely even have money management.

It is not just about the beginner , but much more to do with the concept of day trading.

 

[new_trader]

It seems that all the advice i've seen on here and other forums is that you should learn to trade on larger time frames, and if you want to day trade then you should slowly reduce time frames. Why does this seem to be the usual talk, in fact i've even seen people on here say that it's impossible to make money from day trading without some inside bank hints etc. Why would many have this opinion?

IMO: Whoever says this is wrong. Day trading doesn’t mean you must trade every day.

 

[tradingteacher]

Trading teacher - why would you not recommend any less than 1hr time frames? Am i not right in thinking that most bank traders and prop traders are flat at the end of the day and mostly use 5m and 15m?

The smaller time frames are just noise.

The best thing to do trading is to trade the support and resistence areas.

The S/R areas formed on the little time frames are not very reliable.

Generally the higher the time frame you use, the more reliable the S/R areas.

Personally I think trading anything under the 1 hour tf is death.

Also, its work lol.

With the 1 hour tf, all I do is check it once just before the hour each hour in the peak periods, if there is a trade on I take it, if not I leave it ... either way, I am free to do more fun things for the next hour.

Being a successful trader should not take a lot of time out your life ... which is one of the main reasons I got into into it.

 

[kwickwool]

15 min tlb, quite a few assumptions there? If a day trader is continually adapting to the market flow and conditions there are always opportunities regardless of market conditions. You talk like a day trader has to sit there waiting for a specific set of market conditions?

A day trader can continually adapt and evolve on the market flow he is being presented with and i find it rather amusing that one article is supposed to justify your reasoning here?

 

[15 min tlb]

15 min tlb, quite a few assumptions there? If a day trader is continually adapting to the market flow and conditions there are always opportunities regardless of market conditions. You talk like a day trader has to sit there waiting for a specific set of market conditions?

A day trader can continually adapt and evolve on the market flow he is being presented with and i find it rather amusing that one article is supposed to justify your reasoning here?

Human brains are incapable of processing information and applying it , under stress and losing streaks .The ego and phsyche is 80 % of trading , and the whole process adapting to market flows from bearish to bullish , several times is day is extremely difficult , when the day trading ranges and fluctuations in sentiment make it even more difficult to trade .

Unless day traders trade with trends , trend trading has 60/40 advantage , they are doomed for failure ....as there are not enough trends in day time.

 

[15 min tlb]

IMO: Whoever says this is wrong. Day trading doesn’t mean you must trade every day.

You are the only person who is wrong ,Go read.

 

[15 min tlb]

The biggest problem for private investors who day trade is the cost of trading. The returns that are needed to cover trading costs are huge if one considers that the profit has to be made in a matter of hours. Stress of day trading when your account is being mutilated with day trading costs and losses , interferes with the mindset.