Day Trading

Howdy

Are there any day traders on the forum?
Or even very active traders.
Got some time in between properties and looking to do a bit of active trading.
I understand the risks and have traded before, but never actively ( 15+ trades a week)
Whats a good capital amount and in what lots do you trade?

Cheers
 
Hi Zimby,

I do a little bit with Options on the ASX. Success varies month to month.
I'm playing with $3-$5k positions. Sometimes in and out over 2 days, others I'll hold for 10 days or so.
 
I tried day trading about 3 years ago when one of the trading platforms had 30 free trades. Did a bit of research but didn't spend more than I was prepared to lose. Was a lot more difficult than expected as I didn't have the time to invest in it properly so was gambling more than anything. Made a little on all my trades except for one which I still hold to this day as I bought in at $500 and it soon dropped so much that it wasn't worth selling. Think I'd get about $40 for the shares now...
 
The bigger the amount the better. i'd say an absolute minimum of 2k a position. reason being commission drag from your brokerage fee's. Try and keep them as low as possible. Don't play with money you don't want to lose! I have never day traded, just short to medium term stuff. But i do follow the market very closely.

I don't have the discipline to day trade just yet, too much smoke and mirrors and very difficult to know when to get off.
 
The answer to this question will be different for each individual. I would suggest a portfolio of at least $10k to reduce the effect of brokerage in your account. Learn about stop losses and stick to them!! These are the key to successful trading. Also set a maximum loss bearable with each trade in dollar terms. (Most suggest max loss of 2% of total portfolio per trade). Learn from your mistakes and start slowly.
Good luck!
 
I used to day trade from 2008. I was making about 5k per week on 150k capital trading mainly 8 stocks.We retired in December 2008.
Then I went to a trading show, found out about cfds and lost my mind. made some very large amounts of money and then lost it
I have spent the last 4-5 years dragging us from the brink of bankruptcy, rebuilding our business and doing everything humanly possible to keep our property portfolio.
It has been hell.
But once I have some resources I will trade again, the way I first traded, and NOT with cfds.
 
I am also in joanmc's boat - i lost my mind early in the piece with CFDs - so I took a hiatus and am back in force trading less and waiting for the plumb trades.

so i have gone from day trader to day watcher.
 
Does anyone here use any of the following resources:

Metastock
TC2000?
Roger Montgomery's FA scanner: Scaffold?
Portfolio 123 (US markets)
Valueline (US markets)
 
I did some trading back around 2006/7 when the market had not peaked
and was up one day down the other , was easy then , just bought when market went down and sold the following day when it was up, used about 10 grand on
trades , mainly one good stock , was making around $600 a week.
 
I used to day trade from 2008. I was making about 5k per week on 150k capital trading mainly 8 stocks.We retired in December 2008.
Then I went to a trading show, found out about cfds and lost my mind. made some very large amounts of money and then lost it
I have spent the last 4-5 years dragging us from the brink of bankruptcy, rebuilding our business and doing everything humanly possible to keep our property portfolio.
It has been hell.
But once I have some resources I will trade again, the way I first traded, and NOT with cfds.

which 8 stocks were you trading?
 
which 8 stocks were you trading?

There was RIO, FLT and CBA at the start and then I added in MGX, which was my favourite to trade, but I am not sure about the rest anymore. I have traded NAB, ANZ and WBC but they were not part of my regular trades, also WOW and WES some I traded are gone. At the highest point I was trading maybe 20 tops but I always fell back to "my" shares.

I had watched a small group of shares every day for nearly a year before I pulled the trigger and bear in mind the market was still dropping as it didn't really bottom out until March 09, so I made some terrible trades in there too but as I was buying shares (not CFDs yet) I just held the odd position if it had a reasonable dividend in it.

Once the market started going up, well, making money was extremely easy, too easy in hindsight as it made me over-confident and I took stupid risks.

I can look at the experience now, see where i went wrong and I think I can do better the next time around. God knows I have paid for an expensive education :eek:

My warning (2 cents) share trading can be sexy as heck when it's all going well but if it isn't it can lead you down to a horrible place. It feels amazing to see a trade gap up and wow, you made 20k overnight! but I can tell you from bitter exppperience that it is proportionally worse to see a trade gap down and wow, you've lost 100k overnight :(
 
There was RIO, FLT and CBA at the start and then I added in MGX, which was my favourite to trade, but I am not sure about the rest anymore. I have traded NAB, ANZ and WBC but they were not part of my regular trades, also WOW and WES some I traded are gone. At the highest point I was trading maybe 20 tops but I always fell back to "my" shares.

I had watched a small group of shares every day for nearly a year before I pulled the trigger and bear in mind the market was still dropping as it didn't really bottom out until March 09, so I made some terrible trades in there too but as I was buying shares (not CFDs yet) I just held the odd position if it had a reasonable dividend in it.

Once the market started going up, well, making money was extremely easy, too easy in hindsight as it made me over-confident and I took stupid risks.

I can look at the experience now, see where i went wrong and I think I can do better the next time around. God knows I have paid for an expensive education :eek:

My warning (2 cents) share trading can be sexy as heck when it's all going well but if it isn't it can lead you down to a horrible place. It feels amazing to see a trade gap up and wow, you made 20k overnight! but I can tell you from bitter exppperience that it is proportionally worse to see a trade gap down and wow, you've lost 100k overnight :(

Oh ok. So how did you end up losing with CFD? Is it because you had too many positions?
 
too many positions, trading a leveraged product with borrowed money, and a couple of really big trades that gapped below my stops which is what set in motion the series of unfortunate events.
 
too many positions, trading a leveraged product with borrowed money, and a couple of really big trades that gapped below my stops which is what set in motion the series of unfortunate events.

Sorry to hear joanmc, when trading CFDs I use guaranteed stops to avoid gaps.
 
or just don't trade overnight....isn't that the point of 'day' trading?

i can't see how day trading formulas would work intra-day.
 
Does anyone here use any of the following resources:

Metastock
TC2000?
Roger Montgomery's FA scanner: Scaffold?
Portfolio 123 (US markets)
Valueline (US markets)

I've used Metastock in the past and found it very good.

I'm now using Beyond Charts+, which is similar and just as useful, but developed by some guys in Australia who are much quicker in responding to questions/issues. They are also very approachable if you have suggestions or requests for future versions of the software.
 
I've used Metastock in the past and found it very good.

I'm now using Beyond Charts+, which is similar and just as useful, but developed by some guys in Australia who are much quicker in responding to questions/issues. They are also very approachable if you have suggestions or requests for future versions of the software.

Thanks AS. I have spent many happy hours learning Metastock Programming Language. Obsolescent but pretty damn good, just the same. These days I mostly trade the US markets and use American based providers.

What sort of software tools do others on this thread use?
 
Interesting thread. Trading is something I'm considering but I'm a total noob so not quite sure where to begin. I acquired a couple of books to start with (by Guppy, Radge, Van Thorpe) which I'm slowly getting through - so that covers some of the theory, but where does one start with the practical aspects of trading?

ie I have a Commsec account, is this acceptable to start with or is another service (eg Interactive Brokers) preferable?

What kind of charting/analysis software do I need to start with, Incredible Charts? Amibroker? As in, are free ones sufficient?

What about a data subscription, does it matter which provider? Is free data available that is of any use?

Besides aussiestockforums.com, any good sites to learn from?

I should say I'd be more of a swing trader than day trader, and trading equities not derivatives. Only looking to trade long to start with (at this point I have no idea how to short stocks, can you do this via Commsec?)

Where do I get a demo account to practice and how long would you recommend I do this before putting actual money on the line?

Any wise words from those who have been down this path before? (Besides "don't do it!" ;))

Cheers
 
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