Thread: Day Traders

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 21 to 27 of 27
  1. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Va.
    Posts
    382
    #21
    Quote Originally Posted by 200xp View Post
    The majority of my buying happens between 9:30 and 10:30'ish. I have and still do buy in pre-market, but not very often. As far as how long do I hold, my first goal on any stock is 3% to the upside on a 10K buy in, if it crosses 3% I set a stop loss at that price. If it continues to move up, I will follow with stop losses in 2-1/2 to 5% increments, depending on momentum and volume. I will keep doing this until I get stopped out. Most of the stocks I day trade, highly volatile sub $5 stocks, I usually will get stopped out before lunch, sometimes longer. Some days they are moving so fast to the upside I just hit the sell button and move on with anything above 3%, my fear is being a bagholder when it dumps, been there and done that.

    On a normal day, for me, it is all over with by noon. I spend the rest of the day doing research for the next day. I do use scanners, low float scanners, volume scanners, momentum scanners, etc.I love twitter for social sentiment because it is instant news. I use stocktwits too, but not to read just to see the social sentiment, positive or negative, and their heat map. Buying attracts more buying, same with selling.

    A couple of times a year I hit a homerun, but that is like a unicorn. My current goal is 500 bucks a day over a 5 day average. I will say, compared to day trading, it is easier to have success swing trading...much much easier to chart a swing trade with indicators, macd, ema's, etc., and those stocks move for a reason. A strong, healthy stock with decent daily volume, the chart has a tendency to repeat itself so you know your downside risk. That being said, day trading is a rush for me and I enjoy it, it is an addiction...LOL.
    How do you set a stop loss?

  2. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    6,932
    #22
    Quote Originally Posted by Hydrasport80 View Post
    How do you set a stop loss?
    What platform do you use?

  3. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Va.
    Posts
    382
    #23
    Fidelity, I had a couple of stocks that went up very fast and dropped just as fast as they went up. If I had a stop loss set I would have made a lot more than I did.

  4. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    6,932
    #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Hydrasport80 View Post
    Fidelity, I had a couple of stocks that went up very fast and dropped just as fast as they went up. If I had a stop loss set I would have made a lot more than I did.
    Not sure how to set one on Fidelity. On most of the platforms I'm on, you can select either market, limit, stop %, stop limit, or a trailing stop $/%. It is under where you select either market or limit.

    Stop losses are tricky. If you are trading big boards with good volume, then they are great. But, if you are trading cheap OTC penny stocks, they're a lot tougher. Either way, you have to be sure to set them carefully. Setting a trailing stop is pretty tough at first. You have to watch the spread and set it low enough that you won't stop out too fast, and high enough that it'll move enough to turn a profit. Stop markets are better than stop limits normally because stop limits may not fill on a hard selloff.

  5. Moderator 200xp's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2004
    Location
    Buckeye State
    Posts
    8,190
    #25
    Good advice from bassmaster 96, stock can sell off so hard your order will not get filled, it it will blast right through it. I use a stop loss, but when day trading I never, ever take my eye off the stocks I have in play. I see it dumping hard I hit the sell button at market. I have no knowledge of the fidelity platform, but I would assume when you select sell there should be options. I will add, that strategy plays into the process, in other words, what are you willing to accept for profits? This is important so you do not get caught in a hard sell off. I will accept 3% all day, every day. Yes, I miss some monster up moves, but I also miss some monster dumps. Strategy is of the upmost importance IMHO.
    What we cannot obtain from intelligence, we can learn from experience.

  6. Member
    Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Location
    Va.
    Posts
    382
    #26
    I spent some time reading about stop loss.It seems that a trailing stop loss is what I should have used.

  7. Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2014
    Location
    Arkansas
    Posts
    6,932
    #27
    Quote Originally Posted by Hydrasport80 View Post
    I spent some time reading about stop loss.It seems that a trailing stop loss is what I should have used.
    I prefer those over a regular normally

Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12