Day Trading Screenshots, January 16th and 17th 2008
For those who don’t know yet, I finally have gotten to start trading again after being off the saddle for literally over a year. Attorney fees have just eaten me alive with the patent and after paying down debt I have amassed a whopping $4,000 to trade with again ($8k with margin).
I can’t go all out day trading yet until I get my account up to $25k (apparently according to SEC regulation if you make more then 3 round trips in a 5 day span you are classified as a pattern day trader). Anyway, I’ve made three trades the last two days and figured they can serve as education.
First Trade is FSLR, extremely oversold on the MACD yesterday morning when the market tanked. Yielded just over 2%,
Click to ViewAfter selling taking my profit I then went short a few minutes later to play the downside on FSLR just before heading out the door (I teach 3 - 6 year olds how to play ice hockey). I wanted a 4 point spread again but lucky for me leaving made me take profits with just 3 or just under 2%.
Click to ViewAfter this trade I wasn’t allowed to day trade anymore in my account. So, I bought some BIDU at the close yesterday when the market sold off heavily and looked for the stock to climb back towards $300 (technical resistance). Lucky me the stock gapped at the open and I took BIDU for 3.5 points or just over 1%. For those who watched BIDU today the stock closed at $264.99.
Click to ViewI have no idea when I will be able to get my account up to $25,000 cash. I am 21 now so I figure I got some time to work on that. Anyone else here day trade?
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no.. even me too started at the same position as yours at $5K 6 months before. I pulled that to $15k and currently trying to push to $25k and start day trading. All the best.
I personally don’t on a regular basis but I’ve definitely bought some QID and sold intraday lately to offset the long positions in my portfolio. I missed the bloodbath today as I looked at the market around noon EST and it wasn’t terrible… wasn’t great but definitely wasn’t down 300 points.. but I went to the gym instead.
Trader Mike has a chart of the T2108 that shows it’s hovering near that magic number 20, which usually signals at least short-term reversal in negative sentiment. Another down day tomorrow could push it through 20 which has been a pretty decent indicator that we’ll see a pop shortly thereafter.
Well it depends really. If it already moves 10-20%, I’ll get out like 3/4 of my total position (and since I trade options, that happens quite a lot with sometimes less than a day holding).
I’m 21 too, after pushing my account through the roof since last May, I’m now back when I started (because all the carnage in the past several weeks). One can be mistaken as a genius in a bull market
“One can be mistaken as a genius in a bull market” mid to late 1990s anyone
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Blain, when does the MACD represent oversold? Wouldn’t the RSI indicator be better for that?
FT, one each stock the reading is different, and what I do is take the lowest reading on the MACD over the past 5 days, then use that as my benchmark. So for example that first FSLR trade that MACD reading was even lower then anything the last 5 days.
As for RSI I use it as well but not to determine distinct flow trends. The MACD takes longer to move whereas one minute of strong buying could push the RSI oversold or overbought.
Do you use the reverse of the 5 day low MACD to determine when to sell?
I’m still trying to find my way to success in day trading. I find myself moving to ETFs. I bought some SKF yesterday at 121.08 and more today at 122.93 and 125.76. Currently trading at 130.20.
Just bought some SRS at 138.99 with a first objective of 145 and a stop at 129.99. Probably not the risk reward ratio that people look for but given the state of the market, I’m comfortable with it.
I do not no, determining when to sell is based off hitting my target price and watching momentum. Especially in this market, I don’t like to screw around and wait to see if a stock will rally higher because most likely it will turn south again quickly. Typically I set targets of on average 1.5 - 2% above my purchase price.
Nice plays on SKF and SRS
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