Thursday, December 27, 2007

Day Trading - 5 Important Factors You Should Know About Before Venturing Into Day Trading

Winning is not something that comes by fluke. Whatever the business that you are in, planning, patience and diligence is what gets you there, and day trading is no exception to this.

Day trading definitely is risky business, and that is why many traders fear getting into it. There are chances you will lose a huge amount of money in a second, just as there are chances you will make big profits as well. As an indication of profits you have made in the day, a green circle appears on your card, and that's what one loves to see! If you've made losses, they are indicated on your card by the appearance of a red circle, and that means bad news. If you often see these red circles, you need a new plan of action quickly.

Here are some ideas for you if you often see those reds:

Get yourself a mentor

Its great having a guru, someone who has experience in the business of the day trading. It must be someone who knows the ups and downs of the trade . He should be ready to let you in on his secrets. In addition,he needs to be an enthusiastic guide as he puts you on track..

Look for the following factors when you are getting into the business of day trading:

1. Monetary Resources. This doesn't mean you must be an extremely rich individual. You simply need an adequate capital to see you through your initial struggle. In addition, you must also have other means of income. A back up is always good when you are venturing into new territory.

2. Experience. You need a guru who can pass on some of his experience on to you. But it is unwise to rely solely on the judgments on another. Start applying what you learn to make your own decisions.

3. Personality. You must be a go getter and be bold when you enter this competitive business. It is not for the shy and the lazy for sure.

4. Knowledge Gather all possible information and useful on the subject. Get some good books and journals on the trading business. In your time off, look on the internet to get updates on the market. From the information gathered, it is important to select what applies to the stocks you have in hand.

An overload of information is way better than having limited information. Ensure that the information that you receive is applied in your trading.

5. Willingness To Take Risks If you are over cautious it may well work against you. Take a chance here and there, but remember not to go past your personal limit. The best knowledge that one can get is through first hand experience, even if it is a trial and error method.

Try your hand at different strategies to pinpoint what suits you the most.

There is a solution to every problem. If you begin trading with an attitude of positivity and have been properly prepared then you can avoid noticed red circles on the chart.

Day Trading Stock Symbols - How To Decipher The Cryptic Day Trading Stock Symbols!

Ticking symbols refer to the letter system which are representative of the stocks. They are needed to monitor and find security info. It is useful if you are offering a quote because you might be asked to enter a symbol for the transaction. These numbers and letters contain vital security information

The tick symbol of a mutual fund is composed of five letters that end with an "X". A prime example is FMAGX which represents Fidelity Magellan fund and the VFINX represents Vanguard's Index Five Hundred fund. If this acts as the funds on the money market, three letters ending with an 'X' are used instead..

Stock symbols which are listed on the NYSE or AMEX exchanges consist of three bills of exchange, while the Nasdaq uses four letters. But 5 letters are made use of in the case of Nasdaq when the stock contains more than 1 issue of a common stock, where the fifth letter would have a defined meaning.

The 5th letterticker symbols and what they mean.

A for Class A, B for Class B, C for Class C except for the issuer of qualification, the new edition by D, E on deposits SEC is delinquent, F denotes foreign, the first of convertible bonds G, H second convertible bond , I third convertible bonds, J denotes voting, K denotes Nonvoting , various situations L.

M preferred shares of the fourth class, N the preferred shares of the third class, O on preferred shares of the second class, P denotes preferred shares of the first class, the bankruptcy proceedings Q, R designates rights, S shares of beneficial interest,T denotes rights or warrants, mutual fund X, Y denotes ADR also known as American Depository Receipt, with Z for various miscellany situations.

Some stock symbols seem funny to some of us. It can be confusing when you get these symbols from your exchange.

Some of these are - AFL.BO invest a football locker room, CHIC is a trends stock, and CRZY is a title which is very volatile, CTCO.NS your money is being sought by the city of thugs , GEEK do something to oppose CHIC Stock, DABU.NS Saturday night lives must be avoided or forgotten, BNCO.NS honest focuses on the management of a company by a person.

EMCO.NS more disadvantages on a identity is moving, FUN investing stocks is both fun and play, FUSEX explanation is not necessary, GASEX mutual fund which is fighting flatulent, GODD people investing directly on future sins, suggests careful HIT because a hit decisions could be held in inventory, HUMP forget pump and dumping of stocks regimes, ICSEX speech by saying that it is lot better to see people dead or make love in Alaska, investor or IMAN MAN with a skewed sex, INSEX fund a lot of movement.

LMNE short of a title, because it could go wrong, LUV expression of what's love got to do with it, NEB. As likes stocks, stocks MORE.BO make you sweat, MRB.SN company is need for a BS_er what is good, MRFIX adding portfolio of the fund during breaks, PNSEX mutual funds strange golden shower, RATL toy manufacturer baby SRRY apologies to the stocks invested, URI multiple personalities stock WMNXX money market funds favorite by playboys and WSob stocks are becoming hot like sushi.

A little research will tell you what these symbols really mean. . Be aware, at times these symbols may be modified and changed so do remain up to date.

8 Steps to Become a Master Day Trader

Success in any form of trading implies that you are betting your wits against every other person in the market. Every penny you make is on the back of someone else's losses. This is also true for day, future and forex trading.

Day trading is full time job and you want to make your living on day trading in stock or currency, you need to follow followings:

1. It is unrealistic to make profit from day one in stock or currency trading. You will make mistakes and you need to learn from your mistakes. Do not get depressed if you loose money during your initial period.

2. You need to be ready while market is trending. These are great opportunity to make big profits.

3. You need to work hard to limit your losses while day trading. This is more important than make big profits.

4. You should always set yourself a limit on how much you are prepared to lose on any particular trade, and set your stop loss at that level.

5. You should have 100% confidence on your chosen method of trading. Remember that success is nothing but strong desire.

6. It's your success so learn to hold yourself accountable if things don't go the way you want them to. You should be disciplined, determined, persistent, and most of all enjoy day trading in your chosen market like currency, stock or commodity.

7. You need to do intensive study and master all the tools like charting, Fibonacci sequence, and technical analysis to become a consistent trader.

8. Best day trading tips are to manage your fear and greed.

Let's discuss more on trading psychology

The fear of loss and the fear of missing out are two fears for all traders.

If you sell stocks out of fear probably, you will fail to capitalize and recover fully on the trade.

The fear of missing out forces people to abandon their rules so that they don't lose out on another major stock move.

The best suggestion to mitigate these risks is to have a defined entry and exit criteria as a part of your trading strategy.

Other side of fear is greed. Greed comes from overconfidence. Traders need to teach themselves on how not to loss focus from their trading rules.

Use Multiple Contracts to Reduce the Stress of the Exit

The other night (Australia time) I was trading wheat and found myself long 4 contracts in an erratic trading session.

Sadly, I had missed the first great breakout to the downside, and felt that the lows for the day had been made. Eventually I went long at about 944 with a target of 954.5.

Now the first thing to notice is that the very best thing I could have done is automated my exit and gone to bed! This is the strategy recommended in my eBook whereby I would have entered a stop loss order at about 942, a limit order at 954 and a market order to exit 30 seconds before the end of the session. The orders are linked in a One Cancels Other group so that only one of them ever executes.

However, on this evening I did not take my own advice, and settled down to watch the progress of the trade.

Pretty early on there was an exhilarating spike up to 951.75 followed by a distressing decline right back down to 944.5. Then we were off to the races again with a move up to 953, only to have our hopes dashed as price swooped back down to 946. Finally, after much sideways action there was another burst up to 955 before a calamitous nosedive into the close.

I do not know about you, but I hate to sit and watch a session like this!

I still say the best way to handle the situation is to automate your exits and walk away. What you do not see, you do not stress about. But if you must watch, there is something else you can do.

In this instance, I was long four contracts. When that first happy spike came, I sold a couple of them just over 950. Now, even if price declined and hit my stop for the other two contracts at 942, I am still in the black for the day.

Once I have done this, I quite enjoy watching the session. I know I cannot lose and there is a chance of quite a big win, which is what happened in this case.

Of course, I have given away some profit. If I had held on I could have sold all four contracts at 954 instead of dumping two of them cheaper. But that is a price I am happy to pay to reduce the stress of trading.

Anyway, trading is all about managing risk. The stop might have been hit today, and if I had taken no action I would have been down about a dozen points (two or three points per contract, allowing for slippage which is endemic in the wheat market). By taking the action I did, I ensured a profit of six to eight points, with the possibility of an overall profit of around thirty points.

So, without being too prescriptive, my advice to you is to trade a market where you can afford to enter positions with multiple contracts, then carefully consider what your exit strategy is going to be.

Keep in mind that you do not have to sell all your positions at once, a point that is often forgotten in the heat of battle.

For that matter, you do not have to buy all your positions at once either, but I will leave that discussion for another day.