daytrades june 23 afternoon, page-86

No worries Sinvestor, I'll try to answer your questions as best I can, but bear in mind that there are plethora of trading methods and what works for me may not suit your approach. If you stick with trading, you'll slowly work out what works for you and develop your own style.

CommSec Iress: yes, you can use right-click and click "Broadcast" to bring up all the info about a share at once but an even quicker technique is to use the "Broadcast" button at the top of your Iress screen. (If it's not there, right-click on the black part of the top of the screen and "Add Broadcast" - think that's how it works? Been ages since I added it.) The good thing about that button is that once you have the cursor there you can flick through a stream of shares just using share codes. It's a time-saver.

Reading depth: Personally I concentrate on the top three or four buy/sell layers because my focus is generally short-term. I'll look for evidence that the buy:sell ratio is moving in the right direction before taking a trade. However, it's a treacherous business in these days of computerised institutional trading. Manipulation is rife. Doesn't matter so much with specs but it's a challenge with mid-caps and bigger. However, sometimes you can use it in your favour. I doubled up on DOW this morning when I noticed that an institutional "blocking" order in the Sell queue had switched to the Buy side.

Daily charts: I like these on-screen because I want to know where the key support and resistance levels are for any buys I'm considering. I have in the past used bollinger bands and moving averages but these days I prefer to keep charts simple and uncluttered. But that's me - if they're working for you, stick with them.

Bottom-picking: Part science, part art, part luck in my opinion. Normally I try to avoid trading shares on big negative news mornings because there is no reliable way of determining where the selling will stall and buyers step up. The downside to a mistimed trade can be enormous. But damn they're tempting... If you're going to do it, load the dice in your favour by looking for technical support levels and significant positive changes in the buy:sell ratio. "Waterfall" sell-offs where the price looks like it fell off a cliff are the most reliable reversal set-ups in my opinion, because the bounce can be almost as violent as the decline.

Exits: PJ Simon might comment on this because he's in a class of his own. The best piece of advice I can give is to focus the majority of your attention on setting a stop-loss and worry less about picking an exit until the price has (hopefully) moved in your favour. Successful trading is first and foremost about protecting your capital and that means cutting losers fast. It takes discipline and can be disheartening but over time it's the difference between the survivors and the fallen. With my trading style, I expect to have losing trades most days. Today was typical - two losses, eight wins. Managed correctly, that ratio was nicely profitable.

That's enough rambling from me. Some - perhaps much - of the above may not suit your trading approach, but I hope something here is useful. You can go a long way in this game with just a few good ideas and good discipline. Best of luck with your trading.