I've only been actively trading for 6 weeks but been watching for a fair while longer. Your posts and those of the other crew on this forum help us newbies no end. Like Kevi, iPod, YT, PJ et al - their talents are freakish :-) I'd give my left arm to be able to sit with them for a day and see how it's done.
OK, so far I haven't made a cent which is hard to take considering how well the markets have done. But I haven't made any huge blunders either. So far...
The reason I bare my soul is that it has been the information overload that has killed my profits and I would reckon there are a lot of others like me watching the day traders thread and doing the same thing.
I am so busy looking for the next winner that I close trades that I got into for all the right reasons but haven't let them have their chance to run yet. FMG is a great example, - I thought I was a genius taking a 10% profit during a one-day trade this week, only to see it march another 20 and then another 20. How do you tell if it's time to take profit or there's more left in the tank? Is that the eternal question?
Which leads me to my next point. I think there is a bit of a misconception about "day traders". My initial thoughts were that you belt in, grab something, take your profits and close everything out for the day.
Some people do do that. But a lot, including the most overt traders on this thread seemingly hold positions for a lot longer than I first thought. Maybe I'm wrong...
Even if I am wrong about the above, I think their plan is that they have a position in a stock long term, even if they sell overnight. What I mean is, they select a stock, buy in, get out at the end of the day but are right back there first thing tomorrow buying back the same stock they held the night before, because they bought it for a reason... chart was good, volume spiked for no tangible reason, or they've seen the same trend on that particular stock before.
I'm sort of OK with not making any money out of the 100 or so trades I've done (other than it hurts seeing so many others creaming it and a lovely little rally) because I'm an L-plater and I told myself it would take time to get good at it.
The upside is my selection of stocks is getting better. I found BLR this week before anyone else had mentioned it. Downside is I didn't get on it and watched it run, and run, and run - scared that it would turn as soon as I bought in.
So next lesson is to learn how to work out whether to get on even if something has already run hard, and how to keep riding and not get out when they stop for a breather. Is there such a day an an intra-day trailing stop?
What hurts most is that my portfolio now contains 5 stocks that I stared with on advice from other people, and if I had just held them for 6 weeks I would have made $20K. But I would have learned nothing I guess.
My ramblings above are just that, and maybe is simply a cathartic exercise for me to air them, but I've renewed my plan, taken a couple of teaspoons of cement powder and gonna harden the hell up.
If you've read this far.... sorry, but thanks
All feedback appreciated even if it's to say never post this much rubbish again, especially on a Saturday morning!
