Anyone here do daytrading in stocks and/or options? What kinds of strategies do you guys use given the volatility in the markets recently. I just daytrading recently and usually sell out after about a $50 or $100 gain lol. Too chicken that things might go the other way so fast lol.
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Daytrading
- Thread starter kobe
- Start date
Commissions will kill you with such low profit margins. I've never had any luck with day-trading.
I have a portfolio of dividend-paying stocks that I almost never trade, and some others that pay lower dividends but which I sell covered call options against them. This avoids me having to pay attention to them every day, which I don't have time for.
I have a portfolio of dividend-paying stocks that I almost never trade, and some others that pay lower dividends but which I sell covered call options against them. This avoids me having to pay attention to them every day, which I don't have time for.
Looked into it a while back. If you're really good, you can make some decent money...but I couldn't justify the attention that I'd have to pay for the high risk and so-so profit margin. IMO there are safer ways of making that amount of money (to be clear, I'm talking about day-trading and not messing with stocks in general)
Get out while you can, op
Get out while you can, op
Unless you have inside information (Illegal) or a bunch of analysts working for you (Then you wouldn't be asking the question) the stock market is a gamble. By the time the guy on the street hears the news it's too late. Most day traders lose.
On the plus side it's better odds than a lottery ticket.
On the plus side it's better odds than a lottery ticket.
Trading fees at TD waterhouse are $9.99 per trade for ordinary stock market trades, assuming you are a frequent trader or have at least $125,000 in combined assets in your accounts with them. I have a trading account for my RRSP, and another for my TFSA.
You can make some decent money trading without insider knowledge trading simply on momentum. Pick a stock with high daily trading volumes that you know won't collapse to nothing, and trade on the prices swings that happen continuously throughout the day. My favourite is Canadian big bank stocks - I can make money when theylre going up and when they\re going down simply because their prices swing considerably back and forth throughout the day, and at the end of the day, the banks will still be here. They also pay dividends that enhance both your dividend income and the degree of price swings on which you rely to make your money. Making $50 or $60 dollars on a trade doesn't seem like much, but if you do that a dozen or more times a day, it starts to add up pretty quickly. Besides, it's also plenty easy to make more than just that $50 or $60 per trade.
There is no one magic formula. You'll have to dedicate time to watching for the probable spikes and troughs. A moment's distraction and you could miss big opportunity. You'll have to work out your own strategy to trigger your buy and sells according to your own risk tolerance, and then stick to it. People lose money when they forget to stick to their strategy and get too greedy.
You can make some decent money trading without insider knowledge trading simply on momentum. Pick a stock with high daily trading volumes that you know won't collapse to nothing, and trade on the prices swings that happen continuously throughout the day. My favourite is Canadian big bank stocks - I can make money when theylre going up and when they\re going down simply because their prices swing considerably back and forth throughout the day, and at the end of the day, the banks will still be here. They also pay dividends that enhance both your dividend income and the degree of price swings on which you rely to make your money. Making $50 or $60 dollars on a trade doesn't seem like much, but if you do that a dozen or more times a day, it starts to add up pretty quickly. Besides, it's also plenty easy to make more than just that $50 or $60 per trade.
There is no one magic formula. You'll have to dedicate time to watching for the probable spikes and troughs. A moment's distraction and you could miss big opportunity. You'll have to work out your own strategy to trigger your buy and sells according to your own risk tolerance, and then stick to it. People lose money when they forget to stick to their strategy and get too greedy.
I worked for a company that developed their own in house software for doing day trading. The Pro's have a real time view of the various bid and offer prices (Level 2). Among other feeds. This helps but not that much. HUNDREDS of people try their hand at this business and some guys would CONSISTENTLY make about 80K A DAY! BUT that is very very very rare. YOu have to have the right instinct for it and VERY VERY few people have it. It's kind of like Poker....some people are just stupid good at it while most people just end up loosing.
- Open a trade account (RBC/TD or any of the big banks...or small trading firms)
- Watch BNN, MSNBC all day
- PROFIT!
just joking...depends on how much time and how much do you know about the financial system...the stock market is not meant for everyone...(at least not now)
The commission sometime is pretty bad...but a lot of the bigger banks now have $10 commission if you have over $50-60K in it... or you can use the smaller trading firms...if they don't fold and take your $$$ with them.
Commission and taxes are 'nothing' if you're making money & if not, you can use your losses against your gains at 'tax time' and vise versa, unless it's in your TFSA - then it's ALL yours, win, or lose.
As long as the "smaller trading firms" are Cdn owned - there's no worry about them running off with your dough.
e-trade was gobbled up by Scotia (SMDI) which is now called "i-trade", and has lower commish than "SMDI" (Scotia McLeod Direct Investing).
To be successful at daytrading, you need to have an 'after hours account' and have the ability to 'short sell' any and all positions.
Without after hours access, it's not a fair playing field, IMO.
I've heard some ppl getting addicted to it and spend endless hours on it, lol
there's no specific strategy on it, but usually sticking to larger companies works for day traders. your trading on the market's momentum or ' emotion' not the actual market itself.
i used to do it a bit, not anymore tho...
i used to do it a bit, not anymore tho...
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