Daytrading with Consensus

[AussieTrader]

Mbaugh beat me to it. Applaud you Eatinfish for starting this thread and sharing your journey, but if I were you I'd pack in the day trading and extend your timeframes into days / weeks / months. Stay away from the intraday noise and ticks.
Good trading

[Ares]

Hi Mbaugh,
Thanks for your reply.
That is Plan D.
When we started trading stocks about 3 years ago, we planned  to use $5,000
a year.
We look at it as our tuition fee for learning the stock market.
My wife and I are really considering the 3SOF premium.

[Ares]

Hi Aussie Trader,
It's nice to see you here again.
As I mentioned earlier, we are planning to Diversify and follow the 3SOF program.
However, I also like the excitement of Daytrading.
Those Market Makers are really challenging my intellect.
Just like playing chess.
Looking forward for more comments from you guys (and girls).

Thanks,
Ares

[Ares]

As a young boy of about 7 years old, I dreamt of making a lot of money in the stock market and real estate.
About 3 years ago, we were about to sell our condo and start flipping houses, but a bump on the road came in.
We became victims of a leaky condo here in British Columbia, Canada.
We almost filed for bancruptcy but decided against it.
We said, instead of filing for bancruptcy, let's keep our credit clean and try the stock market.
The plan was:
I'll work overtime so that my wife could learn how to trade stocks.
It was going to be her full time work so that she could look after the kids.
The company that she was working for closed down.
We enrolled at TMTT.
She got pregnant with our third child.
Her health was not very well due to her pregnancy,stress from the previous work, and other factors.
I ended up learning how to trade stocks primarily.
Stress was high as I had to deal with my full time work, learn stocks, deal with the leaky condo problem, family obligations, etc.
Currently, the leaky condo problem is fixed and the value went up.
People tell me that playing the stock market is gambling.
I tell them if you don't know what you're doing, yes.
Otherwise, it's a profession.
Almost everything in life is a gamble if you really look at it.
I bought real estate thinking I got a good deal at that time.
Got hit with about $60,000 for leaky condo repairs.
Thought that I got a bad deal and was tempted to sell or just walk out.
Now, it feels that I made the right decision not to walk out.
If we sell our place right now, we would be in the plus.
The place feels like it's getting smaller(because my family is getting bigger).
To me, buying real estate is just like buying stocks.
I buy it because at that point of time it looks good and sell at a later time  because it doesn't look good anymore.
Buying and selling real estate or stocks you have control if you want to sell it or not.
Gambling on the other hand, depends on chance.
You hope for that dice to land on your favour or get a good card.
Hope and chance is just some of the difference between gambling and trading.
When our third baby was born, we had to decide whether or not my wife should go back to work.
We decided for her to stay home and look after the kids.
We have 3 boys ages 14,7,and almost 2 (as of February 19, 2007)
Our reasoning was:
Money could always be earned one day but we cannot turn back time (this was the reason why she became so upset with me. I ended up spending more time learning stocks than having quality time with my family.)
My wife is feeling a little better now and is planning to look into trading the stock market.
She showed interest in the 3SOF program.
She even suggested that we can use her allowance to pay for the premium service.
Financially, it's tough to be a one income earner.
But, I would rather do something that to wait around for things to happen.
I don't want my children's children to go through what we went through.
One of the experience that comes to mind was the feeling I felt when my family were inhaling the fumes while the condo was under repair.
Our privacy was invaded and we felt like prisoners (the mesh that was covering the building was blocking our view and the sun.)
I was really concerned for my wife's health, the baby (that was still in her tummy at that time), and my 2 boys.
One of my goals for writing this is hopefully, somene else reading this will not make the same mistake I did.
I would be really happy if I found out that even only one's family is spared from breaking up.

Will continue this later.

[rickjust]

hi,
applause for putting yourself out there like that . it is tough, and when you started i wanted to say that you should just follow 3sof picks. but if you are playing with holiday money and you are learning (who isn't) then enjoy the ride.
in my experience though a lot of little losses mount up and turn into bigger losses. $50 here $100 there, next thing you know you lost all your money, (i have done that too.) the emotion of it all will hurt you in the end. you can't be neutral about anything , there are no thoughts that are neutral so emotion will always be a part of it.
so , on a technical level , do you use medved quotetracker.? if so add the support resistance pivot lines to your 5 minute chart. these are very good indicators to use for day trading or for position entry and exits.
glta
maxi

[Ares]

Hi Rickjust,
Thanks for your reply.
I'll look into that.
Looking forward to learning more from you.

Thanks again,
Ares

[Ares]

Premarket most active: BSQR,CYTR,MRVC,LVLT

[Ares]

If you would like to see what's going inside my head.
Check out CYTR's thread at Stock Picking.

[Ares]

My wife is asking me right now if I could change Eatinfolikefish into another username.
How do I do it?
I picked that name in haste around 2005 thinking I won't be hanging around at 3SOF.
She just told me I might as well have called my name mackerel or salmon.

[Ares]

Well, another trading day is finished.
The 15,000 seller at INET seemed to have been taken out at the last minute.
Good luck to long term holders of CYTR.
In CYTR at: 3.82 x 1,000 shares = $3,820
Out CYTR at 4.08 x 1,000 shares = $4,080
P/L = $260
commission = $20
Profit - commission = $240
I'm not going to include this in the calculation of the running total because It was not part of Plan A, or B.
I went in when it tanked, when it created a Big red volume that did not push the price down any further but instead created a higher high.
When it created a higher high, I placed a bid on an ECN at the previous high of 3.82.
I could have have gotten out earlier but ended up sitting through consolidation period.
I was expecting a bigger run.
I wanted to get in again at 4.01 at the second tank but decided against it.
Only 300 shares would have been excecuted anyway if ever.
Got out just before the market closed at 4.08 and sold into demand.
I was wondering if ever that INET Big Seller was going to get done
I did not take my chances (for the daytrade part but it still looked good for the long term)
Sure enough about 15,000 on the green was printed on the time and sales just before the market closed (on a friday too).

[wrangler]

Hi Eatinfolikefish
  While reading you're thread I noticed you pay 20.00 in commissions also noticed you said you live in Canada.
Reason is the commissions seem high, is that the average for someone living in Canada. If not you might want to check for lower commission from some other discount broker. Commissions can eat you're profits big time if you trade a lot.
A little lesson for you to watch out for while you trade. Never buy within the first hour of market opening. Watch a stocks price for the first 1/2 hour if market markers are going to play with it, it will begin to drop back down after first 1/2 hour that will be the daytraders taking their profit. If price doesn't drop back down then wait for the end of the next 1/2 hour which will be the end of the first hour and if price continues to make new highs then jump on and plan you're trade for the day.
Around 1:00 to 2:00 stocks will begin to idle because that is when the players on the floor begin to take their lunch and action usually will begin to pick back up after that and if a stock begins to come back down after that, usually the rally is over for the day and might come back up a little in the last half hour of the trading day but if it's a strong rally the price will just keep right on going with strong volume still coming in and that is a good sign that rally will continue the next day especially if it ends at the high of the day with 2 or more times the average daily volume.
You probably already know this but thought I might add it in case you didn't.
Goodluck trading

[Ares]

Hi Wrangler,
The commission that I entered is a round trip. 9.95 + ECN fees to buy and another 9.95 + ECN fees to sell. Just rounded off the numbers for easier calculation.
About Trading Hours.
Thanks. I do know about them.
As far as I know, the first hour is called the amateur hour.
This is the best time for day traders.
This is what I used to do:
I usually let the market orders flush out from 6:35am to 6:45am (my time)
I get in while the volatility is High.
Wait for a counter Trend and get in again on another stock that shows opportunity.
Take a rest or do something else during consolidation period (when most people are on lunch at wall street)
Go back in at 12pm( my time) for the end of day shakeout.
A lot of times I end up still sitting in the computer even though I know nothings happening much anymore.
In the case of CYTR, I tried to get to know this stock and wrote down my comments under stock picks.
I felt like I was in a chess game with that stock.
With regards to my broker, I use Tradefreedom.
It's a direct access broker where you could trade pre and post market if you want.
You could also place a buy on the bid and sell at the offer.
Looking forward to your comments about my analysis.

Thanks again,
Ares

[Ares]

The best trade that I've seen so far was when I was in the Cybertrading University on-line class.
I saw a short squeeze in action.
There was this stock that closed at about $18 the previous day with news at post market that it was going to file for bankruptcy.
It opened on trading day with gap down of about $8
Some traders in class jumped in at about $8
It went up to about $22 that day
Fundamentally, it didn't make sense.
Technically, it did.
I tried to follow the rules but ended up holding stocks overnight which was a big NO,NO.
Self control was a big factor.
It still is but a little better.
One of the main reasons I write this journal is that if I make a bad decision, someone reading this could give their comments and hopefully keep me in line.
I later found out that some of the stocks being traded there were uptrending long term but a lot were going downhill (longterm).
Probably, the main reason we were taught not to hold overnight.

My vision is to be able to combine:

1 TMTT (taught me the basics - combines fundamental and technical analysis)

2 Cybertrading University(Fast paced - if you're not fast enough on your entry, other classmates are selling to you already while you're still buying)

3 Stockscores (I just attended a free introduction workshop but liked the idea)

4 3SOF (found a wealth of information in it - a gold mine)
The reason I like the 3SOF Methodology is because it combines Fundamental and Technical Analysis.
It's way more inexpensive than taking a course at TMTT.
It has a lot of Experienced traders in it that brainstorms everyday.
We have a sense of community in here where traders help other traders by sharing their ideas through different forums on the message board.

5 and other schools to trade WITH them (Thus, Daytrading with Consensus)

Note: The order from 1 to 4 is the order I learnt trading (not necessarily the most important)

[Ares]

My plan was to:
Wake up 6am and out of the computer by 8am.
If I make my $250 for the day, I'm done.
If not, go back at 12pm  to 1pm and try to make it there.
I haven't been able to follow this.
I end up sitting in front of the computer longer than I should.
There's just too much to learn.
I really enjoy reading and watching stocks.

[Ares]

Earlier, my wife asked me how many people go on-line at the 3SOF.
I told her that it has over 8,000 members.
I said,
Can you imagine if those members buy even just 100 shares of the same stock at the same time?
Combine that with other trading schools that's looking at that same stock and buying at the same too.
That's Institutional Volume!