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Amen to Felix. Here are my 2 cents.
1) I have been "immersed" in the business since 1993. I have never met an
honest person who successfully daytrades. My current belief is that those
who do claim success have selective memories and only count the winners.
2) I daytraded for 6 months. I had excellent discipline. I had a tiny
account, so I had rediculously small stops. My win percentage was only 20%.
How many of you could handle that? My discipline kept me from going broke
since I followed my method without fail and I finally got lucky with a
couple of monster intraday moves that got me back to break even. I realized
I was lucky, since you cannot count on those moves when you need them, so I
quit. A post-mortem analysis revealed the truth. The truth was that my
method could not extract enough of an edge, given the capital I had, to
overcome transaction costs. Hence, locals and market makers can do it,
*because* they have near zero transaction costs. But, they have to buy a
seat and live in Chicago, or New York or whereever the market is.
3) Newbies will not recognize the truth because they do not have experience
and want to believe the fantasy so bad that they overide their common sense.
Many times I have posted that if you believed the ads and could make $1000 a
day on $10,000 capital, you could get 200% return every month. Compound that
out and you will own the world in a few years. If you believe that, *you are
a fool*!! The reason newbies believe it is because they want so bad for it
to be true that they thow their brain out the window. (Of course, I was a
newbie once too, but I finally got my brain back)
4) If you have read this far, I will leave you on an upbeat note. You don't
need to daytrade to become rich trading. Position trading with good position
sizing discipline and *time*, can make you some good money. Read the market
wizard books. Look at some long term trend following CTAs like Dennis,
Eckhardt, Henry, and Parker. These guys are for real, and they don't
daytrade. Collectively, they trade accounts measured in the billions.
Scott Hoffman
Issaquah, WA
>Daytrading is the mantra for the masses these days whether Cnnfn,Internet
>brokers or Wallstreet Journal (can't wait for Ken Roberts to come out with
a new
>daytrading manual) for another generation of raw material/supply for the
>consumption of the sharks (market veterans/position people).
>
>Yes, am sure there are some people who are successful at daytrading,but in
>comparison
>as daytraders as a group these number is almost negligible. Just look in
the
>mirror and ask yourself, are you that good? Really as good as one of those
>Daytrader Gold Olympians? Assuming you are one of these (Mark's regular
Lotto
>Winners,Haha!), still I don't think you can ever be rich, yes, make some
>money,now and then, but not become rich. Also be concern with your physical
>health (as in blood pressure) and (mental health as in burned out) as these
are
>really/definitely more important than any money in the world.
>
>Been trading ten years,my daytrading hobby cost me the most in money and
health,
>also the soul,Haha! Just think how many of the wizards are daytraders
compared
>to position traders. How many daytraders you heard really became rich with
their
>work compared to the number of people who do while positioning in the
markets.
>
>The only one way so far I can have good chance of daytrading successfully
is
>playing the
>box partially (trading against my own existing positions), then decide
whether
>to cover it or square the positions by end of day. But these are more just
for
>fun/laughs/kicks/ego/research than to earn a living.
>
>Yes, we live in a world of instant gratification, and people telling you
this or
>that is not
>going to convince you. Just take Mark's advice, allocate a certain fixed
amount
>of
>money (example $5,000.00) and give yourself a month to see and "get it". If
not,
>do this again andagain till you "get it", yes also in the mean time spend
some
>for education,make sure you have the lowest overhead as possible with good
>execution/fills.
>
>When and if you do finally "get it", you will know/realize positioning
gives
>you the better odds of becoming rich the bad news is you need more
capital (or
>decent enough) in doing this,as you have to pyramid, and manage your
positions.
>As it really takes money to make money.
>
>Anyone serious enough shoud pass through this stage before maturing and
>mellowing to become position traders.( as long as they lasted to this
level).
>But the truth is, the majority of newbies will get in and out of this
industry
>for a few months and swear never again!,so from time to time the media has
to
>provide new gravy for the food train buffet of the sharks.
>
>Luck is an evil thing in this business (atttractive for beginners,like
winning
>in casinos, will
>you then just walk away with your winners and never come back? Human nature
as
>it
>is, you will just piss it all away and soon!),for long term survival,
better
>win/make money in this business through painfully gained/learned knowledge
and
>experience, yes ugly ,but that is the real path, do you have this
perseverance?
>
>Successful trading is really as hard as learning to become a doctor, so you
>really have to be serious like (eat/drink/sleep) about it, to improve your
>chances.
>
>Yes, if you totalled the commisions you paid all year long, you might
rationally
>conclude
>its better to be a broker !! (as in percentage annual living expenses you
>paid/spent in a year).
>
>
>
>Clint Chastain wrote:
>
>> I have no reason to doubt that Mark Brown's response to the question of
>> daytrading the S&P is anything other than entirely correct.
>>
>> Yet, there are some people who do daytrade the S&P regularly, right? No
>> doubt many of them will wash out and be gone a year from now. But it
appears
>> that some few who try are actually successful at it, and presumably a
very
>> few of them actually make a living at it, right?
>>
>> If so, then how does that happen? What are they doing that's different?
Are
>> all the successful daytraders just incredibly lucky?
>>
>> Clint
>>
>>
>
>
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