| The markets, prior to this past week of March 9, | | | | for more only to have the stock retreat thus |
| 2009, being stagnant or drifting down, made me think | | | | eliminating the profit opportunity altogether. In the |
| about even shorter-term trading as in day-trading. | | | | worst case, the price reversal can take my position |
| The motivation was that I wanted to see profits | | | | to a loss situation. Assess your own level of |
| sooner rather than later (i.e. tired of waiting). I went | | | | risk-reward along with the magnitude of price |
| back to my strategy to nickel-and-dime the market, | | | | movement for the stock that you are trading. |
| literally as you will see. | | | | In the event that a trade turns against you, the best |
| With the market trend showing upward movement | | | | thing to do is to take the loss rather than to suffer |
| since the beginning of the week, I knew I could rely | | | | more monetary or time loss. In a few cases, my |
| on that underlying up-trend for my day-trading | | | | entry point was not at a trend reversal so my |
| actions. I trade between 1000 and 1500 shares for | | | | position turned into a loss situation. Rather than |
| my day-trading activities involving both long and short | | | | closing the position, I held only to see the stock price |
| positions. My commission fee is $7 per trade. | | | | continue to drop. Finally, it settles at the day’s |
| Therefore, it costs $14 to open and close a position. | | | | low point and sits there for a long time. And now |
| With stocks in the range $10 to $20, a $0.05 to $0.10 | | | | faced with a big loss which I refuse to accept, I lose |
| price change is very easy to catch as long as you | | | | to time as hours go by without stock price recovery. |
| are on the correct side of the trend (i.e. the price | | | | My capital is tied up without participation in another |
| movement). And the other nicety is that such | | | | trade. |
| catches can happen many times during the trading | | | | Day-trading using 1-minute periods on a candlestick |
| day. | | | | chart is similar to inter-day trading where the day |
| With a 1500-share trade, a $0.01 price change covers | | | | represents the period (i.e. minute candles versus daily |
| the commission yielding a $1 net profit. A $0.10 price | | | | candles). The big difference is that day-trading |
| change nets $136. The most accommodating trades | | | | happens a whole lot faster. The same methods and |
| happen in a very short period of time. As I see the | | | | discipline apply to either case. |
| trend patterns develop in real-time on the charts | | | | StockTradersPlace ( provides a trend following |
| along with my technical indicators, I can buy at a dip | | | | system based on candlestick technical analysis. |
| and within minutes I’ve hit my $0.10 target | | | | provides a "Stock Trading with StockTradersPlace" |
| where I close the position to pocket my $136 net | | | | companion guide. Empower yourself and show that |
| profit. Then I look for the next day-trading | | | | you can repeatedly execute winning trades using |
| opportunity to repeat. | | | | StockTradersPlace as an element of your trading tool |
| As it turns out, there are times when I leave money | | | | box. StockTradersPlace provides viewable demo |
| on the table by closing too early but that is the | | | | stocks for guest users and a 14-day free trial for |
| trade-off (no pun intended) between taking a | | | | sign-up to view all supported stocks. |
| guaranteed profit versus being greedy and waiting | | | | Copyright © Mar 2009 StockTradersPlace. |