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Day Trading Stock Online: Basic Techniques For Beginners
By David Jenyns
Day trading stock online is real seat of the pants stuff for all
participants, but none more so than for the novice trader. The casualty rate is
high enough amongst experienced professionals, but for the raw beginner it can
be an absolute minefield if basic day trading principals arent rigorously
adhered to.
Just because youve made a few successful mid to long term trades in your time
doesnt ensure that youll be the next talk of Wall Street when you try your hand
at day trading stock online. Far from it!
Not surprisingly, day trading irrespective of the asset class involved has
been likened to extreme sports, with the only difference being that the thrills
and spills are confined to the minute by minute fluctuations of your trading
account. Perhaps the only saving grace for those who fail to plan their trades
in advance is the fact that no positions are held open, i.e. carried forward, to
the next day. If nothing else, this limitation helps prevent further erosion of
capital when a trade turns sour.
So what motivates investors to become involved in day trading stock
online?
A primary motivation of day trading stock online is understandably the lure
of quick money. Another motivating factor is that it isnt necessarily any
riskier than other forms of trading activity. However, unless thoroughly tested
and proven trading strategies are put in place with each trade, the risk of
incurring substantial losses within a frighteningly short period of time is all
too real.
Basic Strategies:
There are six basic strategies day traders use to make a profit:
Spread covering Technical
trading Scalping Range trading Playing news
events Trend following.
Spread covering refers to buying at the BID price and then selling at the ASK
price. The spread is the difference between these two prices.
Technical trading is simply the action undertaken by a technical analyst. He
or she evaluates securities by relying on the assumption that market data, such
as price charts, volume, and open interest, can help predict future, usually
short term, market trends. Unlike fundamental analysis, the intrinsic value of
the security is not considered. Technical analysts believe that they can
accurately predict the future price of a stock by looking at its historical
prices and other trading variables. Many technical analysts are also market
timers, who believe that technical analysis can be applied just as easily to the
market as a whole as to an individual stock.
Scalping refers to an extremely quick trade for a small profit. For example,
if you bought 20,000 shares in XXX Inc. @ $1 per share, i.e. $20,000 invested,
then sold them 45 minutes later for $1.03 per share, $20,600 gross return,
you would end up pocketing a cool $600 less brokerage. NB: Remember that when
you are day trading stock online, the round turn brokerage fees are minimal.
Range trading is a little harder and inherently more risky, but the returns
can be proportionately greater, too! If you are canny enough to be able to pick
the intra day market swings and either BUY at or near a low, then SELL at or
near a high you can often make substantial profits using this method. But you do
have to be wary, because if you buy into what you think is an intra day low
point, only to discover that the market sentiment has changed and that a severe
sell off is in progress, you could get badly burnt!
Playing news is the realm of the adrenaline seeking day trader. The technique
refers to buying a stock which has just announced, for example, a short sell on
bad news, the contrarian traders love this sort of play as they will be
standing in line to BUY the stock at the end of a short, sharp sell off in the
belief that most if not all the bad news is already factored into the market and
therefore there wont be any further downward pressure. The sheer volatility
offered by unexpected news announcements can provide the diligent day trader
with huge potential for quick profits, or losses if they call the market
incorrectly.
Trend following assumes that if a stock have been rising steadily it will
continue to rise. Admittedly, this technique is better suited to position
traders, i.e. where stocks are held for a number of days, weeks or even months,
but in strong bull markets some stocks will rise steadily for days on end,
making the intra day trend follower a very happy chappy.
Live Coaching
When trading on an intra day basis you need to take into account many factors
including: time of day; liquidity; pending announcements such as corporate
profit reports, interest rate movements, currency fluctuations; macro and micro
trends; market sentiment, in fact, almost anything at all that may have an
impact on your trading results.
So, if you want to radically improve your day trading stock online skills,
live coaching or even online mentoring with a recognized industry professional
can be worth a hundred times the price paid. Coaching can take place in
different forms including: in person coaching; online coaching session; or over
the phone.
If youre hell bent on being successful, but youre still new to the game,
youll be tossed to the lions unless youve acquired the necessary physical and
mental skills to survive and profit from day trading stock online. Do yourself,
your pride, your career and your bank manager a big favor by making the
commitment to learn as much as humanly possible about this fascinating and
potentially very rewarding form of investing, and secure the services of a live
coach to see over your trading. About the Author Discover How Nicholas Darvas, A 25 Year Old Ballroom Dancer, Turned $25,000 into $2.25 million ... A Remarkable Trader, A Remarkable Amount Of Money And Remarkably Easy. http://www.nicolasdarvas.org/
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Some other articles by David Jenyns | |
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