Some Questions Please

[AbeSmith]

Hello. I'm new to this site and new to trading. I particularly enjoy the trading videos and awesome advice I have been reading in this forum. Just wanted to say thank you for providing such an awesome site, and how much I appreciate the very nice and helpful people here.

Now to my question. I'm new to trading as you know and I just wanted to get some advice and also just to share my experience with people who are in the same field. I have so many question, so please excuse my ignorance.

1. I don't have the minimum day trading requirement and so I keep getting blocked by IB's daytrading algorithm. What I'm wondering is what instrument I should trade that allows me to daytrade without having 25k minimum.

2. I have so many more questions but now I cannot think of them.

So, thank you again very much for the nice help.

[AbeSmith]

Oh, I just remembered some more questions if you don't mind. I'm wondering, is there a way to trade the news. I mean to have a system in place that gives you breaking news quickly so you can be one of the first to trade a specific stock? This site seems to be saying something to that effect:

http://www.tradethenews.com/

[brownsfan019]

This is an easy one - Futures and/or Forex.

Futures Forum: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f32/

Forex Forum: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/forums/f24/

I recommend the e-mini's (ES, YM, NQ, ER2).
More info: http://www.cme.com/trading/prd/equity/
http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page/0,3181,1063,00.html

[MrPaul]

	Quote:	AbeSmith
	Hello. I'm new to this site and new to trading. I particularly enjoy the trading videos and awesome advice I have been reading in this forum. Just wanted to say thank you for providing such an awesome site, and how much I appreciate the very nice and helpful people here. Now to my question. I'm new to trading as you know and I just wanted to get some advice and also just to share my experience with people who are in the same field. I have so many question, so please excuse my ignorance. 1. I don't have the minimum day trading requirement and so I keep getting blocked by IB's daytrading algorithm. What I'm wondering is what instrument I should trade that allows me to daytrade without having 25k minimum. 2. I have so many more questions but now I cannot think of them. So, thank you again very much for the nice help.

Welcome to the site Abe,

Might I ask why you want to day trade instead of swing trade?

To be completely honest, If you are new to trading and begin your journey with day trading, it is likened to someone knowing just some facts about baseball and then deciding to play in a major league game.

Keep the questions coming that is the best way to learn!

[tony1d]

Since your acct does not have the minimum 25k for pattern daytrading requirements you might look to the futures markets. that said, you need to get on a sim and learn, learn, learn and develop you own style of trading. The excellent information on this site will provide much guidance and tips on what works for other traders, you should experiment with different styles and see what makes you comfortable be it scalping, swing or longer term trading. As you didnt specify your account size, for me, i believe you should only trade 1 contract per 10k of your account, this is less than required but margin is a rope that you can hang yourself with so be very very conservative and you'll find you can eliminate some of the emotional baggage that trading lends itself to. The need to make money will result in judgement errors and you'll lose for sure. Rather, make up a trading plan and stick to it. Trade it over and over and right or wrong, follow the set ups and plan. If it is the right plan for you, you'll increase your odds of being successful. dont get overly hung up on all the indicators out there and dont waste your time looking for the "one setup", as markets change (and they do frequently) the "one setup" must change also, simple is better. Learn price action and tape reading. It'll take a while and years to learn it well but its imperative you learn whos in control of the markets at any point in time. If you decide to learn to trade the index futures markets, they all have their own personalities as you'll see from reading the posts on this forum. Experiment to see which you're the most comfortable with. I have played them all and for me, i like the YM first, followed by the ES, ER and NQ, but thats just my preference. Its a long road to success but along the way, you'll interact with some excellent traders, very bright dedicated people and get lots of ideas. Have fun, take your time, get on a SIM and keep posting your progress. We're all here to help.

Tony

[AbeSmith]

	Quote:	MrPaul
	Welcome to the site Abe, Might I ask why you want to day trade instead of swing trade? To be completely honest, If you are new to trading and begin your journey with day trading, it is likened to someone knowing just some facts about baseball and then deciding to play in a major league game. Keep the questions coming that is the best way to learn!

I'm glad you asked me that. Well, to be perfectly honest, I don't know why. It just sort of happened I guess. Now, to be less honest, the reason is, that I feel safer daytrading because of the volitility of the marketplace, especially these days with the high potential of terrorist attacks.

[AbeSmith]

Now I see that eminis seems to be the answer to my question. Thus, as I understand, there is no limit to how many eminis I can trade per day. Thank you all for the very warm welcome and for answering my question. I'm so glad that I found such a good forum.

Now, I remembered another question that was bugging me. The question is, is it practical to trade the news? What I mean is, is there a way to get breaking news very fast so I can trade a stock right before or during the time it is going up initially. I found a site that seems to be suggesting that:
http://www.tradethenews.com/

[torero]

Unless you understand how trading the news work, I'd suggest you learn other strategies first before tackling this one. It's one of the easiest traps for newbies, very attractive indeed, but the losses and quick and deadly.

The other thing I'm concerned what you just said "there is no limit to how many eminis I can trade per day". This sounds like you're planning to go at it to the max. Start at one and watch your overtrading problem. Eminis and overtrading don't mix because in a few weeks, your accounts may lose 1/2 the value and in 3 months, might be nothing. Leverage is high but so are losses.

[AbeSmith]

	Quote:	torero
	Unless you understand how trading the news work, I'd suggest you learn other strategies first before tackling this one. It's one of the easiest traps for newbies, very attractive indeed, but the losses and quick and deadly. The other thing I'm concerned what you just said "there is no limit to how many eminis I can trade per day". This sounds like you're planning to go at it to the max. Start at one and watch your overtrading problem. Eminis and overtrading don't mix because in a few weeks, your accounts may lose 1/2 the value and in 3 months, might be nothing. Leverage is high but so are losses.

Thanks for the good advice torero. What you say about the news makes perfect sense. But you know, I was curious since when I see on CNBC when they report on a breaking news for a company and the stock has gone up and I wonder about the people who got the information before others and were able to trade the stock before the crowd. I was just wondering how they get this info so quickly. But not to take away from your statement of caution. Because as a newbie, I can see how difficult it can be to determine what the effect of a breaking news is on a particular stock and also when it is too late to trade a breaking news stock, and how long to hold on to a position or risk the stock changing direction.

Also, to clarify about my statement of "there is no limit to how many eminis I can trade per day" I didn't mean using the max potential of margin, but rather, to be able to do more trades than I can do now due to the daytrading restriction of 3 roundtrip trades in a 5 day period. I feel that I need more trading opportunities.

[tony1d]

Reminds me of my worst trading nightmare. I once traded FOMC news, it was a bullish report and i immediately went long Market order of 2 YM contracts with a 15 pt stop, I got a horrible fill and on a quick retrace got stopped out. Once it reversed i went long market again, got a horrible fill and got stopped out again. Seeing weakness and a desire to get "revenge" i went short the market and you know the rest.... 3 trades in 5 minutes, 45 pt loss on 2 YM contacts or 450 dollars in 5 minutes. disgusted with myself, i stopped trading, walked away and of course came back right before the close to see the market base and run up 100 points into the close with barely any heat. I have not traded news since. I do trade market reaction to the news after the volatility settles down and i see a clear trend if it occurs, that works well. So, expensive lesson learned. By the way, i "punished" myself for breaking my trading plan and doing everything i knew not to do. I went back to the SIM, practiced my setups and didnt trade for about 9 trading days until i thought i was ready again. Started trading 1 contract until i knew my head was screwed on right. lesson learned...