Pony

DUDE! I love surfing! Best sport ever!

What is it exactly? Who judges it? What's better, master trader or market wizard, etc. etc.?

I'm a newbie at this, but it looks to me like it's in a slight consolidation phase, but it looks to me like it will keep going down. If it goes down anymore it's breaking it's support, so that will let you know what to do tomorrow.

That would mean stocks are taxed at a lower percentage. That may be one reason.

I think I found one. Nobletrading.com

"Trade a practice account first to get the technical skills ironed out. " What's a good website or software for practicing stocks?

Well, I've recently learned that lagging indicators are not at all popular on here. But when I'm looking at an intraday chart, I have been looking at the macd, and essentially, I just wait for the lines to cross, whenever they do, I either short sell, or buy long. I should also mention that I look at the day trend as a whole, whether it should be going up or down that day, and put the two together for the best results. Is this a terrible strategy? I should also mention that I have only traded stocks. I don't even have a clue how to get into futures, which were recommended as "stocks on steroids," plus you pay less tax on futures? I don't understand that, I would assume they would both fall under capital gains tax.

The third one isn't really against lagging indicators. That's like saying, "high school kids drink beer, so beer is terrible," when in fact, beer is awesome. However, I get your point. But you do not utilize them at all?

I was reading a book, and the guy that created this site had to have a real life job after he failed as a day trader. So, he would get stock quotes that were about 20 minutes delayed, and he would try to guess what the price would be. He learned support and resistance by noting a pattern of just price changes. So yes, it's possible. Technically, isn't all of technical analysis just charting small price changes during a certain time frame? The only thing lacking is a volume indicator.

I think in the sense he is talking about, risk and gamble are two different things. Necessities are not even considered gambling in any fashion, sure you could choke, but if you don't eat, you will definitely die. Anyway, let me reiterate something I recently replied on a similar post. If this is a religious problem you have: Jesus surely bought a hammer or two in order to become a carpenter right? Right. That's not a gamble. That was an assessed risk. He could not have had any clients and then he would have been out the time/cost of getting the hammer. Secondly, I don't understand this thing with gambling being a sin, where does it say that? Nowhere. However, it's understandably a bad thing to bet everything you have in order to obtain wealth, something that's frowned upon in the bible (remember the most famous saying of all "It's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven") If you enjoy wealth at all, technically you're sinning. If you put an honest amount of effort and time into doing this, it's not gambling, it's taking a risk.

Well, it doesn't say a single thing bout gambling being a sin in the bible. I'm not that religious, so I think taking much of the bible literally, is a bit silly, other than like don't kill/steal/rape, etc. I will say that in my profession I took some theology classes, so I hope you do take this into a little consideration. Anyway, like I said, gambling is not specifically stated as a sin, however, you need to look at two things: Work is considered "good." There are several references to this, specifically a deadly sin: sloth. Which is being lazy. Gambling in it's purist form is an attempt to not have to work for your money, but if this is your job, how could you be avoiding work by doing it? Secondly, the "golden rule" Do to others as you would have them do to you. Okay, in this situation you have responsibilities that need to be fulfilled such as putting food on the table for your family. If you are loosing money at the expense of your family, that could be another way that it's a sin. Taking risks is not a sin, I'm sure Jesus had to buy hammers in order to be a carpenter, right? Just like you have to buy stocks, or whatever you trade, in order to be in the business of buying and selling securities (how the IRS views your self-employment). Simple recap: If you're doing it as a job, or an honest thought out investment, no. If you're doing it in an attempt to "get rich quick," yes.

I own a few grand in silver coins. I was thinking about taking them to one of the coin stores and selling them pretty soon for that same reason.

This was posted a while ago, but what's wrong with lagging indicators, and why do they have them if they aren't meant to be utilized?

Is that true? I would just assume it would be under capital gains tax, which is basically, 28% if you own whatever you are selling for less than a year, 14% if you own it for more than a year.

At least I'm in stage two! I think you've saved me a lot of money.

I've been wondering this same thing. I'm new to this. I just got done with my third book and have developed my own little system. So far I'm about 60% accurate, and the forty percent are usually sideways movements. But I haven't placed an actual trade yet. I am putting a lot of effort to be successful in this, before I've even started, and it doesn't seem like it's rocket science, (though I haven't actually put my money where my mouth is) but you can't just see that it's gone down and say, "well that means it should go up then." I learned that lesson when I was 18 and trying that system. Anyway, in about two months, when I feel like I truly am ready to risk real money (and I still expect to loose a little bit in the "real world." That's all depending on whether or not I get my job as a financial adviser next week, but I can't imagine enjoying a sales job as much as just learning about day trading, much less doing it.

One more interesting thing. He was a professional poker player before he was a day trader.

So, I'm reading a book called "Day Trading, for Dummies" (you guessed it). Anyway, I'm only in the second chapter and the Author begins a paragraph with an interview of a very successful day trader named James Okada Lee "..a day trader in Tokyo and proprietor of the Traders Laboratory (http://www.traderslaboratory.com) answered a few questions about what he does and why he does it..." Immediately I was like, "Hey, I read those forums" and though others may find it interesting as well. His answers are pretty interesting. Especially the part where he says "...90 percent of my trading was self-taught through trial and error." Which is interesting, because before I'm even willing to put any real money on the line, I'm trying to really educate myself first. This is the third book I started reading, and as cliche of a handbook that it may be, it's probably the most detailed so far.

Alright, I'll give that a try. Thank you very much.

I would say bollinger bands help a lot with a major tend, if the lower or upper bands are repeatedly being touched, you're in a strong up/down trend. However, I like RSI to show short trends, as I don't think they're as accurate on long trends.

Thank you very much. That's exactly the kind of information I'm looking for. However, when you say MACD is too slow, I'm afraid I'm too knew to know what you mean. How would it be slower than the others? I'll definitely read up on how to follow those different types if indicators. Anyone else?

I first started short-term trading with about $4000 about a year ago. I had good days and bad, ultimately loosing about two hundred fifty dollars. I only used candlestick indicators to determine when to enter and exit the market. My account eventually was suspended (thankfully) for becoming a pattern day trader without the minimal $25,000 in the account. Anyway, I've recently become re-interested, and have been looking at bollinger bands along side candlesticks, which seems like it will be a lot more reliable than just the candlesticks alone. My question being: Which indicator/indicators do you use to make trades, and what made you evolve into using them?

these are similar to the questions that I have, minus one very important one. Where do y'all set your stop losses at? Again, I'm asking for this in a percentage form.