Is Day Trading a Losing Proposition?
Thursday, April 28, 2011 at 2:07PMIn the past, I found day trading to be a losing proposition. I lost money day trading when I wanted to day trade. I find it to be the most difficult aspect of trading I have ever experimented with.
I usually make money on a trade held for a short period when I am buried with work and have only a few seconds to make a decision. In those cases, I don’t over-think things. I just make the obvious decision and usually it is the right one.
Leigh Drogen explained to me that by not having the goal of day trading, I choose the best opportunities when they present themselves. I pick only the low hanging fruit. Focusing on day trading forces me to do go for some fruit higher up on the tree, and that is where I would lose money.
Recently, we decided to give day trading as a business a second chance. We decided to think creatively and develop our own methods using experimentation rather than use traditional technical and supply/demand indicators. So far the results have been quite amazing despite not using moving averages, Bollinger Bands, level 2 profiles, and other tools. It is still early in the game but we are very encouraged by the results.
What is your experience with day trading? Are you using uncommon methods to day trade?
Written by Michael Bigger, author of How Traders Achieve Creative Flow.
Reader Comments (6)
Day trading requires a lot of finesse. Thinking creatively and using uncommon methods are paramount to the day trader.
"So far the results have been quite amazing ..." No offense but sounds like the preamble to a sales pitch for nest hot product.
Anyway you got my attention. Having lived thru the heydays of day-trading squeezing 1/8 and 1/4 points I can't quite get rid of the old habits.
Interested in your further developments with this project
Nope...No preamble for a sales pitch. I am an amateur when it comes to day trading. Day trading firms such as SMB Capital are in a position to do this not us.
I do day trade futures spreads using some unconventional methods. No TA or supply demand. They have worked very well for me. I try to create some unconventional synthetic instruments and trade the trend.
Have you ever witnessed a consistently profitable day trader?
Have you ever witnessed a consistently profitable day trader?