As I Watch the S&P 500

[Nakosis]

I'm trying to learn to day trade.
As I watch the market waiting to the right indicator to jump in.
Spent over $6K taking a course.
Learned a lot of theory, which now I don't use much.
Still it gave me a relative "lot" of information since I started with nothing.

All I have to do is decide whether the trend is going up or down.
Sounds easy but you quickly learn nobody can really predict what the market is going to do next.
I find learning the markets is more about psychology than anything else.
Your own and the 1000's of other people betting on a belief that the markets is going to go one way or the other.

Lots of people out there offering the ideal strategy to make $1000s daily (not guaranteed of course).

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Practice with money that you are almost certain to lose.

 

[F1fan]

A buddy and me day traded for a while back in the early 2000's. We worked together because we needed a way to offset the psychological fears and to discuss trades. We made money for a while. I learned that even the technology offers no guarantee on a day's profit. It was essentially gambling. When we started doing it alone we lost money. And there are things that happened that were out of our control. There was one morning where a small plane flew close to the White House (this was about a year after 9-11) and the market tanked in a few minutes. I couldn't get out of my position. I lost about $5000 in a few minutes and was freaking out. Had I put in a short position I would have made about $5000. Accidently I put in another buy order as it bottomed out, and the market corrected and I ended up doing pretty good for the day. But it was an accident, not skill. Had my real order gone in I would have lost big time that day. So I reconsidered doing this as the market is played by some big fish that we small time people don't know about as they drop huge trades, and the markets change fast.

I'm sure the technology is better today, but the instability of the market is still there. Like thy say, only invest what you can afford to lose.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

The best trade I ever made was when I moved the money in my stock and commodities trading account into a well respected mutual fund. Almost instantly, those highly effective professionals and those increasingly sophisticated software programs were working for me instead of against me.

 

[Vee]

I like DCA better. Invest a bit every month and don't worry too much. Long term strategy though.

 

[Wandering Monk]

If your investment horizon is less than five years, you are not an investor but a gambler.

 

[Revoltingest]

A buddy and me day traded for a while back in the early 2000's. We worked together because we needed a way to offset the psychological fears and to discuss trades. We made money for a while. I learned that even the technology offers no guarantee on a day's profit. It was essentially gambling. When we started doing it alone we lost money. And there are things that happened that were out of our control. There was one morning where a small plane flew close to the White House (this was about a year after 9-11) and the market tanked in a few minutes. I couldn't get out of my position. I lost about $5000 in a few minutes and was freaking out. Had I put in a short position I would have made about $5000. Accidently I put in another buy order as it bottomed out, and the market corrected and I ended up doing pretty good for the day. But it was an accident, not skill. Had my real order gone in I would have lost big time that day. So I reconsidered doing this as the market is played by some big fish that we small time people don't know about as they drop huge trades, and the markets change fast.

I'm sure the technology is better today, but the instability of the market is still there. Like thy say, only invest what you can afford to lose.

Whatever tools/technology you have for trading,
the pros will have better information & strategy.

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

Whatever tools/technology you have for trading,
the pros will have better information & strategy.

This is such an important point.

 

[Quagmire]

Good luck @Nakosis.