Day trading

Mr_Frugal

I have recently been made redundant and between my redundancy, savings and some shares have a considerable amount of spare cash sitting in my account (not very MSE as I haven't put it in to any ISA's etc - just sitting as cash at mo )

I have often considered (and looked at from a distance) the merits of day trading. I dipped my toe in the water several years ago when I tried a small gamble with £10k on Tesco shares (put it all in to 1 company - not the best move I guess) and got caught as the FTSE took a tumble.
I ended up leaving my investment tied for nearly 2 years so as to recover my initial £10k investment.

Was I just unlucky ?

Has anyone got any experience of day trading or any basic advice ?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in anticipation,

Mr_F.

Save&Spend

I was a medium term trader for couple of years - buy/sell in days, weeks and months. You need:
(1) You need a source of real time prices.
(2) Lots of spare time to monitor price actions of any particular shares.
(3) Read some good books.
(4) ...

Aim for 10% to 30% return - any above 20% you are doing very well.
Have to go now..

Chrismaths

As you have no expertise, you will be gambling with your money, not investing. You may make money in the short term, but many day traders lose their shirts. Nothing has changed since you last invested. If the market takes a tumble, you'll lose.

al_yrpal

Mr_Frugal wrote:

I have often considered (and looked at from a distance) the merits of day trading. I dipped my toe in the water several years ago when I tried a small gamble with £10k on Tesco shares (put it all in to 1 company - not the best move I guess) and got caught as the FTSE took a tumble.
Was I just unlucky ?

Has anyone got any experience of day trading or any basic advice ?

A lot of so called 'day traders' were operating before the dotcom boom. It was almost a no brainer because everything was on the up and even an ape could have made money (per that Random Walk down Wall St book). Lots got burnt because they had no prepared withdrawal strategy as the market withered. Lots of normal investors hung on (me included), and watched the value of their funds halve in three years. It was a great learning experience.

IMO, unless you have a very good knowledge of a particular market sector then it could be a highly dangerous strategy. For the last three years there has been a rising market, so in a way its a similar situation. Oil and Gas and Commodities are dramatically on the up, and other dependent markets are being dragged up with them IMO, to what I think are unsustainable levels. Presently I am reducing my exposure to such funds and getting into other areas which are growing fast, but not dependent on oil.

free4440273

spread-betting is tax free: it's just as risky as trading in 'real' bought shares, no doubt about that, but at least you can also short the market...stop losses can help...keep your wits about you - don't hesitate to close your position(s) immediately, even if that means you miss out on a greater profit at a later (foregone) date...(another way of saying 'don't get greedy')

schiff

To be successful at day trading you have to know (more often than not) which way a share price is going to move within the time span you want to operate in (that day, in two days, in a week, etc).
Even the experienced don't find it all that easy : without experience it's likely to be disastrous - particularly if you are lucky to start with and then think it's easy peasy!

screen

There actually is a soft wear you can buy to guide you through short term trade. It cost an arm and a leg but i hear it works like magic and tells you the right time to buy, where to buyand the right time to pull out. Never used it though

free4440273

screen wrote:

There actually is a soft wear you can buy to guide you through short term trade. It cost an arm and a leg but i hear it works like magic and tells you the right time to buy, where to buyand the right time to pull out. Never used it though

is it warm and cuddly? :rolleyes:

EdInvestor

It's very difficult to make money in the UK from day trading because the dealing charges are so high. You probably also need a very good "feel" for the market and that takes time to develop.Also the market needs to be a rising one.It's risky and far too much like hard work for me - I find ordinary investing much easier and probably more profitable in the long run, especially if you take care to protect against losing money.

This is a usefull BB for info on the subject:

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/index.php?

screen

oops!!! I ment soft ware...

free4440273

screen wrote:

oops!!! I ment soft ware...

meant software. it's not that early in the morning!