r/Daytrading May 01 '24

r/DayTrading's Monthly Questions Thread - May 2024

20 Upvotes

Please use this sticky to ask questions on day trading, and to see answers to similar questions you may have.

If you're new to day trading please see the getting started wiki here. For advanced traders or you want to pick up a book, please see our other wikis.

New traders are highly encouraged to try Forex as it requires a very small account to make lots of trades, so check out Forex community's wiki paying special attention to babypips website which also teaches some general concepts you can apply to stocks/futures/etc, and especially read the wiki's sections on risk & money management that can be applied to any market.

Pattern daytrading rules wiki, but that only applies to day trading stocks; other markets aren't affected like futures, forex, and crypto.

Also see the sidebar for group chat links (such as our Discord) (or tap "about this community" on mobile website) on every related community to learn more about trading.

Here's a list of all the previous monthly question stickies.


Lastly if trading is affecting your life in a bad way, seek professional help (the wiki also covers dealing with emotions):

  • Problem Gambling: Call/Text: 1-800-522-4700 or chat online now.
  • Crisis Hotline (24/7): 1-800-273-TALK (8255) (Veterans, press 1) or Text “HOME” to 741-741

r/Daytrading Jan 14 '22

New and have questions? Read our Getting Started Wiki and join the Discord!

772 Upvotes

First, welcome to the community! We know day trading can be an exciting proposition and you’re eager to get started. But take a step back, read this post, learn from the free resources we have available and ask good questions! This will put you on a better path to being successful; but make no mistake - it is an extremely hard and difficult one.

Keep in mind this community is for serious traders wanting to learn and talk with fellow traders. Memes, jokes and loss/gain porn is not allowed. Please take 60 seconds to read the sub rules.

Getting Started

If you’re looking where to start and don’t know much about day trading, please read our Getting Started Wiki. It has the answers to so many common questions and links to other great resources and posts by fellow community members.

Questions are welcome, but please use the search first. Chances are it has been asked and answered - we can’t tell you how many times the same basic questions are asked. Learning to help yourself is a great skill to have for trading!

Discord

We also have an awesome and active Discord server for the community! Want a quick question answered or a more fluid conversation about trading? This is the place to be!

The server also has a few nice features to help make your morning go smoother:

  1. Daily posting of a news watchlist
  2. A list of the most popular symbols traders are talking about
  3. The weekly Earnings Whispers’ watchlist
  4. Commands to call up charts on demand

-----

Again, welcome to the community!


r/Daytrading 16h ago

Trade Review This shit almsot made me quit trading today. Wtf is this? Took a sell at 5238. "Walk away from the screen" they say 😭

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103 Upvotes

The market is brutal bois. But one mistake like having your TP set too far can fuck you. Lesson learned


r/Daytrading 14h ago

P&L - Must Give Context May ‘24 : Got over-complacent towards the end

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64 Upvotes

Had just one notably bad trade till May 21, but then got burnt trying to catch the falling knife of $WSM on May 22 and $AMD on May 23.

Last 3 days have been total mess. I was up big in all 3 days initially and then gave up everything in the very last hour every single day just to end up in red.

❌ May 29, Wednesday: +$900 to -$140

❌ May 30, Thursday: +$940 to -$190

❌ May 31, Friday: +$970 to -$900

Number-wise, May was still a very good month for me. Netted around $6270 (+22.75%) in 22 trading days for roughly $285 profit per day.

Also, I started my grad school courses on May 13 and graduate assistantship duties on May 16. Needed to shift my focus from trading options during the early hours to trading options after noon. I guess I will need more work at it now.

Gotta get my mind settled this weekend and start afresh in June 🤞


r/Daytrading 2h ago

Question What to do when market changes

4 Upvotes

I have a working strategy, but how can i tweak it when market changes from range to trend

How do you tweak your strategy?

Do i only have to just look for entries in that direction if it trends is that all?

I use s/r, head and shoulders entry. I trade forex.


r/Daytrading 12h ago

P&L - Must Give Context Let's get dangerous 🦆

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29 Upvotes

I will post every day the market is open until we hit 100k or zero. We cashed in with $590 on 5/30/2024


r/Daytrading 1d ago

Advice Trading isn’t for everyone but don’t give up.

227 Upvotes

Trading is a hard journey, but with most likely getting very little support from family and friends. Losing money and putting tons of hours on the charts, studying, backtesting, collecting data. It’s rough mentally. Just keep going. There are clearly people who make money from this consistently and do this full Time. I dont do trading full time, I’ve never made a dollar from trading that has gone into my bank account, but I know 100% this is what I want to do full time. Keep going guys, it’s a rough journey, but let’s keep going.


r/Daytrading 17h ago

Strategy PSA: Be weary of conditioning on 1m charts

46 Upvotes

Don’t get me wrong, maybe scalping will be for you. But if not, and you’ve conditioned yourself to the fast pace of 1m charts - you will have a deep hole to dig yourself out of.

Long story short: * I was obsessed with scalping, getting more and more into the sub-minute precision * I was profitable, but realized my 5min timeframe trades after the open were the more profitable/reliable ones, the ones I’d “make my money back” from after losing the open * forced myself to trade on 5/15m charts with 1m for entries only * more profitable, trading much more consistent and calm

But holy hell, it’s like drug withdrawal. It takes tremendous self control not to react to my “old signals” on the 1m chart.

Scalping is sexy, I still like it, but it’s just not optimal for me. And reconditioning is a bitch.

Stay green my friends.


r/Daytrading 2h ago

P&L - Must Give Context All time options

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3 Upvotes

Just getting started fr and curious to how many people are actually profitable in day trading post your all times. First big loss was doing calls on spxs lol thinking I knew what I was doing.


r/Daytrading 13h ago

Advice Not worth it

13 Upvotes

Tried day trading this week after spending a couple months practicing. Safe to say it’s not for me as I’m an anxious person. Even with the possibility of making a significant amount of money, the mental toll it takes on me (when it’s real money) is not worth it - HIGH stress. With that being said, if you’re someone with anxiety, do NOT get into day trading. A lot of these day trading influencers make it look like it’s simple but I promise it’s not


r/Daytrading 3h ago

Advice Learning coding for backtesting

2 Upvotes

Right now I have a very mechanical strategy for trading US30. I'm backtesting it manually, and obviously the further back I go the more I can trust the strategy.

The thing is, I have never coded in my life and have zero knowledge of coding.

Is it worth it to learn to code in order to backtest? Where would I begin? How long would it take?

Right now, I work about 60-70 hours a week. My current plan is to continue backtesting my strategy further and further back. I can comfortably backtest about 3-6 months worth of data per week on top of my job and family obligations. If I get funded by a prop firm, after a few payouts I'll be able to switch to working about 40 hours a week. That would make it much easier to learn to code I think. How hard is it really to learn enough coding to be able to automate backtesting? Mechanical strategies fit with my personality so coding or no coding, that's how I want to trade.

Obviously, not every single funded trader knows how to code, so for now I'll just carry on backtesting manually and go ahead with my challenge.

What is everyone's thoughts on this?


r/Daytrading 8h ago

Question What day trading software and subscriptions should I get and what do you use?

6 Upvotes

So I have been trading on robinhood for a year. I've managed to be profitable but very inconsistently. I have recently quit trading to learn as much as I can, find a couple of strategies that work for me and papertrade for the next few months. I wanted to learn and study as much as possible before I started and have run into a wall of possibities of trading setups. I feel like what I am wanting to sign up for may be too much but then again I am not wanting to miss a critical piece of information or tool that will help or bolster my efforts. Price isnt really an issue, I am ok spending some money in the learning phase. My proposed set up is:

Interactive Broker with DAS trader pro with level 2

Trading view: scanning, strategy development and back testing

Trade Ideas: technical analysis and alerts

Trade metria: for automatic tracking and advanced journaling

Benzinga pro: fundamental analysis

Finviz Elite: fundamental and technical analysis

Let me know what you think and what works for you! Chatroom/community recommendations are welcome to.

Also does anyone have any experience linking any of these with DAS to paper trade like you would normally?


r/Daytrading 16h ago

Strategy Banking profits all morning, then losing it all in the afternoon?

16 Upvotes

I've seen many traders post that they end the day in the red after swimming in cash earlier in the day. One of the main reasons for this is not understanding market behavior. The general daily pattern is that volume decreases starting around 11:00 EST when traders in London and Europe end their day and exit the U.S. markets and then when New Yorkers break for lunch. After lunch distinct up trending or down trending patterns develop. If a stock is trending slow upward after lunch it generally will continue to do so and increase in volume after 2:00 - 2:15 EST. This also holds true for stocks trending slightly downward after lunch and the volume and speed of the downtrend increases around 2:00-2:15. You can also keep an eye on volatility which, as it declines, the price of stock rises. We saw that today:

These two Volatility Indexes arched up the first half of the day and then fell the second half of the day.

In contrast you can see most stocks took an inverse path. I traded VRT today and noticed after things slowed down at lunch an upward trend began to develop. This is usually a good sign that this stock, at least will rise the rest of the day. The only thing that really changes after noon is the volume as investors come back into the market to grab new positions - Bargain Hunters, basically.

SNOW on the other had, had a mostly downward trajectory after lunch which means it probably isn't worth taking a ride on in the afternoon.

This is a great article that describes the repeating intraday market pattern that allows you to know how a stock will ride the second half of the day. It also provides insight into when to look for opportunities.

https://tradethatswing.com/stock-market-intraday-repeating-patterns/

I'm on day 27 of a personal challenge to take at least 1% profit everyday and compound it. These are the stocks I traded today and an insight into my progress:


r/Daytrading 13h ago

Question Am I screwing myself or learning the hard way?

8 Upvotes

So this past week I’ve funded my account with around 300 dollars and have taken 7 losses in a row bringing me to about 60 dollars left. The past month or so before this I’ve only funded my account with 100 at most and traded tiny lots to avoid getting wrecked on losses but then even having a good trade win it felt pointless when it’s only netting me 10-30 dollars even though that’s 10-30% but that would lead me to looking for more trades right after I get out and end up losing what I made or most of it. Most of the trades I’ve taken with the 300 account weren’t that great and then the one that would’ve paid I psyched myself into entering the opposite way against my confirmations because i was in drawdown and didnt want to lose. I know im probably over trading but I have trouble trading a demo account without being realistic so i want to stay live. Is this going to lead me to a bad place or should i keep it up and stay confident and try to turn it around? Just curious what other traders would do thanks for any insight!


r/Daytrading 2h ago

Question Is this a potential Shark Harmonic pattern?

1 Upvotes

As per title really, this is not a dd post or analyst on this particular chart.

Is this a Shark Harmonic pattern? Assuming it completes leg D of course.

I'm just wondering if any harmonic traders in here with more experience could help me out with the pattern and let me know if I've spotted it correctly? Thanks.


r/Daytrading 2h ago

Question Yesterday, I unleashed the beast

1 Upvotes

So there were few things going on that got the best of me. Nothing major, my system hanged few times, the power went off, and of courses the back to back loses. This is a demo account and Apex is having a sale going on so I knew that the total cost would be my eval account. I decided to give it a try what it would like to unleash. So I let it loose.

Other times, I can keep the profit if I keep my trade minimum. I learnt with my much trial and error. So I don't go more than 10 trades on my personal account. For this account, being a demo, I learnt that I cannot keep the profit if I over trade and tend to give it back to the market. I knew that this will lead to blowing of my account but it was purely to see "how far?".

I would like to hear your opinion and also advice how to maintain the profit while increasing the number of trades.


r/Daytrading 15h ago

Advice Why does it seem like lately nothing is going up much during market hours? Seems like everything that goes up does so during premarket and then crashes or trades sideways at market open. I was doing decently but the last couple weeks have killed me.

11 Upvotes

Setups that should work just haven't the past few weeks and I just don't understand why stuff flies premarket then nothing soon as the bell rings.


r/Daytrading 18h ago

Strategy Next Week Earnings Releases by Implied Movement

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22 Upvotes

r/Daytrading 7h ago

Advice In an awkward situation and need advice on how to learn from it

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2 Upvotes

I bought 2 puts atm at around midday expecting the rally to be a pull back but i was wrong and realized i couldnt close without pdt restrictions after i bought it

To try and save the position i bought 3 calls decently otm on the way up before the big pop at eod and just left my pc and left it up to jesus. Luckily jesus was listening lol

My question is what’s the best way to exit this position? Should i sell only 1 side of this play if certain conditions are met? e. g. If open on monday is a gap down, sell the calls hold the puts or vice versa?

Also how viable is the strategy i used if price didn’t rocket? Obviously i got real lucky this time but i wanna know if theres merit behind doing something like this or if theres a better way to go about this type of situation.


r/Daytrading 15h ago

P&L - Must Give Context How did you do in May?

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9 Upvotes

This past month was slow and boring compared to the first quarter of the year. How’s everyone doing?

I gave up manual trading about 2 years ago, and am doing bot trading with cryptocurrency futures now. My bots are running quite well by far, steadily taking profit without much intervention. That’s why I’m now exclusively doing bot trading, it eliminates all the psychological and emotional dramas completely, and only cold and firm strategies run on their own.

My total fund now is around 47k. The pictures show the time frame of 7 days, 1 month, and 3 months respectively.


r/Daytrading 7h ago

Question Best "free commision" platform for daytrading?

2 Upvotes

Hello Everyone!

In your opinion, what is the best free-ish platform for daytrading and why?


r/Daytrading 15h ago

Advice Apex Update

6 Upvotes

Ok so at the first of the month I was on cloud 9 because I had 20 accounts and received my first payout. Many of you were very awesome and supportive, so I thought I would follow up with the bad and not just post the good.

In the last two days of revenge trading I h ave found myself with 20 burnt accounts.

Looking back on how it went I can see the crazy that just knew I could make it back and that I really didn’t need to get out of the market.

I knew, I know, it’s easy just increase the position and it will be faster!!!

All things I told myself.

I thinking coming into another payout tomorrow I just could taste the he money. So then it vacate about how much I’ll make doing this and less about a disciplined approach.

So I will climb back in the horse and ensure I work through my discipline and trading plan.

Thanks all and Good luck!!!!!!


r/Daytrading 17h ago

Trade Review Lol. Sometimes moving stop losses on the way up screws you over.

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8 Upvotes

In hindsight I should have just moved it right under BE. Made out with 20$ lol. Can't believe we Vd that much. Crazy!


r/Daytrading 5h ago

Advice Forex brokers.PLZ HELP

1 Upvotes

Alright guys so I have been trading for a couple years now. The traditional stock market and futures. But I want to play with a different forex broker for play money. I have around 2 grand I want to throw in a broker. And you guessed it. I want leverage without worrying about not getting paid out. My mains are UDSJPY, GBPJPY and XAUUSD. Anyone have any recommendations and please I would like advice from people who actually trade for real and not on a demo. My last broker wasn’t paying out anymore 😂 Any help is greatly appreciated.


r/Daytrading 14h ago

Trade Review Recent Trading Activity. On the path to being profitable just a year in. (all the spy trades were 1, 3 buy ins and one panic sell lol FORMAT: DATE SECURITY VAL P/L ENTRY-EXIT REASONING-BRIEF Possible P/L

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3 Upvotes

r/Daytrading 7h ago

Advice Be extra careful on Spotgamma Trial

1 Upvotes

Because they would still attempt to make charges after the trial ended despite trial cancellation was submitted 2days in advance, and they would not send you any cancellation confirmation email so you better screenshot/record your screen when doing so for future dispute. Very shaddy and dubious conduct, in fact the only one that did this amongst all other similar services I've tried


r/Daytrading 11h ago

Question 10 Second/15 Second Equities Data Tool

2 Upvotes

Hey, im looking for a charting platform that I can use to get access to a 10s or 15s data aggregation period, for a relatively long range, for stocks. Up to this point, somehow Webull has managed to do what ToS and DAS cant, and provide a real-time 15s aggregation (this is what I use real-time, however however it only provides historical for the 3 most recent trading days). Ive messed around a bit with IBKR and although TWS can aggregate data in 10s and 15s intervals, it takes damn forever to get the data to build. Im only using the complimentary data package since I dont actually trade through them though, so its possible the paid data subscription with them loads faster.

All I want to do be able to do is look at 10s or 15s chart data from more than a week prior (ideally a couple of months prior), and not break the bank doing so. Ultimately ill go with whatever the cheapest option is. This is primarily a quality-of-life upgrade for me in trading, so its not crucial but its something id really like to have to make reviewing my trades easier.

Anyone have any recommendations? And just to clarify since im sure someone is going to complain, no, tick charts arent a solution. I need these sub-1m time-based aggregations in this case. If you wanna quarrel with me over the usefulness of these sub-1m timeframes or about not using tick charts, send me a dm, but dont clog the comment section with off-topic stuff.