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What is the plan now?
You are $145 away from being below the 25K limit.
If you risk 0.25% of your capital or 62.50 per trade you get 3 shots at it before you get shut down for PDT.
Or can you risk more? I'm not sure of the rule.
Maybe you can risk $100; 5 times.
The first 100 puts you just shy of 25k
The next 100 puts you under and then you get 3 more day trades.
I'm not sure.
Just because you can day trade doesn't mean you have to. Stay with your strategy of just taking the best set-ups.
How do you pick the stocks you day trade?
"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I completely agree with you. I just got a little crazy today (I didn't loose capital though). I won't take any trades unless I know they are profitable. Also, I use super tight stops. Always have and that wont change just because I can day trade. I'm pretty much in the same position as before. Every trade counts and I truly don't have an unlimited number of trades. But, when you think of it, no one has an unlimited amount of trades. Sometimes, actually often, I don't see any day trades to take. I try to be as discciplined as I possibly can. Take today for example. I still made a profit. That is all I need to do. Make more profits than losses. They may not be huge gains (due to the size of my account) but they will add up exponentially. That is how I got to this point. In the last 30 day period, I am positive 70% of the days. I am happy with that. They days that aren't green just have to be managed. I still will treat my strategy the same. I just won't miss opportunities that I couldn't take before. For example, look at AAPL after hours. It is down lower than when I sold it. I have never sold in after hours before but today I did and I was fairly sure it was worth it. I locked in profits, limited any potential for a gap down in the morning and now have all of my money free to trade with in the morning if the opportunity presents itself. That is more what I wanted to have. I wanted the ability to exit a trade and not have to wait 5 days till I could buy again. I'm sure you know what I am talking about with IB they wont let you open any new trades once you have used your 3 day trades. I still plan to buy and sell AAPL on peaks and valleys and look for good day trades. I am going out on a limb here, but I am willing to be that AAPL will have at least a 1% or more variation peak to valley tomorrow. I am not saying it will close down 1%. I am saying that there is at least a 1% profit to be made and I have watched APPL alot so it generally follows the same pattern. I think it will gap down just a bit, rise to a little over 114 (maybe even flirt with 115) and then drop back down below the days high. I am just basing this thought off from the charts. To be honest, I haven't even looked for any good day trades tomorrow. I am still trying to figure out a good entry position, or short term trade on AAPL. That has been my strategy for a while. Lock in profits with apple and then pursue other trades. Sorry for the long post but I just wanted to explain myself and also see if I hold myself to what I wrote on here when tomorrow is done. Discipline and money management, which go hand in hand, is key to my continual success. This is why I love trading. I used to be a golf instructor and I find trading similar to golf. Risk vs reward when it comes to shot making and the same goes for trades. (now that I have spilled my guts and tried to sound confident I will probably lose everything tomorrow... haha)
I love the golf analogy.
You play the same course every day yet it is different.
Its not that you make mistakes; its that you compound your mistakes that ruin your score.
Its not your good shots; its how you manage your bad shots that affect the outcome of the game.
When all is said and done you dont really play against your competitors or the course you are playing against yourself. Just like trading.
"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
I am done for the day. I traded Apple for multiple gains. I lost 53 on VGGL. And I made money on BDR. BDR was like fighting a monster. It took nerve to stick that one out. I am definitely done for the day trading wise! I might take another position in AAPL for a swing trade.
I did trade in and out of AAPL which I said I wasn't going to and it cost me a little. I currently hold no positions and finished the day up $351 for a gain of 1.4%. Not as good as 2% but I learned another lesson and still finished green!
I had a dismal day today. I woke up extra early and felt calm and reminded myself to limit my losses and take gains as quick as possible. Since I was so close to breaking below 25k, I knew these points were paramount to my trading future. Needless to says, as indicated by the title, things didn't go my way. I mad 6 trades and all were negative with only one being positive. I fell below the 25k mark and now have to have my account reset unless the position I am holding brings me over 25k. It is highly speculative and at time very volatile so I doubt that will happen. I will have to wait 5 business days to trade again. I think that might be what I need. I can watch the market and trade on paper and see if that is where the problem lies. I will not be posting until my current position stops out or I reach my target. Not happy today. I feel blessed to be able to trade and I am thankful for all that I have, but I am pretty down about this.
Either you no longer feel that letting the public see and comment on my actions can only help improve your success as a trader or you already realize what mistakes you made are so obvious it would be painful to have them pointed out.
We should learn more from our mistakes than we do from our successes.
You should measure your success by whether you followed your plan, not by how much money you made or lost.
A trade that follows the plan and loses money is a good trade with a bad outcome.
A trade that doesnt follow the plan and results in a profit is liable to re-enforce bad habits and will eventually cost you.
Unless you trade your plan consistently you wont know if the problem is the strategy or the trader.
IB has a demo account available. You can use that to test your strategy while you wait. Be aware that the demo will give you much better fills than real time trading. (Especially on stops.) Dont trade again until you have a proven to yourself that you have a strategy that will be profitable.
"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
