I had a good day day trading stocks. There was not a lot of range in the S&P today, maybe 4 points, so on a day like that trying to do futures through 2 minute MACD fails, there are too many chops back and forth. On days like that, though, individual stocks have a chance to do well if they are stronger or weaker, they stand out more and there isn't so much 'tidal force' of the market pulling you around.
I also made a decision to pick stocks that I would be willing to hold and swing intentionally if they went against me. That protected me from dealing with something going wrong. I looked at the daily chart and only bought things that I thought I would want to hold onto.
I lost $25 on 2 futures trades, first one went against me and I held the second one for a couple of hours before it finally came around. The thing about a choppy day with a small range is that you can actually afford to be patient and not try to game tops or bottoms or play the 2 minute as I've described. If I had held onto the second one I would have had a profit for the day but when I've been down a while I feel a lot of relief to just get out. Still, I did well because I did hang on, saw that the market wasn't moving and I could be patient, and watched the interplay between the 10 minute and the 30 minute technicals produced a positive move from a negative start. I had said early on I was leaning long but long was wrong the first hour of the day.
A gross of 168, before commissions. I'm very happy with that number, getting 3 figures is very, very solid.
I'm also encouraged that there is a place for day trading stocks, I don't want to day trade when the market is moving, too much risk of being whipsawed by the market, but on a small range day its a different story.
this is how it develops, see the condition and respond to it. different techniques and instruments for different conditions.
feels good!
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