would you be willing to discuss your strategy for evaluating trades/picking stocks? this is something I've been trying to get into, mostly through the options market but haven't been able to come up with a solid strategy for picking stocks
For example, on Friday I made good money on FB with several 50 cent moves. I buy 500 shares at a time, so a profit target of about $250.
I would use a sequential order to buy at a certain entry point and then it immediately submits a sell order for 50 cents higher when it fills.
My strategy is basically the poor man’s HFT.
The key is picking a good entry point. I generally watch the price action for a bit and try to spot where there’s good support and the price keeps bouncing off of. I then set my orders for that price and get as many wins as I can.
No need to take my word for it, with commission free brokers you can try it out with a single share and see how you do. Avoid paper trading IMO except for learning your trading platform UI. The fills are not realistic.
Also, avoid options. They’re garbage, low liquidity and everything is usually priced in making it more difficult to make profits. If you want to trade with leverage just throw down money in your account and use the margin power your broker gives you. In theory I can trade with up to $500k in borrowed money but I stick to about $110k or so to keep about 77% equity in my account at all times.
One thing I haven’t mastered is how to set useful stop losses. There’s time the price dips and I sell too early but if I had waiting maybe 30 minutes for things to calm down I would have made profit. Not sure what to do, I just use my best judgement. And at the end of the day, worst case I have to hold for a while at least I’m holding stock in a decent company like FB and not some worthless penny stock. That’s why I maintain the 77% equity, to avoid margin calls.
