day tradingsoftwareday traderstock day trading
I have an ICICI direct account. I would like to try in intra-day trading.
I know they have a facility called Margin trading.However, I would like to know more details on this.

A scenario based response from an expereinced trader would be highly appreciated.

It would be helpful if somone can throw some light on the strategies of intra-day trading

Also what does the term "short" mean in stock trading?

Thanks

Day trading


The most important thing to know about day trading is most people lose money. I would do some research before I got into it.
Especially since you apparently don't understand investing. If it were easy, why would people go to work? Learn how to invest the right way and prosper!
If i were to invest 140,000 dollars in 1 brk.a stock, and i buy in the morning and sell in the afternoon making a profit of say 2,000 dollars would I be able to use that fund to buy another share of brk.a the next day?
Day trading


Yes if you do this 4 or more times in a week, however, you will be tagged by the SEC as a pattern day trader. This just imposes special trading rules on your account. Mainly, you must maintain a balance of $25,000 or more at all times. Since you are talking about investing $140,000 then this wont be an issue. Other regulations pertain to margin accounts and non-withdrawl requirements. Also remember that profits made by day trading are subject to normal income tax, they don't receive the special tax treatment of long-term capital gains. But the short answer to your question is yes, you can do this.
I am new to all this. Where can I learn the basics?
How do I find a cheap, easy to use broker? There are SO MANY - how do I chose? The ones I've heard about include Ameritrade, eTrade, Sharebuilder, TDWaterhouse, ScotTrade, Fidelity, the list goes on! What makes them all different?

What I know: I'd like do invest relatively conservatively (IE - no day-trading). I'd like to invest in ethanol. I'd like to invest for down the line…

The only resource I'm using now are
http://www.investingonline.org/index.html
Yahoo! Finance.

HELP!
Update:
I'm probably looking to invest a few thousand for now. That may increase but I dont foresee investing more than 5-10K.
As far as where I was planning to put my money - mostly in stocks in NYSE or Nasdaq. Prob not smallcaps/penny stocks, but I did have my eye on an IPO or two. BTW what are franchise stocks?

I was actually thinking about Sharebuilder - it comes highly acclaimed. Why is touted so much? Advantages / Disadvantages?

Day trading


You want to buy a diversified portfolio of stocks, as individual stocks are too risky. With a few thousand dollars, this means buying mutual funds. I like Vanguard.com, other people like Fidelity, TIAA-CREF, and DFA. Buy no-load, low cost funds. If you are like most people you will invest part of your money conservatively, in money market funds and bond funds, and part aggressively in stock funds. Vanguard.com has an on-line questionnaire which will give you an idea how aggressive you want to be.

Investing in a mutual fund IRA for retirement may give you an income tax break. Talk to your tax adviser. You may also be able to invest in a stock mutual fund via a 401K plan at work.

Believing advice you get on Yahoo answers can be risky, so read these websites for further information. If you find it too confusing, contact a professional financial advisor. They will charge you significant commissions, however.

I been trading on my own but i don't seem to get it. not sure everytime i get in a stock i seem to get out on a lost profit. never know when to get out. I want to do it on my own but i think i need more help. Any recommendation on a excellent broker that does day tading for u. i need a second income that bring some stability. help. thanks
Day trading


Day-trading is not easy for a novice or part-time investor and in order to be done successfully you will need to put a lot of time into research and analysis of various market trends. Also, any good broker will advise you against trying to become a day-trader because of the potential losses and risks. I would personally leave day-trading to the professionals with a lot of capital and time. However, if you want to start investing successfully try to set the goals for the security that you choose as well as an appropriate exit strategy before you even make your purchase. Make sure that the goals you set include the amount of commission that you will pay to buy and sell the security. Also, and this is extremely important make sure that you purchase and sell with limit orders not market orders.
Hi

I am new to all these markets and looking to start with it.

I wanted to go for an Online Trading Company like India Bulls, Sharekhan etc.

I aim for being both a Long Term Investor in 2-3 Shares, and do regular Intra-Day Trading

I have seen India Bulls Charting system and found them to be good but don't know what are their Broker Charges, Account Opening Charges?

Day trading


I am a long term investor and not into daily trading. So this answer below, is probably not teh best answer for what you have asked.

But there will be important pointers to what should also be considered while deciding on the trading platform. So here goes.

I have personal experience with ICICIDirect, HDFC Securities and Motilal Oswal. I don't trade on a daily basis and am a long term investor. So for me brokerage rates don't matter much.

For me what matters are the following:
1. Reliability of the platform -I can transact when I want
2. Correctness in transaction records, account debits, demat credits, shortfall management
3. User-friendliness of interface - you can find what you want quickly
4. Promptness of customer helpdesk in replying to emails
5. Ability to do everything from one single place - like demat account, trading account, and bank account are all managed by the same entity, so there is single place of accountability

Given all these in my experience ICICIDirect still scores the best. It has the highest no of subscribers. It used to have some transaction problems earlier, but over the past year, I cannot recollect instances where I couldn't execute a buy/sell when I wanted it. (HDFC Securities & Motilal OSwal both have miles to go on this front, systems cant keep up with the load on exceptionally high traffic days -jan 22/23). Their User interface is the best, you can locate what to do and where very fast, almost intuitively. Their transaction records are impeccable, you have peace of mind. Couldn't say the same for Motilal Oswal (I had to track and remind them to make good the shortfall when I bought and paid for 20 shares of Wyeth Pharma but demat was only for 16 after a week). And single place of accountability makes sure i deal with the same party and can get things resolved faster.

No matter what arguments you hear against, perhaps the biggest argument in favour of ICICIDirect is that they have been operating these services from 1999. That's close to a decade of experience in handling extremes of load, variety of software and technical issues, customer complaints , and have matured over the years.

The others may give you cheaper brokerage rates (and that matters if you are a day trader) but have much more to cover before they can reach similar levels of maturity as a service provider.

My 2 cents. Hope they were useful & happy investing!

It seems like most of the business news programs focus on indivdual stock investing and day trading. I'm looking for a good show that discusses mutual fund news and long term investing strategies.
Day trading


If you check out the following newsletters by Paul Farrell of CBS, you will know everything you will ever need to know about mutual fund investing:
http://www.marketwatch.com/Search/?property=column&value=paul+b%2e+farrell&scid=3&siteid=mktw&dist=mktwmore
I have studied a lot of technical analysis and played a little with forex.. currently i make $10 and hour .. I was wondering if it was possible to make just $10 an hour trading… if so let me know i'd love to quit my job and stay at home all day

How much should I have in my account?
Leverage?
What broker?

Day trading


No you can not. but you can lose hundreds in seconds. 30 years investing.
There are shares you trade in options when they meet a specified criteria as I understand it. Are there any tool(s) that will do the necessary download of the optionable shares/stock and do the calculation to recommend the shares to trade on for the day?
Day trading


Yes, there is a very good tool. If you use one of the trading sites online, such as E-Trade or AmeriTrade, you will find simple instructions on how to use it.

I would recommend you do a lot of research before you get involved with real money. Do "pretend" investing while you study the Motley Fool site carefully. It is full of great ideas.

Which one is likely to fetch the maximum returns:-
1)successful day trading
2)mid term trading
3)long term trading.
Day trading


Welll..i would suggest u not to involve yourself with Day trading if you are just starting up investing in stock..also beware of yourself with the derivatives…..
if u have are thinking about earning some money out of your investment u need to think and act smartly..by investing for midterm and long term…all the transactions(buying and selling that u do must result in a positive long term investment…i mean your short term trading must ensure that your long term investment goals are achieved.for this remember these things carefully while trading …

when it comes to making profit..it depends on ones strategy of investing…
people can make good money if they invest properly …and if ones foolish and more greedy he might loose out every thing…things always happen in extremes in stock markets…
remember this one thing before investing….
dont hurry ur self…think about the stock fundamentals(like its financials like balance sheet or in simpler terms the profits that it made during recent times..its managing style..people in the business…competetors industry as whole etc)
when once u feel that the stock is fundamentally good..then u move on to technical aspects like how is the stock performing in recent times..take the history of atleast past 3 months…and then invest if u feel thats good..u can get the recommendations in investment channels like CNBC watch it carefully during the market hours.
when u invest u have to watch the price carefully..keep a target level..say fro example u bought it at 100..keep a target for that stock say 130…sell it at that level..i dont recommend u to sell it entirely(in bullish market when the market is goin up..sell a partial amount of your holding..and when the market is falling down..book the entire profit by selling it…)
then u can pick another stock…
even while buying the stock its necessary for u to pick up the stock when ever the market is down..it has to be systematic..by this u can average out ur buying price…by doing this u can average the price..if u see n compare the total market movement..which will be more profitable….
i hope ive given u sufficient information to start off..feel free to ask if anythin else is necessary…
Happy investing…!!!!!!

I'm not even sure if Fibonacci is valid for short term. By short term, I mean anywhere from day trade to a couple weeks.
TJ clarified my question: What I'm talking about is called "swing trading".
The question is about analysis, not about whether someone should or shouldn't swing trade.
Day trading


Do not limit yourself to any one strategy. A good speculator has a suite of strategies and a strategy for switching strategies.