Because companies are releasing news almost 24 hours/day these days, their stock price reacts to these news releases whenever they become available. Also, the world does not go to sleep at 4 p.m. eastern time and stocks in general are reacting to all kinds of news being released on a 24 hour basis.
Individuals can participate in these after-hours market activity by having their trading accounts with brokerage companies which offer their customer access to their accounts via Direct Market Access systems. These systems are considered to be electronic trading systems and can be run on your computer at home utilizing high speed internet access like DSL, Cable or fibre-optics.
If you would like to get more information on Direct Market Access systems or open an electronic trading account I would suggest you speak to the guys I use. They can be contacted at:
http://rematatrading.com/contactus.aspx
They have been very professional and helpful to me.
Good luck.
ON one stock exchange, i even noticed that the idiot who designed the site, had even forgot to include an intraday aswell the 5 day price area.
Does anyone know where I can actually get live intrady prices as described above.
If anyone knows the answer, include your email address and I will reward you by means of telling you how to thrive and profit from such information. Theres a nice little incentive for you if youre interested !!!!
Hope this helps
Genesis provides the Laser platform, which offers direct access through all major US exchanges and ECNs. That is what I have had luck with. I felt it was very user friendly. At my last job I also worked with clients that use the Cybertrader platform, which is also a good Level II platform. The only other platform that I have worked with in addition to those two was HammerTrade, through Assent Clearing. At the time I used it (2004-2005) I found it to be relatively primitive, although I think they have advanced it since then. Other discount brokers like Etrade, etc. offer relatively good Level II platforms and even the major bulge bracket firms have tools available, if you meet capital requirements.
Oftentimes, you will find that it is trial and error-whatever works for you is the best. Different programs have different perks. If you are just looking at charting, I think ESignal is relatively good. You may want to check out Metastock too. Often charting systems will give you a free trial period to check out the software first. Good luck trading.
I dont have an option to buy 1000 shares say at a limit price. i dont know about kotak.
can anyone help me on this.
Also i face another problem with icicidirect.
That is accessability – i cannot access the site many times. especially when the market is volatile. pages takes many minutes to appear. website is very slow. login screen itself takes too much time. That problem i faced with icicidirect. i am fed up with them so i am looking for a new broker.
Any advices. how is kotak?
Answer to your question, you search for all different brokers and decide
icicidirect.com
hdfcsec.com
sharekhan
oswal
kotak
geojit
…
Inability to See or Act Upon Quotes. Some firms only allow investors to view quotes from the one trading system the firm uses for after-hours trading. Check with your broker to see whether your firm's system will permit you to access other quotes on other ECNs. But remember that just because you can get quotes on another ECN does not necessary mean you will be able to trade based on those quotes. You need to ask your firm if it will route your order for execution to the other ECN. If you are limited to the quotes within one system, you may not be able to complete a trade, even with a willing investor, at a different trading system.
Lack of Liquidity. Liquidity refers to your ability to convert stock into cash. That ability depends on the existence of buyers and sellers and how easy it is to complete a trade. During regular trading hours, buyers and sellers of most stocks can trade readily with one another. During after-hours, there may be less trading volume for some stocks, making it more difficult to execute some of your trades. Some stocks may not trade at all during extended hours.
Larger Quote Spreads. Less trading activity could also mean wider spreads between the bid and ask prices. As a result, you may find it more difficult to get your order executed or to get as favorable a price as you could have during regular market hours.
Price Volatility. For stocks with limited trading activity, you may find greater price fluctuations than you would have seen during regular trading hours. News stories announced after-hours may have greater impacts on stock prices.
Uncertain Prices. The prices of some stocks traded during the after-hours session may not reflect the prices of those stocks during regular hours, either at the end of the regular trading session or upon the opening of regular trading the next business day.
Bias Toward Limit Orders. Many electronic trading systems currently accept only limit orders, where you must enter a price at which you would like your order executed. A limit order ensures you will not pay more than the price you entered or sell for less. If the market moves away from your price, your order will not be executed. Check with your broker to see whether orders not executed during the after-hours trading session will be cancelled or whether they will be automatically entered when regular trading hours begin. Similarly, find out if an order you placed during regular hours will carry over to after-hours trading.
Competition with Professional Traders. Many of the after-hours traders are professionals with large institutions, such as mutual funds, who may have access to more information than individual investors.
Computer Delays. As with online trading, you may encounter during after-hours delays or failures in getting your order executed, including orders to cancel or change your trades. For some after-hours trades, your order will be routed from your brokerage firm to an electronic trading system. If a computer problem exists at your firm, this may prevent or delay your order from reaching the system. If you encounter significant delays, you should call your broker to determine the extent of the problem and what you can to get your order executed.
So in a nutshell depending on your broker you may not be able to sell overnight. If everyone is trying to sell then there may not be enough buyers to actually fill all the orders. You have to ask your broker for the information that specifically pertains to you and the after hours policy.
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?
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 is true that 80% of all day traders eventually lose all their money. Then again, about 60% of the remaining 20% make enough to live off of or at least provide a second income. The remaining 40% steadily lose money.
The keys to success in day trading (% of importance):
1) money management – knowing how much to bet on each stock, when to take profits, and when to cut losses (40%)
2) emotional control – patience, not acting out of greed or fear, never averaging down, only buying high probability set-ups, etc. (35%)
3) a good system – knowing when to enter and when to exit (25%)
You'll notice that the system is the least important factor for success. Almost any system is profitable (although some much more than others), but the real important part is whether you can actually use it correctly or not. It might not match your personality, for example. Also, if you don't manage your money correctly, you can go bankrupt on even the best system in the world.
Unless you have amazing emotional control, have a natural inborn talent for trading (I've never met anyone like this, though), or have a brilliantly flexible mind that adapts quickly, you will most likely steadily lose money day trading for at least the first few months.
The worst part about getting started in day trading is that there's very little way to tell if you'd be successful before you actually start buying stocks and losing (or making) money. Paper trading is not even close to the same as real trading, because there's no emotion involved, or commissions or slippage.
On the other hand, once you have reached the right point, the rewards can be substantial. It took me 15 months of swing trading and staring at computer screens all day long and three months of day trading (losing 50% of my entire equity in the process) before I turned the corner. Now, I can quite conservatively double my money each year (but notice it took me a year to recover from the first year and a half). That's probably a typical story. If you read about Stock Market Wizards by Jack D. Schwager, you'll notice that almost every master trader went bankrupt at one point or another.
Most people quit before they reach this point, and I'd be the first to agree that day trading is not for everyone, or even for most people.
Also, remember this: any person with a truly successful and profitable day trading system would never sell or share it. You can make much more money using a winning system than selling it. Okay, maybe 10% of the systems out there are legitimate, but you'll never know which 10% until you've bought it and lost lots of money on it.
Be careful when looking for winning systems, and always look for a money-back guarantee.
The key to success is not the system the person uses so much as it is the person using the system.
One last word of advice: Unless you're willing to sacrifice thousands of hours in front of the computer and thousands of dollars, and able to stand the emotional and financial pain you will endure, then don't even start.