41M here getting into daytrading with the intention to supplement my income, cause job outlook especially in my industry rn is really looking bad. It between daytrading and grab instead. I already traded for a few days, got some returns, but im wary. I want to hear horror stories if any1 has any to share.
so a week ago I posted about my first day trading and got tons of advice and just wanted to do a post about my progress 5 days in.
1st day - really got lucky, but made a few mistakes. The biggest was keeping a loss too long hoping it will turn around, that landed me -$663. (MSFT PUT)
2nd day - Learnt my lesson, and was lucky again, most of the trades went my way, except for a small -$68 loss. I also learnt that trading fees were a thing, and apparently the platform I use is notorious for its fees.
3rd day - this is where my bad habits caught up with me, I made a few stupid mistakes when i was trying to revenge trade on a bad call, for losses of $285 and $101. That bad call was carried on to the next day (PLTR CALL).
4th day - starting the day with -$867 from the earlier PLTR CALL call really affected me. But towards the end, I took a risk on buying what seemed to be a bad call. But as I was disciplined enough, I realised that it was fear that stopped me and not logic. Logically it was the correct call to take. (GOOG CALL)
5th day - The GOOG CALL paid back huge +$4740. But I also realised that if I had waited probably for 2 more peaks, I probably could've gotten closer to +$12k. Made a few mistakes, but this day was my most disciplined yet. I was able to make multiple trades to get the day's P/L up to +$6710
As of rn I'm holding a few AMZN CALLS to sell tmr when market opens, I didn't exactly get it at the best price, I literally got it within the last min of trading, but I feel like it is a calculated risk.
What I've learn so far for myself:
I made myself familiar with the stock, how it moves, etc.
When holding a loss, I realised that I need to be objective. Is keeping it (and having it suck all your liquidity) worth it? Or was I simply hoping for it to turn around, instead of it being a calculated risk.
I learnt to stop myself from revenge trading, or trying to trade to cover a loss. The market will always be there.
I should use stop loss for positions that can become catastrophic.
It was my first day trading options yesterday. It was an eye opener. Before that, I had only invested via buying stocks. Starting with 2400 USD, and made 900 USD, over 16 small trades, and made tons of mistakes.
Look for a reality check here, clearly what happened to me was probably dumb luck. Day traders who have been doing it for a long time, what is something you learnt that you can share?
