The Day Trader’s Guide to Technical Analysis shows traders already familiar with charts and charting how the well-known, time-honored rules of technical analysis can help uncover tremendous profit opportunities in today’s fast-action, wide-open electronic day trading environment.
Introduction:
The methods of technical analysis in this book focus you on the reality of what is happening to the price of assets rather than the hope the price will move in your favor. Hope is one of the cruelest killers of capital in a novice day-trader’s account. For technical analysis to work for you, you must be totally disciplined: As soon as the reason that you entered a trade is no longer there, you must exit as quickly as possible.
In this book we’ll cover the following points in detail:
- Why the NASDAQ market is better suited to day trading and why listed securities are better for swing trades (the practice of holding stocks overnight).
- Trading concepts, such as Dow Theory, that have stood the test of time and how they can be applied to day trading.
- Activities that get in the way of making profits.
- Understanding the NASDAQ Level II screen and time of sales, with special attention to why they may legitimately provide conflicting information.
- Getting the best price for your trade by critically appraising all the execution mechanisms open to you, like ECNs, SOES (which in many cases is no longer the fastest route), and SelectNet.
- Detailed tracking of real trading activity using these principles, including premarket preparation/stock selection: the analysis that is best applied to the open, middle, and closing periods of the trading day; and illustration of execution routes.
- Trading psychology and generating your own list of rules that will help maintain your discipline.
These points cover the essentials of day-trading success, which are identifying opportunities, executing effectively, and maintaining discipline.
Contents:
- Why Day Trade NASDAQ Securities?
- Trading Concepts That Have Stood the Test of Time
- Activities to Avoid
- The NASDAQ Level II Screen
- Executions
- A Trading Week
- Trading Psychology
- Keeping Track