Thread by @corymitc

My #daytrading success came relatively quickly.

Within a year I was making a great living.

Once profitable, I didn't have a losing month for 4 years.

Adversity did come. Here's what it was and how I overcame it.

A Thread 👇👇

I started day trading in 2005 and became quite profitable rather quickly, by most people's standards.

https://twitter.com/corymitc/status/1619818239495917572

It was the result of dedicating 8 hours per day to doing my own research analyzing charts.

I got to the trading floor at 6 am (market opens at 730 my time) and left at 3 pm after discussing strategy with colleagues.

I didn't trade that whole time....

But I brainstormed, and journaled, and thought of better ways to do things. Even when I was at home.

I did all this, and I traded very well.

I did great in 2005 to 2007, and in the big decline of 2008.

But big changes were coming...

I traded mostly NYSE stocks because I liked how they moved.

A little history lesson: Pre-2009 orders coming into NYSE were handled by a Specialist, a person on the NYSE floor.

He would match orders and would also fill orders against shares he owned.

For example, I might want to buy a stock, but there is only 500 shares showing on the offer and maybe a few hundred more a cent above.

I could send him a market order or limit order (max price I am willing to pay) for 10,000 shares. He would freeze the stock for a few seconds..

And then give me 10,000 usually only a few cents away from the current price.

Yes, he could screw me (and sometimes did), but I could trade big volume and the Specialist was always there to provide liquidity.

I got used to that. I learned to work with him.

In 2009 that changed. Specialists ceased to exist. The NYSE became much more automated.

Volume became fragmented. Prices whipped around much quicker because there was only 100 shares on each price level as opposed to thousands in the slower movement under the Specialist.

How I traded for 3.5 years was gone.

I had been making $10K-$20K+/month for years.

It dropped to several thousand a month.

I needed to build a more robust strategy.

One that wasn't as reliant on a load of liquidity and capturing several cent profits.

I went back to my charts and started studying stocks that move a lot. I figured if I couldn't get a big amount of liquidity for a small move, I could take smaller positions in stocks that moved a lot in percentage terms.

15 years later that is still how I day trade stocks.

On one website or another, for more than a decade, I have provided a list of high % mover stocks. It is my day trading list.
tradethatswing.com/best-stocks-fo…

I decided to leave the firm. I had begun trading forex as well and no longer needed the firm for capital.

The new strategy worked great, but I only traded once in a while.

I couldn't decide if I still really wanted to trade.
That was the big issue.

I was making enough to live from my own trading, but it was a lot less than I was used to (because I was barely trading).

I went back to the firm a couple times but didn't put in the work I needed to. For almost 2 years I did pretty much nothing but spend money I had made.

Everything that had made me successful, I had stopped doing.

Less research, less review, no strategizing how to get better.

For those two years I knew what I had to do. I had strategies that worked, I just didn't really want to trade them.

It takes focus and dedication and I was happier doing others things during that time.

I learned that you need to stay passionate about what you do. Strategize how to mix things up to keep yourself engaged.

I strategized everything except that. I never thought that would be a problem.

Whether trading or relationships, think about how to keep things interesting.

At some point, the infatuation with trading wears off and it becomes a real relationship we need to work at.

You work at it and figure out how to get engaged again, or it will slide away.

Until we figure out how to stay engaged/passionate from within, it will keep happening.

By 2011 I had spent most of my savings and had one of those "WTF am I doing?" moments.

I still wasn't sure if I wanted to trade so I got a currency broker job for several months.

That was the wake up call! I didn't want to work for anyone! I was used to my independence.

I realized my main issue is that I get bored and think about doing other things.

But trading is great, and allows me do all those things!

I had to find a way to keep my trading interesting so I didn't get derailed like before.

I already had a website, but in 2011 I really started focusing on that. Sharing what I was doing and talking with other traders again.

People asking questions forced me to explore my trading and find ways to improve.

Trading on its own, always felt a little hollow....

For me, sharing what I was doing has helped keep the trading passion strong since 2011.

Others learn my methods and then provide feedback to me on how they are doing things differently.

It keeps it interesting. It keeps me and my methods evolving.

I also trade multiple markets.
My own advice to people is to get profitable at one, then learn others.

If I've been day trading forex for a few years and I notice that feeling of boredom creeping in, I develop a new strategy to work on, or I day trade only stocks for a while.

Or I take a break and focus more heavily on my swing trading.

I'm aware of the damage that boredom or "needing a change" can do.

Needing a change doesn't mean sabotaging all the progress made. Keep going, just change a couple things to make it interesting again.

Summary:
If you feel totally lost, or your strategy isn't working anymore, totally rebuild it.

Forget EVERYTHING and just look at your charts. Decide how you want to trade. Make the idea work. I keep working on a strategy idea until it IS profitable.

I can dedicate years to trading a strategy before I need to mix things up a bit to keep it interesting.

Most people I see are trying different strategies every week. That's not how to improve. Pick something and stick with it. When you do need a change, tweak it just a bit.

If you enjoyed this, give me a follow
@corymitc

My stock day trading methods are covered here:
tradethatswing.com/product/price-…

My forex day trading method is covered here:
tradethatswing.com/product/the-eu…

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