Day Trading!

I've been into stock market for some years but only this year have I finally decided to actively trade. Don't get me wrong I love my bluechips (I have two that I've got majority of money on and are left on it's own) but now I wanted to test myself in earning via day trading. I was inspired by my officemates mostly, although I don't talk to them or anyone for that matter on what I'm currently doing. I see this as a challenge if I could earn a bit more than just doing long term.

Rules I live by:

+ In choosing companies +

I am at my core classify myself as an investor. This is why my initial picks when I started are those companies I believe would have the most potential to grow as the years go by. Going by this, my risk factor is not really high. Whenever I pick a company to trade for my experiments I am still careful in which I actually buy and I actively avoid companies that have a reputation of being too attractive to players with so much cash and are extremely risky. This is also the reason why I do not read forums. I don't want my picks to be affected by other people no matter how good they are. The last time I did that I lost money even if it's against my indicators. My logic is this: The time they share with you their picks, they've already executed the trade. You are basically late to the party. They're just waiting for others to follow suit.

+ In setting aside cash +

Since I'm a bit risk averse and I am technically a baby in day trading, I've only set aside a modest 100k in my portfolio and is also the maximum I trade with fees included for my tests. As I've mentioned earlier, I do not want to touch the money I have in my bluechips, so I'm stuck with that amount for a while until of course all my planned trades do well for me to double it via what I'm doing now (no adding of funds yet because I still have plans to increase my available cash for a secret project). This means that my earnings are not as mind blowing as you might expect. I am good with a 5%-8% win and then I'm out. Two mottos to live by:

1. Do not be greedy

2. Make the plan, execute the plan.

#2 is extremely difficult. This is why I've chosen to do a GTC to prevent me from awaiting my SELL whenever the stock I'm trading currently shoots up. I know I'm not realizing the full potential price of the stock I bought, but I really want to honor my plan. After all, I've already got what I expected to get. On a sinking ship, the rats are first to leave. I want to be that rat and cash in and not be the captain who is last to leave.

+ In making plans +

I've prepared a spreadsheet on how much I'm willing to buy and sell a stock complete with the fees that accompanies it. This is why I already know how much I'm risking and getting in return or lose in case it lowers by some points. This is helpful to check along with the charts if the value I wanted the stock to earn is feasible. If let's say the only way for me to earn from the stock with my 100k is an increase in 10 points WHICH is a price that was never reached in 52 weeks, I say no way. I'd go back picking another company instead.

+ In executing plans +

I have an expiration of two weeks for the stock I'm holding to reach the price I want or I sell a loss. The reason for this is so I could move on and find another company that would let me regain what I've lost. Two weeks is quite long if you think about it so it's either that or my loss has already surpassed the gain I'm hoping for. My logic for this is if I could not get that gain, I am not doing myself any favor by losing more than what I planned it for. Mottos:

1. Do not fall in love with any stock.

2. (Again) Make the plan, execute the plan.

If you are doing an ELI5 with anyone, stock trading for me is just buy and sell. What makes it hard is the psychology of the players involved. It also gives me a lot of comfort that not one person can predict the market 100% of the time. Another motto to live by that was told to me by an online friend: Stocks is not rocket science.  So yeah. Let's do this!