Beware of Fishermens' Stories: The Trade Was That BIG! In ThinkOrSwim

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Daytrading is a bit like fishing—everyone talks about the big one that didn’t get away, but rarely do you hear about the days spent untangling lines or staring at empty water. When experienced daytraders share their "glory trades," they’re often cherry-picking from rare, exceptional days. Yes, there were stellar trades during the 2024 bull run, 86 days were down right spectacular!
But those aren’t the norm.

The market isn’t always a party—right now, with over 50% of the S&P below their 200-day moving average and 30% in correction; it’s no longer the time for easy pickings—it's more like clocking in at a job.

The equity trades below are more typical for profitable daytraders:

- 1/3 are losses Ouch. That's just the cost of doing business​

- 1/3 scrape by with gains of $100 or less​

- 1/3 are decent wins​

—These are the ones influencers slap on thumbnails with​

INSANE PROFITS!​

Remember, YouTube highlights are like Instagram filters—they don’t show the sweat, effort, or messy losses behind the scenes. Daytrading is a job where consistency, risk management, and a level head will make or break your bottom line.


Successful daytraders typically make about 50 trades a day on mixed trend days.

where scalpers make many more trades and longer daytraders way less
where strong bullish/bearish days ==less and longer trades

In the current neutral volatile market

-- not the time to take the speculative risky trades​

-- keeping overall exposure light.​

-- and stop-losses tight​

While a recovery is still possible, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 face multiple resistance levels to the upside and little support below.​

When the market is sliding, the vast majority of stocks will follow. Oil and gas stocks can be an exception.​

In these uncertain times, attention must be paid to what the market is doing, not what you think it will do or hope it will do.​