Let's talk about how to do intraday trading. I'll talk about my own practical experience. Don't look at me like this. I don't dare to claim that I'm so good. There are many good people. I just think the atmosphere of this square is good, and we can communicate together.
Before talking about intraday trading, we have to talk about mentality. If you want to make money intraday, you have to be a little "single-minded". Single-minded? It means that if you see a direction, for example, you think the market is going to rise, then you keep going long and don't go short until the trend changes.
How do you determine the direction? You have to look at the daily and weekly trends. Assuming the market is oscillating now, it must choose a direction. It won't oscillate for no reason. You have to see clearly whether it was rising or falling before the shock, or whether it has been oscillating all the time. If it has been oscillating before, then wait and make a decision when it breaks through. If it was an uptrend before, then stick to the uptrend; if it was a downtrend, then stick to the downtrend. I also have a simple method, which is to look at the moving average, especially the 60-day moving average. If the price is above the 60-day moving average, I will not easily be bearish; if it is below the 60-day moving average, I will not easily be bullish.
For intraday trading, there's no need to trade every day; you have to wait for a clear trend before taking action. As Klo said, wait during fluctuations and trade after a breakout. If there’s a drop after a rise, wait for a pullback to key support levels before going long. How much of a pullback is considered key? Remember the golden retracement levels of 38.2%, 50%, and 61.8%, especially the range of 45%-55%, where Klo likes to enter. I also believe that when the price retraces to this extent and starts to rise again, it's a good time to enter long.
Once the entry issue is resolved, let's talk about stop losses and take profits. Everyone understands stop losses, but I want to emphasize that in intraday swing trading, prices can't keep rising; there will be pullbacks. So, profits are limited, and stop losses shouldn't be too large. Personally, I stick to small stop losses, around 3 or 4 points is enough. If the price moves against you after opening a position, hurry to exit; losing a little is okay, but it can avoid huge losses. Remember, the biggest secret of investing is to protect your capital.
For taking profits, I often use moving averages, especially the 10-day, 20-day, and 60-day moving averages. If it rises quickly after a breakout, I take profits using the 10-day moving average; if it rises slowly, I use the 20-day or 60-day moving average. The moment the 1-minute candlestick closing price dips below the moving average, it's time to exit. If it breaks the moving average and starts to fluctuate, there might still be an opportunity to find support for long positions and to break through previous highs.
Going long on a breakout and finding support to go long, I prefer to look at the 5-minute candlestick chart; the highs and lows of 1-minute candles can be too chaotic. If the market opens with a high gap, and the price deviates too far from the moving average, then look at the low points of the 1-minute candles. If the breakout speed is quick, take profits using the low of the previous minute's candle; if it's slow, use the low of the candle from two minutes prior. Don't be afraid of running too fast and losing profits; if you run too fast, you'll never capture the big profits.
Some people say that the main force will set traps, rising a bit and then starting to plummet. We're not afraid of this because we have stop losses. Sometimes the price may drop and then rise again, so we keep an eye on that line to see if the price can break through. If it breaks through, we look for a suitable time to enter long; if it doesn't break through, we just watch it go.
Finally, let's talk about money management. You will always have moments of dizziness or extreme market conditions; remember, when you continuously make mistakes, take a moment to assess how much you've lost today. Daily losses shouldn't be too large; 5% is already quite substantial. If you exceed this amount, regardless of how the market moves afterward, shut down and walk away, change your mood, and protecting your capital is essential for the possibility of making profits.
As for position sizing, I don't think being fully invested is a bad thing. I don't hold positions overnight, so what’s there to fear? Trading with a light position leads to constant mistakes; what good is that? You still incur losses, right? The more often you trade heavily correctly, the more your capital will accumulate. Of course, how to apply this depends on individual circumstances. At the close, take a look at the settlement slip; if you have a high number of correct trades, you can try increasing your position size; if the number of correct trades is low, then slightly reduce your position size. If you have too many incorrect trades, there must be an issue somewhere; you need to stop and carefully analyze your previous trades, understanding why you made mistakes at certain points, and review the day's records.
Why did you place an order at this point? Why didn't you exit at this point? Why didn't you take profits at this point? I believe reviewing these questions will greatly help and improve you.
