Beggining Day Trading Tips

I want to make a little note to all the day traders just starting out:

1: If you've been flagged in violation of Regulation T, don't worry, you're not going to jail.
When You Violate Regulation T:
When you violate Regulation T your brokerage flags your account as having done so. They'll probably send you an annoying email or two about it, but there are no legal ramifications. Once flagged, you're simply prevented from making day trades until your account has been approved for margin trading and your account has a balance of $25,000.

2: Streaming Quotes aren' Real Time Quotes
Streaming quotes provided by Yahoo! Finance and Google Finance are not real time. The prices displayed are likely the prices 15-20 minutes ago. A lot can change in a few minutes.

Real time quotes provide current prices within a few seconds. (Sometimes stock prices move so fast, computers can't keep up with the changes.)

3: Trading On Margin: Yes, you can trade on margin and it's not so risky so long as set a pre-determined amount to lose and set up Limit orders and trailing stops to prevent catastrophe.

4: Never, ever, ever, ever use a market order. Market orders license your brokerage to buy and sell securities at any price monies and stock can be exchanged for. Don't give somebody else this kind of leeway with YOUR money. Trailing stops and limit orders allow you to set prices YOU are willing to pay and you are willing to sell for.

5: Always, always have a game plan.

If you start day trading and don't set a point at which you'll throw in the towel or ring the register you're probably going to lose money.

A good plan looks like this:

Buy 1000 shares AAPL at $88.50.
Sell after a .0025% loss or a .005% gain.

It doesn't have to be a dollar or % gain amount, it can be conditons.
(Yes, this is going to look like a VB script.)
Condition: If AAPL drops 1.75% /Sh, buy 1500 of AAPL.
Then
Sell AAPL after a .0025% drop or a .007% gain.


Summary: Game plan, Margin trading not risky, Limit Orders, Trailing Stops, Real Time Quotes are Not Streaming Quotes, Regulation T violations are no big deal.