I've asked this question of thousands of traders, now let's buckle down and get some answers started.

Go ahead and sound off - what's the biggest problem You personally have in your day trading?

Many traders, for example, talk about:

- not letting winners run long enough, exiting too fast
- not being able to find the best stocks each morning
- discipline needed to stay out of trades or market days that aren't strong
- chart setup questions, not being able to read the tape
and more...

What's driving you nuts, when it comes to day trading?

-ken

If I miss the open, I try finding stock with normally wide ranges and wait until corresponding sectors start to move and act on it but the problem is also waiting for the right signals like stochs, candles,vol,MA's etc (confirming) and pivots to be in sync.Many times it works out ok but I still find myself buying at high stochs and selling at low stochs.

I don't know what position size is best to start with each morning. And how to take advantage of current market conditions by using beta volatility, daily TICK/TRIN/PREM.

Not adapting my trading to the market conditions. I traded in an eSignal demo account for over a year and the results were very favorable. I started trading live in November and couldn't figure out why I was losing. I know the execution speed at times will be an issue but even factoring that in there was something else that was impacting my success. This was right when the sub prime mess was constantly talked about on CNBC. Suddenly the market (for me) was too volatile. I would be getting the direction of the stock correct but due to the whipsaw action I was experiencing too much of the pain of a losing trade (so I would get out) only to watch the stock move in my favor with me on the sidelines nursing a $500 loss.... The solution: decrease the share size to be able to tolerate the pain of the trade going against me until it moved in my favor. Its a lot easier holding on to a trade that is down $200 than $500. It did help my psyche to hear on CNBC one of the commentators say that there were traders on the floor of the NYSE with 30 years experience that didn't know what was going on with this market and that they were confused... If somebody with 30 years of real floor experience can't tell what is going on how could I expect myself to... again trade smaller and less until the market becomes more predictable...

I would have to agree with ROB's post. With this volatile market...I've learned to take shorter "chops" at the the market. There is a different psychological undertone, when your stop loss has been reached and the pain levels are unbearable. This happened to me on Friday's -300pt drop in the DOW. It's not fun when one minute your in the money, and a few minutes later your stop loss has been reached. Looking back, the stock rebounded after finding SUPPORT....but I would have to ride through TWICE the amount of losses before reaching a break even point. Bottom line: Reduce the amount of Contracts or Shares in a volatile market.

My problem is knowing when to get off a stock. Like Rob said, once you drop the stock it changes direction and goes up. So you try to hold it for a little longer in hopes it will turn, and the next thing you are in so deep that it is becomes a real pocket emptier. The stop losses are OK, but how many time can you take the losses before your account runs dry? Cutting the amount of stock bought will give you a smaller loss, but in order over come the commission cost you have let the price of the stock raise higher. It is like a catch 22.

It's look like 0) the market makers are scalping the stop losses to earn something.
1) Other way: with big volatility, and a small account: know what to do, or get out!
2) Make the skills of money management work for you.
3)(take a good look at the fib's and take your stop loss a bit further...so at the first test of the fib's you will not be stopped out...)

4) what do they say: do not trade often, but trade well....:-)

My biggest problem is impatience and anxiety.

Impatience and anxiety. not finding the best stocks...

Patience, spending the day for 6 or so good trades. Not knowing if they will even come or when? Sitting on my hands the rest of the day. Always being tempted to break my rules. Waiting for the trade to come to me. Trying to be early entering and existing a trade w/ momentum. To recognize tension, in the market and stocks. Being able to walk away in a flat market. To conserve my mental energy. Being able to take a loss or win with little to no emotion. A loss or a win doesn't make me a good or bad trader, Relying on 1 or 2 types of moves and knowing them well. Knowing when to limit share size when entering a trade and when to back up the truck.