The Truth About Day Trading Stocks: A Cautionary Tale About Hard Challenges and What It Takes To Succeed (Wiley Trading) [Hardcover]

Josh DiPietro (Author)

Book Description

Series: Wiley Trading | Publication Date: July 7, 2009

A realistic guide to day trading today’s stock market

"Josh does an outstanding job of capturing all his trading experience into an invaluable memoir detailing specific rules for both the inexperienced and experienced trader. Anyone interested in trading professionally should read this book as they will learn invaluable lessons."
—Stephen Ehrlich, CEO, Lightspeed Financial, LLC

"Having been a trader for over twenty years myself, I’ve read my share of books about the financial markets. Josh’s book is one of the few which doesn’t sugarcoat the fact that successful trading is both hard work and takes a long time to master. These lessons and guidance are drawn from real-life experiences, not hypotheticals, which simply adds to their weight. Active traders who are serious about their success need to read this book."
—Tim Knight , founder of Prophet.net, author of Chart Your Way to Profits

"A brutally honest depiction of the reality of trading. Great stuff. If you’re new to the trading game, this book will shorten your learning curve and—if you take its lessons to heart—it just might save you money and grief."
—Jason Alan Jankovsky, author of The Art of the Trade and Trading Rules that Work

Editorial Reviews

Review

"DiPietro gives an insight int to what it takes to become a day trader. And he should know..." (City A.M. July 27th 2009)

From the Inside Flap

In terms of the potential for heavy financial loses, day trading is a high-risk profession. No one should contemplate day trading without giving thought to the ways he can lose, and all the ways to lessen or avoid them. Yet many people enter the game with unrealistic expectations, unaware of what it takes to succeed. Seminars and software alone do not make a successful day trader, cautions author Josh DiPietro. Instead, a trader must learn hard lessons of self-discipline, consistency, and staying in the game for the long haul to have a real chance of success. In The Truth About Day Trading Stocks, DiPietro offers the amateur day trader a brutally honest look at the pitfalls of day trading—and how to hopefully avoid them.

Written in an engaging and sometimes humorous tone, The Truth About Day Trading Stocks draws on the author’s own experiences as a day trader to offer a clear-cut departure from typical "golden goose" strategies promising instant wealth. Instead, he attempts to slow down the dangerous fervor of the average amateur and demonstrate the ways you can become a professional and not lose your shirt in the process. The Truth About Day Trading Stocks shows how trading decisions are bent and shaped by emotions, and why it is critical to know yourself, understand risk, and remember that increasing your skill level is a gradual, ongoing process—there’s always more to learn! After dispensing with popular illusions, DiPietro proceeds to offer realistic, practical trading advice—comparing pay-per-trade with pay-per-share brokers, determining which works best and when, offering suggestions on how to avoid the prospect of perfect trades turning ugly, and more. At the end of the book, he also includes a section called "Rules to Remember," a list of over eighty rules, simply stated and easy to grasp, to benefit amateurs’ performance.

Throughout the book, the author describes his development of acute self-awareness while figuring out how to succeed. Through that blunt self-portrayal, the goal of The Truth About Day Trading Stocks is to help you create a disciplined mind-set and apply it to your own successful trading style.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (July 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0470448482
• ISBN-13: 978-0470448489
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (56 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #491,146 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Day Trader Josh (Josh DiPietro) www.DayTraderJosh.com



My journey began in sunny San Diego back in 1998. I caught free trading seminar and learned how easy it was to sit in your shorts and make tons of money when buying and selling stock online.

I opened a traditional online day trading account, through a prominent pay-per-trade broker. I was paying about $14.99 per trade back then.
I quickly realized how easy it was to lose a lot of money very fast. I began searching for day trading academies and purchasing every day trading book that I could find. I was desperate to learn how to profit consistently.

I found a 3-day day trading program up in Irvine, CA. It cost $6300, and no guarantees. The trader/instructor that sold me over the phone was very convincing. He promised I would be learning proprietary information that would transcend my day trading career to a whole new level.

After the 3-day program I came home to my trading station, which at the time was two laptops and a 36" Gateway monitor. I felt like a true professional trader. My confidence levels were through the roof.

To make a long story short, I lost so much money within a couple years I had to sell my house and I almost lost my fiance.

Once I decided to take a break from full-time day trading, I began searching for some sort of small business. I had to pay the bills. I quit actively day trading for about three years and began pursuing a mobile detailing business. I did maintain my online brokerage account, and I did place several swing trades over the few years. I never really made a lot of money, especially consistent money until I decided to get back in again, actively day trading.

It was 2004, and I was currently finishing up my Bachelors degree in Business marketing from San Diego State University. The college experience helped me become a much smarter and resourceful person.
I came into some money so I decided to give full-time day trading another chance. I purchased a few current day trading books, and I decided to dish out another $5000 on my second professional trading program (a completely different trading academy).

This time the program was a five-day intensive and professional trading program (so they promised). I drove back up to Irvine, CA to the program. I expected to learn a highly structured way of profiting consistently in trading equities.

Once again I was let down.

This time, I actually was disappointed because I knew more then I thought. The program didn't teach me anything that I already didn't know. I felt completely ripped-off.

I continued day trading with my traditional pay-per-trade account until 2007. I was moderately successful while trading with a pay-per-trade broker and trading platforms. During this period I was definitely learning how the stock market truly functions.

Just prior to 2007 I started getting labeled as a "pattern day trader". This means I am trading more then 4 round-trip-trades in any five day rolling period. Basically, the S.E.C requires all pattern day traders to have at least 25k in their brokerage accounts.

I had no problem with the 25k minimum requirement. My main problem was the pay-per-trade commission structure; it was killing me.

I was placing over 10 round trip trades per day. That's 20 executions per day. That translates to $200 in commission fees per day ($9.99 per trade). I needed to find a way to trade without getting charged so much per trade.
In 2007 I began seeking out pay-per-trade firms that had much cheaper per-trade commission cost. The lowest I ever found was $4.99 per trade. This was still too high.

I then aggressively began my search for day trading firms in New York City. I started finding trading firms that offered pay-per-share commission structures. Pay-per-share firms were very foreign to me. But, the more I researched, the more I knew I had to move to New York City. (NOTE: pay-per-share firms currently offer remote trading, so no need to travel).

So in late 2007 I sold virtually everything I owned and moved to Manhattan, so I could be near Wall Street, where most of the independent pay-per-share trading firms are located.

Once I got to Manhattan I was blown away by the pay-per-share firms. They all had their own trading floors. The caliber of day trader experience made me feel like a complete amateur. The truth is, I was, compared to the veterans on the floor.

For an entire year I was exposed to real day trading firms, and real day traders. I learned more in this period then I did in all nine years prior.

Everything I know to date can be learned from this book, and if you want to put it to practice i highly suggest you enter my mentorship program first:

Learn to trade profitably & consistently in 100-share blocks, and Pay only 40 cents PER TRADE!!!!
Visit my website: www.DayTraderJosh.com


Day Trader Josh
Guidance From a Seasoned Intra-Day Trader

Program Overview:

PART 1:

o Basic Procedure

* Picking stocks priced from $100-$200.
* Taking consistent profits of 15-25 cents per 100 shares.
* Four stop/loss exit options: a maximum of 50 cents per 100 shares.
* Placing over 20 round-trip trades per day.

PART 2:

o Intra-Day Trading Strategy: Chart Analysis

* Basic Charting: using 1-minute candle sticks.
* Trading off previous ranges: three definite support/resistance levels.
* RULE: Minimum of FIVE consecutive 1-minute candle sticks:
Recognizing newly forming intra-day support/resistance.
* ENTRY and EXIT Strategy-
General market price barriers: .25 - .50 - .75 - .00
* Technical Indicator: real-time volume bars (The Rhythm Factor).
* Averaging-Down: advanced alternative to Stop/loss.
* Back-Testing Intra-Day Trades: Scrutinize both real-time and end-of- day trades.

PART 3:

o The "Mechanics" of FAST-KEY Order Execution

* Using your keyboard keys for rapid order execution.
* Placing orders directly from Level 2 quote chart (direct access).
* Executing "real-time" trades (manual limit orders).


Please visit Day Trader Josh's website for more info:
www.DayTraderJosh.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

87 of 90 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The real story of being a day trader, July 7, 2009

By 

Steve Burns (Nashville, TN) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Truth About Day Trading Stocks: A Cautionary Tale About Hard Challenges and What It Takes To Succeed (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

If you are searching around on Amazon for a book that will get you started in day trading, this is it. Josh DiPietro will give you the straight truth about the reality of being a day trader. It is a career choice like any other. It takes hard work to become successful. Almost every beginning trader blows out their account before learning to manage risk. You can read books and take seminars but only real trading will make you successful. I have been a trader for over 6 years and I agree completely with these observations from the author.
Josh's key points are to start with 100 share blocks only, to limit exposure and build skill. Do not move above this amount until you have been successful for months, then only increase trade size very gradually. You can make money trading 100 shares at a time through out the day. This also keeps your emotions under control when no one trade has to much riding on it. Use preset stop losses if your trade goes against you. Most amateurs make the mistake of stubbornly holding losing positions or even increase their position on the way down, this can be disastrous. The key to day trading success is consistency, making the money you need daily, by having a great win ratio.
Josh's system is scalping .20 cents to .40 cents off nice steady consumer staple stocks that trade at least a million shares daily on the market. He uses the previous days support and resistance levels as a trading range along with volume. His trading seems to be primarily counter trend, shorting at break outs to new highs and going long at support to try to catch retracements to profit. I have used this system in range bound markets for much success. So I can say his system is sound from my personal experience. He also wants to avoid stocks if they are in the news or earnings are expected, because that will disrupt the range and lead to volatility and trends.
He also explains the value of using pay per share brokers versus pay per trade brokers. If you qualify for an account with a pay per share firm you could get 10 to 1 or even 20 to 1 leverage. This is for the advanced and you must show them your ability to trade before they will release that much buying power to you. But it enables you to be profitable with $10 and $20 scalps because a 100 share trade is about .35 cents. This is an opportunity amateurs rarely hear about.
I have read over a hundred trading books and day traded successfully through this recent financial crises, with a 31% return from September 2008 to July 2009. I also was one of the rare people who went to a cash position in my 401K on January 5th of 2008. With my background I still learned several things from this book and it was great to get my mind focused during this break from trading. I highly recommend for all beginning and intermediate traders. I wish I would have had this book when I started day trading it would have saved me both money and time.

68 of 76 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good book to read but gives you no technical information, November 30, 2009

By 

M. Wang - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Truth About Day Trading Stocks: A Cautionary Tale About Hard Challenges and What It Takes To Succeed (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

The sole reason I bought this book was the fact that it had such a high rating (5 stars) with over 30 reviews. The book is very easy to read and explains the truths of daytrading by telling real life stories and examples. It is simple, fun to read, and easy to understand.

However, after finishing the book (only 150 pages or so), I did not learn any real substance or valuable information that I use. The book contains so much fluff, fillers, and stories. As a matter of fact, the only valuable information is probably the last 10 pages that explains how he screens his stocks. Even then, his screens are broad and too simple.

Also, the book constantly promotes his "Day trading mentor program" throughout the book. While reading, you can't help to think that the author's book is only written to lure people into his $700 mentoring program. The book offers very little to no technical information which only helps in the author's favor as I guess he gets more customers.

In conclusion, I believe there are far greater books with more value and information with authors who are true day trading gurus, not author's who try to make money off of beginner day traders.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fresh trading perspective!, June 26, 2009

By 

Sam "Sam" (Indianapolis) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Truth About Day Trading Stocks: A Cautionary Tale About Hard Challenges and What It Takes To Succeed (Wiley Trading) (Hardcover)

I've been trading for about a year and I've had wonderful highs but fewer mistakes that create larger lows. I've spent $4,500 for classes in Chicago & NYC. The classes attempt to teach me the trading equivalent of driving a golf ball 350 yards, or trading a stock that moves a clean 1 1/2 points. I can't hit a golf ball 350 yards & I can't find a 1 1/2 point move but I can chip and putt both on the greens and in the markets. I discovered Josh in a article in SFO (Stock, Futures and Options) magazine. Josh is not a professional national speaker with his head in the clouds. Josh is more like you and me yet has much to offer. His book tells how to get 25 cents many times, trading psychology (OMG), how to select stocks, manage risks and much more. I put myself on probation as I tend to have many gains but a few larger losses. Sounds like a simple thing to fix but welcome to emotions and money. In my 90 minutes of trading today after reading this book I netted $115. For me, that is good. Certainly go to the conferences and read other books but if want the opinion of a young guy that is more like us, Josh's book is a must.