To the Editor:
Your article on day trading highlights its ease, risk and addictive
quality. What is the psychological difference between repeatedly
clicking "submit" on a Web form to trade during the day and pulling a
lever in a casino slot machine? True, the odds may be somewhat more
favorable with stock trading, but both offer minute-by-minute
excitement, the lure of quick riches and the risk of great losses.
Citation of Letter:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C07E0DD1E31F93AA25751C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink
December 19, 1999, Sunday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section 6; Page 20; Column 5; Magazine Desk
LENGTH: 72 words
HEADLINE: Riding the Mo In the Lime Green Glow
Mark Gerstein
New Haven
Article Commented on:
Riding the Mo In the Lime Green Glow
And other money-mad moments in the life of a day trader.
Published: November 21, 1999
By MATTHEW KLAM
The stock market opens and Dave Goehl immediately makes a $230 profit on 500 shares of eGroup, which he bought yesterday, by accident. Dave is buying and selling securities on the Nasdaq exchange in his shorts and a T-shirt from the convenience of his spare bedroom. "It's the neatest thing in the world," he says. Taped to the wall in front of him is a list of his daily reminders: to trade 12,000 shares a day, to avoid sticking with losers for too long, to choose each transaction carefully. Dave reminds me, constantly, that "trading is 99 percent emotional," and since trading stocks online in real time with lots of his own money is like roasting marshmallows on the Hindenburg, he must keep his wits about him. On the wall above his desk he reads No. 1 of his "Top 10 Habits of a Successful Trader": "Be Disciplined: Discipline! Discipline! Discipline! Discipline! Discipline!" ....
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