Success Happy

Am I very lucky or is it the market conditon?

I'm 24 I work full time as an accountant. I day traded 4 years ago but i was very impatient and kept selling as soon as i saw the stock price drop. I lost lots of money. However, now i've graduated from college and understand the way the market works. I'm using contrarian market principle at a more simplified and quicker approach. The principle says buy when a stock is turning low and sell when it eventually goes up. I buy when a stock plummets and sell after a short gain from a quick bounce in share price. I don't sell untill it recovers! It hasn't worked perfectly b/c i've had to wait up to 3 months once for a stock to get out of the red. I'm just looking to make a quick $200 a week of a 1-2% upside. What do you think about this strategy? Is this strategy only successful b/c of the high volume and volatility in the current market place? I'm using all my savings to trade and made about $3K this year mostly due to 3 windfall trades where i gained 10%. Should i continue with this strategy? Should i stop and leave my money in a bank? What was your experince of day trading? Is it like gambeling? lets not forget the high taxes i'll be paying at the end of the year.

Public Comments

1. Day trading is like gambling but just like gambling its all upto you the gambler how good or bad you do.
2. your strategy is not so good. i attribute most of your gains to luck. you are holding your losers way too long and probably selling your winners too soon. you should aim to get out of losing trades as soon as you are able to determine that price is not going your way and let your winners run. not all stocks recover and if you wait a long time for a recovery you have lost the ability to invest in something more profitable. i would see if you can come up with a better strategy including money management.