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The pleasures and perils of day-trading

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Vikram SrivastavaArun Rajendran Mumbai
 7.30 am: Woke up groggy-eyed. Reached out for the newspaper and watched CNBC for about half an hour. So many results, so many stocks to check out.

 8.45 am: Feel all pepped up for another day of gains (hopefully). No sign of Monday morning depression. It feels good when you have just made Rs 50,000 on a Friday.

 9.20 am: Arrived at broker's office. It's raining heavily, but not enough to dampen my spirits.

 9.30 am: Greeted my fellow day-traders. Kem cho, bhai? Majaa ma? Feels just like family. Hirenbhai tells me Satyam should be really hot today. Let's see.

 10.05 am: Looks like Hirenbhai was right. Satyam is seeing fairly large volumes. I checked to see if the price was moving as fast as the volumes. Seems so. "Hirenbhai, buy 3,000 Satyam at Rs 180". The screen is my guide.

 12.30 pm: I have executed five safe trades in the first two hours of trading; spotting uptrends has become so easy with experience. Buying and squaring off positions in a particular scrip within the span of a few minutes may not net me much, but I have made Rs 10,000 so far. Not a bad start.

 Let me check out Satyam. Rs 183, Hirenbhai was right. Anil got out at Rs 183. Fool, he should not have capped his profits so soon. But then, he has always been bull headed.

 1.05 pm: Hirenbhai tells me to check out Welspun Gujarat. The stock has moved one way in the last three days. I have already made some money in it. Hate to touch stocks like this, but no risk, no fun.

 "Hirenbhai, buy 6,000 Welspun Gujarat at Rs 23.70". Satyam is at Rs 184.35. Suresh and Amit have got out and yell out the news. Maybe, I must get out, too. Perhaps after lunch. Checked out the price of Welspun on the way - down 75 paise. Not a good sign.

 1.55 pm: Felt a bit queasy after lunch. May be it was the numbers of the screen, which showed Welspun down Rs 1.25. Hirenbhai tells me that the stock is bound to come back and he has news from a reliable source.

 In the last five years I have survived just because I know when to cut my losses. "Hirenbhai, sell my 6,000 Welspun now." Can't say making a loss does not hurt, even though Satyam is still going strong at Rs 185.

 Almost all my friends are through for the day. "Arre bhai, get out," yells Anil. I think I will do that in just a few minutes.

 2.35 pm: Welspun has recovered to Rs 23. May be Hirenbhai was right after all. But I don't believe in looking back. HLL is looking good.

 "Hirenbhai buy 3,000 HLL at 156". Sold half my Satyam shares at Rs 185.30. But now it has fallen to Rs 184.70. "Hirenbhai Satyam, poora nikalo".

 3.20 pm: HLL has risen slowly by Rs 1.50. I can live with that. "Hirenbhai, sell all my HLL. Checked out Welspun just for the heck of it - Rs 22.05. That feels good. Made Rs 35,000 today.

 If my luck is even half as good for the rest of the week, I can surely be off to Dubai. Wife's been complaining all of last week. May be she won't complain if we can go shopping in Dubai.

 4.05 pm: Cutting chai after a day like this is infinitely satisfying. Anil looks sheepish for having bailed out early. I feel bad for him. Hard luck, bhai.

 If day-traders had time to maintain daily diaries, their daily jottings about personal highs and lows might well have resembled the one above.

 Last year, when the market appeared to be heading nowhere, many of them may have considered diary-keeping a more exciting vocation. After all, nothing much was happening on their screens.

 Not any more. With day-trading offering easy pickings in a 12-week bull run, compulsive intra-day traders are emerging from the woodwork and chancing their arms in pursuit of the proverbial quick buck: thousands, if not lakhs.

 The FIIs may be driving up the market with their billion-dollar investments, but it is the day-traders who are enjoying the ride. Heavy, delivery-oriented trading brings just the right kind of price volatility and trading volumes needed for day-traders to hitch a free ride.

 Day-traders love volatility since big money can be made only if prices fluctuate widely enough for them to cover brokerage and other costs.

 It is easy to think of day-trading

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First Published: Jul 28 2003 | 12:00 AM IST

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