As for the mental part- strangely enough, the visual scanning and evaluation was easier, if anything. As you know, once we’ve daytraded for a while and the eyes and reflexes are conditioned to scanning multiple charts and spotting “moves of interest,” watching 4 charts and a Last Sale stream on one stock (AAPL) is pretty straightforward (after having had 10-12 charts of DIFFERENT stocks running, and constantly scrolling symbols on at least 6 of those, working on narrowing down a starting list of 15-30 stocks, and trying not to miss a setup or a trade trigger on any of them).

Physically, though, it was exhausting! It’s mostly the stress of doing something new and unfamiliar (entering orders and switching sides over and over in a matter of seconds to minutes)… the feeling’s not unlike the first few days any of us daytraded with “real” money. But there’s also the underlying stress of the unforseen… with a highly-leveraged position, something as simple as a computer hang could be devastating. Even with lightning reflexes, dialing in on the phone and closing the position would take a minute or two, plenty long enough to lose a huge amount if the stock was running fast in the wrong direction.

If I were planning to do this kind of trading regularly, I’d probably need some kind of redundant setup. Dual computers, cable modem AND DSL (or more likely, expensive separate dedicated lines), land line and cell phone. I think it’s just an entirely different playing field, and this one requires a different (and more expensive) set of equipment and tools. Probably where a proprietary setup in an urban area would come in handy.