Day Trading - trading strategy
Day trading can be an excellent method for making a profit, if you have the stuff to do it. However, no matter how others may pitch it, it’s not a smooth ride. You have to put a lot of work into it to succeed.
Day trading commodities and stocks is more like a highly lucrative job. You need a number of firmly ingrained habits to be successful at it.
The first thing you’ll absolutely need is a good sense of time. The kind of person who’s not good in the mornings or needs that morning jolt from coffee will only make themselves miserable trying day trading. That’s because the best time to decide how you’ll be playing the market today is right before opening bell. That’s at nine in the morning in New York and six in the morning in California. If you’re living in Hawaii or Alaska, it’s five am. Of course, just being an early riser isn’t enough. You’ll also need to have a good internal clock and a solid scheduling system.
The second necessary habit is having good quantitative thinking skills. Working on hunches will allow you to make or lose money in day trading. You need to be able to read and understand the numbers without thinking about them if you want to make good decisions. You have to be able to convert and analyze the numbers in your head carefully, so you’ll be able to tell if something is a blip or a lasting trend, and you have to be able to act accordingly.
You should know that this doesn’t require you to be a mathematician. Numbers you’ll need to know can be learned, even if you always hated math. There are a few numerical skills you can learn to the point of them being ingrained, once you get going in the game.
Successful day traders also have to have patience and skills of observation, and combine them with a short memory. This can be pretty hard to learn, since you have to avoid feeling disappointment when you don’t catch a stock at the top, or when you lose money because the short you’re intending just never shows up. Don’t get caught up in things when you lose, and don’t allow winning to take over your life, either.
Habit number four is dedicated research. Day trading won’t require going through accounting statements to the degree that conventional long term investing does, you do still need to have a constant inflow of analysis and data. You also have to be proactive about the shares you buy and sell. That means making quick, accurate judgments and acting fast. The only way to make the correct judgment calls is researching properly. However, you shouldn’t let the need for research paralyze you.
You should also keep in mind the fact that much of this analysis isn’t directly done by you. The best traders always keep lots of tools available, and can quickly access a number of different data and research services.
If day trading appeals to you as a new career, you’ll have to build up a support network. You’ll need to find some investors willing to help you apply leverage, as well as a good broker.
If you believe you’ve got what’s needed to be a day trader, it could be a great way to make a significant income. This is a job you can seriously call fun, if you have what it takes, and it could be pretty enriching, too.
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