How to day trade

But the reality is it takes hours and hours of work to become a competent day trader. Then you want to spend some time in a simulated trading room to test out your skills. That fits into the most important skill when it comes to day trading: risk management. Don’t start playing with real money until you have the chops to make some.

When you want to learn how to day trade, there are a number of bedrock truths. First, you are going to spend a lot of time looking at spreadsheets. There is no getting around that. Second, you are going to have to put in the time to understand how to spot spiking stocks before they make their move.

Third, you need to find the right techniques and work to apply them flawlessly. Fourth, you need to create steady profits. And you do that by maximising your winning trades and minimising the duds.

One of the most overlooked aspects of learning how to be a day traders is practicing. Not many people know that you can apply your knowledge from online day trading courses in a trading simulator that mimics the daily market. So you can test and refine your skills without risking cold, hard cash. That is a smart play, especially for novice traders.

Finding the stocks

You are never going to make a living trading unless you can spot the stocks that are going to make a run, before they even begin that run. You need to jump on good ones early, ride them to a high percentage jump and leap off before they start to take a dive.

This is not buy-and-hold investing. This all about finding big movers on a daily basis and taking advantage of their moves. This may not be the strategy of big institutional investors on Wall Street, but the little guy can make real money day trading, with the right techniques and risk management.

The right plan

What comes next is strategy. You need to approach each day with a plan, a daily watch list and a keen eye for momentum. Warrior Trading is a respected day trading education website that teaches a number of strategies that can be applied given different situations. The courses are rigorous and the time investment is significant, but the payoff could be real. Read more at the bottom of this article to see what is possible after you put in the time, so you can have an idea of what becoming a master trader can do for your bank account.

Looking for singles, not grand slams

One of the best hitters in baseball history was Wade Boggs, a third baseman for the Red Sox and the Yankees. He came to the park the same time every day, ate the same meal of grilled chicken every day and strove to go three for four with three singles every game. He did not try to swing for the fences on every pitch.

You need to apply the same philosophy to day trading. You are not going to make your mortgage on the first trade of the day. When you get through Warrior Trading’s courses, the next stop is proving that you can make $200 per day, in a simulated trading room, before you start making real money. Consistency is the key.

One trader has been trading for years and shares his knowledge by teaching online classes at Warrior’s site and mentoring young traders. But recently, he had the itch to get out and see what he could do with a small account.

He dropped $583.15 into a SureTrader account, which calls for a minimum of $500. He traded on that initial investment for 44 trading days, from 1 January 2017 through the end of February. The result? $100,000 in profits. Here are the broker statements to prove it.

That is a heck of an accomplishment. But, you need to understand, that it is a hard thing for an experienced trader to pull off. And an impossible task for a novice trader to accomplish. So, when you want to get started day trading, learn how to spot the right trades, look for singles and doubles and aim to stay consistent. You might get to that level one day. But, in the meantime, you will make plenty of money and have a good time doing it.