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 in commodities or stocks is, at base, a job. While it can be a highly lucrative job, it’s also one that means you need some basic traits to succeed. You also need some specific habits, and they have to be so ingrained they’re automatic.
The first thing you need is a great sense of time. Anyone who has trouble getting up first thing in the morning or needs to jumpstart with that first cup of coffee will only be miserable day trading. That’s because the best time to figure out what you’ll be doing on the market on a particular day is right before the opening bell. That happens at nine am in New York City – six am in California and five am in Hawaii and Alaska. You can’t just be an early riser, though. You also have to have an excellent internal scheduling system and clock.
Habit number two is maintaining a good set of quantitative thinking skills. You can make or lose money if you’re just running off your basic hunches, but to really do well, you have to make informed choices. That means reading, understanding, and dealing with numbers without thinking about them consciously. You’ll need to be numerate and be able to manipulate numbers in your head with enough skill to tell if you’re looking at a blip or a trend, then act accordingly.
I should point out that you don’t have to be a mathematician to do this. You can learn how to analyze the numbers correctly, even if you’re not fond of math. There are quite a few numerical skills that can turn into second nature, as long as you get well into the game.
Another habit all successful day traders need is to combine patience, organizational skills, and a strategically short memory. This is a hard skill to learn, since you can’t allow yourself to feel disappointed if you miss getting a stop at its top, or if you lose money because the short you were hoping for never showed up. Don’t get caught up in your losses, or over focus on the times when you really pick a winner.
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.
Remember that you don’t actually have to analyze most of this data or do most of this research. That’s because the best traders have access to plenty of tools, including a number of different data services and research tools.
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’ve got all these skills and can develop these habits, day trading could be a great way to make a fantastic income. This is a job you can call fun honestly, and it can be pretty enriching, too.
