Profitable Day Trader Blog

Focus on Goals

2009-11-08T12:45:00.002-05:00

Being disciplined enough enough to stay focused while trading is a heavy job in and of itself.
But what happens when we get so wrapped up in just winning that we forget our objectives.

We set our goals to win as much as we can. This a gambler mentality for sure.
Or you may have taken on the job of a daytrader. Eyes on the screen waiting to jump at some
movement that you think has potential. Progressing a little at a time, steady as you go!

Making your goals very clear so you can measure them is the first step in making a strategic
plan.

For goals to work properly they need to be measurable. Write them down and be specific.

Get started by making a checklist.

Define your goals
What will be need to reach them
Remember to measure each step.
How much capital will you start with.
Is the amount realistic.
What type of trading is best for this amount.
Educate yourself in this style of trading.
Paper trade first.
Keep a log journal.
Have strict money management rules.
Review yourself frequent.

This is just the beginning of course, you will need to fill out in great detail everything on your
specific list. A Business Plan if you will because that is exactly what Trading is, a business.
Remember success is a choice that you make. Fail to plan and you are planning to fail.

What you need to succeed

2008-02-18T15:33:00.003-05:00

Day-trading is an admirable but difficult pursuit, providing traders with thrills and chills.
But when the day is over and markets close not too many day-traders end up with profits? Why? many do not have a method; they try to day-trade on "gut feel" and
get over-whelmed by the volume of market information and their own emotions.
Many are called few are chosen. There are two types of people that succeed at day-trading. One is the natural trader who was born to day-trade the way some are born
to sing or play professional sports. A natural moves in and out of trades on little more than an intuitive feel. Such are few and far between.
The other successful kind is a knowledgeable and disciplined trader who has discovered
tradable patterns that work for him, educated with trading techniques and has will power to follow through with a plan.
Like my last article explained trading is an information game; to day-trade, you need (1) a reliable stream of up-to-the-minute price data. (2) a computer for displaying this data, (3)a computer for charting this real-time data in your choice of formats and
apply advanced analytical tools. These last two are usually combined into a packaged deal.
Calling your broker or watching delayed pricing data on T.V. just won't get it.
Some try using this delayed data and this is like driving and looking at a recent
video of traffic instead of the real road in front of you.
Faced with a adverse move, many day-traders freeze before their screens like deers in headlights.
Sooner or later, your car will ram into a truck that has materialized during he delay.
Real time data is not new. The first price tickers were placed in broker offices
at the turn of the century. Now these ticker are antiques and are obsolete. Day-trading used to be limited to big institutional firms that could afford phone lines that could receive their data day long. Equipment was expensive and bulky.
The electronic revolution has put day-trading in the grasp of most active traders.
Now the cost of a computer, software, and broadband service is fairly reasonable.
Monthly charges can be only a few hundred dollars.Don't get caught up in splitting hair of which service is the fastest,cleanest,cheapest ect.
Day-trading promises quick rewards but involves serious risks. On the plus side,
a day-trader is not exposed to adverse price moves that can happen between the open and the close and next days open. By watching the market closely, you can catch intra day rallies and declines and earn really good profits, even on narrow-range days.
Day-trading allows you to catch trends early, bail out of of losing positions quickly
and salvage gains when the trend turns against you.
When you are right in your trades there is immediate satisfaction and profits.
But there are downsides because major moves take time to develop, your profits during
the day are limited, and transaction cost represent a high part of profits.
To overcome this you must be correct on a higher number of day-trades than position trades. You must be careful to control the temptation to over trade a common problem.
Day trading allows little time to think about your trades. Faced with a adverse move,
many day-trader freeze in front of their computers screens like deer in the headlights. If you fail to take quick action, you can get wiped out in one violent
hour.
Day-trading requires much faster reflexes than position trading, and it is safer to learn the basic skills playing the slower game before you move to fastball league.
Position traders who think they are going to do better by switching over to day-trading so they can watch more markets. NOT! Nothing could be further from the truth! To become a successful trader you must become nearly automatic, like driving
a car. Future blogs will focus on developing this logical goals of this entire process combining technical analysis, money management and trading psychology.

Day Trading ONLY because you can!

2008-02-12T13:41:00.001-05:00

New to trading. Then don't start with short time frames and what is commonly called
day trading, its to hard to learn. You don't need to expose yourself to the risk.
Instead start with longer time frames until you understand the movements of the bars.
I know this may run off some of you that want to be day traders but you must be warned.
Shorter time frames are much faster and require quicker decisions and new traders
don't need this pressure. Also you probably have not been trained or have not learned
the financial side of the business. And yes trading must be treated as a business formal paperwork (chart analysis is not the only paper either) must be used while trading. Logs, diaries ect. So while your (honing)developing your skills to become a day trader get yourself a good book about money management from Van Tharp.
Seriously day trading has almost cost me a marriage and I have probably spent a least
one of my kids college educational funds on it so take your money that you were gonna
put into an account to start day trading and go give it to your wife or charity or
any thing because you will not beat the professionals at their game, guaranteed.

I know some of you will be stubborn and just have the need for speed or the action
and will want to become day traders. After all it happened to me so if you must
then follow my posts and watch my web site as it unfolds. I will get you to professional day trader status as soon as possible and keep you from getting
eaten by the sharks.

Until next time.
Jeff

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2008-02-11T13:54:00.000-05:00

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