FAP Turbo

Make Over 90% Winning Trades Now!

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Day Traders: Habits for Successful Trading

By Tim Hunt

A job as a day trader is a great way to make money in a very lucrative field. It is not, though, an easy way to get rich quick. You will need to put effort and work into it.

As it happens, trading stocks and commodities as a day trader is great job, and a financially rewarding one. It does require certain characteristics and habits for the highest chances of success.

Time management is the first important habit. You must be able to wake up early and alert first thing in the morning and be ready to evaluate how you'll play the market that day. All of this must happen before the opening bell, which starts at 9:00 a.m. in New York, 6:00 a.m. in California, and 5:00 a.m. in Alaska and Hawaii. Getting out of bed early is only half the story; you'll also need to stay on schedule and have a good internal alarm clock. If you're the type who can't function before 11:00 a.m. or has to guzzle down multiple cups of coffee before facing the day, day trading may not be the job for you.

The second important habit is good quantitative analysis skills and the ability to think on your feet. Though "gut" decisions can help you make (and lose!) money as a day trader, you'll need to be able to make informed choices from reading, perusing, and comprehending numbers very quickly. You'll need to be able to run numbers in your head quickly and accurately enough to figure out if something is a trend, or just an anomaly, and you'll need to judge what to do with that information.

If you're thinking that you'll need to be a mathematician to get in the game, don't worry. Even if you weren't ever that great at math, you can learn certain quantitative skills that will quickly become second nature with just a little practice.

A Third habit of successful day traders is the ability to make sharp observations, and to be patient when things don't pan out. Observations must be made quickly and with good short term memory. Though it can be hard, you must train yourself to stay calm even when you lose a trade, and just as importantly, keep your cool even when you make a winning trade.

Dedicated research is the fourth important habit for day traders. While you won't need to perform in depth analysis of accounting statements as in long term conventional investing, you will need to analyze the constant inflow and outflow of data to have a good knowledge base for making judgments on the fly. On the other hand, don't get so caught up in research that you lose the ability to think and act quickly.

Remember that you don't have to do this analytical research on your own. High ranking day traders use a variety of tools and have different research and data services at the ready.

If day trading is a career that appeals to you, start by building a support network. Your team will include a broker, and investors to help you gain leverage in the market. Bear in mind that you will need to work, and word hard. You'll have to show intelligence, drive, and focus to succeed.

If you think your skills are a good fit for day trading, this can be an incredible way to earn great money. It's an enjoyable profession that can "enrich" your life as well. - 23208

About the Author:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]

<< Home