Day Traders: Habits for Successful Trading

Posted on September 18, 2009
Filed Under Day Online Trading | Leave a Comment

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.

Trading commodities and stocks is a day job, and a challenging one at that. Though it can be lucrative, certain habits must be learned for success, and the trader with particular traits is more likely to be successful.

The first habit that must be cultivated a good sense of time. Day trading is not the sort of job for someone who is always late, or can’t get out of bed before 11 AM. The best time for determining how you’ll strategize to play the market on a given day is right before the opening bell. The opening bell rings at 5 AM in Hawaii and Alaska, at 6 AM in California, and at 9 AM in New York. Getting up early isn’t the only requirement; you’ll need to be alert and ready with a good internal clock.

A second necessary habit is the ability to make good decisions with quick quantitative analysis skills. While hunches can make and lose money in day trading, you’ll need to read, synthesize, and understand numbers without having to ponder them at length. You’ll need to be able to determine financial trends at a glance, and act quickly with that information.

Although you’ll need some good quantitative skills, you don’t have to be a mathematician to be a successful day trader. You can cultivate your quantitative skills with just a bit of practice.

A third important habit for day traders is observational skills combined with good short-term memory. You’ll also need patience. Keep your cool even when you miss catching a stock at its highest point, or when you lose money because an anticipated low never arrived. Likewise, you must stay calm when you make a big winning trade as well.

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 all of this research and analysis alone. High level traders have many research tools and tricks, and various data analysis tools close by.

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 you may possess these skills and traits, day trading can offer a thrilling way of earning a remarkable income. You can really have fun at the job, and if you have what it takes to be successful, you’ll come away “enriched” in more ways than one.

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