How To Successfully Launch A Career As A Day Trader
With the financial world becoming increasingly interconnected thanks to advancements in technology, particularly the internet, more people have become interested in online trading. Despite this, there are still few people who are successful as day traders.
While many people try, few of them are successful at making profitable trades consistently, which is the primary reason why there aren’t many working in the niche full-time.
Though the area is quite complex, there are a few steps that you’ll be able to take to day trading on a full-time basis.
It should be noted that this may take quite a while, but by following the steps, you’ll be able to launch your career in day trading.
Have A Self-Assessment
Day trading successfully requires a variety of things, with some of the more prominent being knowledge, skills, specific traits, and much more. Many of these are things that can be learned, although each will take a certain amount of time to do so.
When you’re thinking about day trading, you should look at what traits a successful day trader has and then compare yourself to that standard.
By doing so, you’ll be able to determine where your weaknesses are and how you’ll need to improve.
Having the right mindset can be key to this, as it will help you to learn these skills much quicker and then launch your day trading business.
Arrange The Finances
While you’ll have the potential to make a considerable amount of money over time with day trading, you shouldn’t be able to do so consistently. You’ll incur a variety of losses in your early career, which means that you’ll need to have the necessary capital to sustain yourself during these times.
This means that you should have quite a large amount of money heading into the sector, with some experts suggesting a minimum of $100,000.
Know The Markets
Every day trader will need a solid foundation of information when it comes to the markets and how they function. There can be a considerable amount to learn here, from the relatively simple to the quite complex, so you’ll have to spend a significant amount of time researching and studying.
Some of the more complicated parts of the niche include margin requirements, allowed tradable instruments, how certain news events will affect the market, and much more.
Though this can seem overwhelming at first, they should be a breeze once you have a broad knowledge base.
Know The Securities
Securities can often be the more complicated areas of day trading, with much of this being driven by the sheer volume of them that are available.
These include stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, and futures, each of which you’ll need to have an in-depth knowledge of.
These should be coupled with the market terminology mentioned above, which further complicates the issue. However, you shouldn’t expect to see success in day trading without knowing everything like the back of your hand.
A lack of knowledge will lead to a lack of success, with the reverse also being true.
Set Up A Strategy
The strategy you take when trading makes a significant difference when you first start. At this stage of your day trading career, it’s recommended that you have at least two established trade strategies on the go.
These will act as backups to each other in case one fails or if there’s a lack of trade opportunities. With how dynamic the trading world can be, there are quite a significant number of strategies to choose from.
As a result, you’ll be able to increase the number of strategies you implement as you gain more experience and confidence in the niche.
Integrate Your Plan & Strategy
Alongside your strategy, you’ll need a trading plan in place to implement, which should then be integrated with your trading strategy. There are a variety of things that you’ll need to consider when you’re coming up with this plan.
The first of these is your entry/exit strategy, how much capital you’ll use, how much of this will be applied per trade, how often you’ll place a trade, and which assets you’ll trade.
You should have answers to each of these questions before you make your first trade to ensure that you know both you’re long-term and short-term strategies.
Focus On Money Management
Being able to manage your money will also play a vital role in this, although many people may not know how to do so. There are a variety of questions that you’ll need to ask when doing this.
For example, if you’re using a strategy that reports having a 70% success rate, and you’ve lost your first three trades fail, will the approach still hold up?
There can be a variety of other questions and factors that you’ll need to consider. The video below encapsulates what you’ll need to do to manage your money in day trading.
Know Your Brokerage Charges
Day trading typically involves making quite a significant number of transactions per day, the majority of which will be subject to brokerage charges.
These are fees that many people may not be aware of when they first start trading, which can be a significant mistake.
However, much of this can depend on which brokerage plan you take advantage of. For example, if you’re only planning on placing two or three trades per day, then you should choose a per trade basis brokerage plan.
On the other hand, if you’re planning on trading much more than this, you may need to use a staggered plan, which will result in lower costs over time for your trades.
Simulate & Back Test
What many newcomers to day trading may not realize is that they’ll be able to simulate and test their strategy before they start spending money. The majority of brokers will offer test accounts for you to do so, which is something that you should take advantage of.
Alternatively, you could backtest your plan against historical data. When you’re doing this, however, you should also keep brokerage costs and other fees in mind when it comes to how much you may have made or lost.
Start Small
Even though you may have a large amount of financing at hand to kickstart your full-time day trading career, it doesn’t mean that you should start large. Instead, starting small can be the much more recommended route to take.
This is especially true if you’re trying a new strategy. By starting small with them, you’ll be able to assess their success rate without risking much of your money.
Once this has been done, you’ll be able to determine whether the strategy is worth expanding into and increasing your investment with.
Become a Full Time Day Trader Today!
While each of the steps is highly recommended, it doesn’t mean that you’ll need to follow them in the way we listed above. A few of them will naturally come later in the process, such as actually trading, but you can pick and choose which of the rest you want to start with.
As a result, you’ll be able to dip your toes in before taking the dive. The key to success in day trading is to be informed, and by using each of the above, you can place yourself for prime success in the day trading world.
What’s stopping you from taking the plunge?