Online Forex Trading For You

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Day Traders: Habits for Successful Trading

By Tim Hunt

There is excellent money to be made in day trading, but, unlike what some may think, it is not a simple job. To be successful, you'll need to put in some work.

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.

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 habit that breeds success for day traders is patience and the ability to make keen observations. These habits must be combined with an excellent short-term memory. Patience can be tough to muster when you face the disappointment of missing a stock at its peak, or when you lose money because your low never came to pass. Try not to let these challenges drag you down. Also be sure to keep your cool when you score a winning trade.

Dedication to research is a fourth important habit. You won't need to pore over accounting statements like professionals in long term investing, but you will need to analyze trends that appear in the constant influx of information. You'll need to take an active role in decision-making, and choose trades based on this background knowledge. You can't make good judgments without the right research; but don't let an obsessive need to research cripple your ability to think and act on your feet.

Bear in mind that you don't have to do all of this research on your own. Top day traders have many tools and services available to assist in the research process.

If you decide to pursue a career change in the field of day trading, you'll need to start by building a support team, including a broker, and some investors who can help you apply leverage to the market. Recognize that you will need to work, and it's a kind of work that requires focus, drive, and dedication.

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. - 23311

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