What are some effective trading strategies for day traders?
TRADINGFEATURED
One of my biggest mistakes (and I still do it sometimes) is ‘revenge trading’...
Hello,
Keep your charts simple. If it looks like someone threw up trend lines, moving averages, entry/exit signals, clouds, oscillators, etc on your screens, you are doing it wrong.
Learn about volume. It is the single most important confirmatory piece of technical analysis that gives truth to the movement of price. That is my opinion.
Learn about order flow. This is as (or more) important as volume. Because order flow shows you what the buyers/sellers are doing in real-time. You can see the contracts above and below being added or taken away. You can see the difference between buyers and sellers competing on the movement of price. It’s more of an art than science.
Accept that losing is extremely common. Like foul balls, strikeouts missed Minnesota Vikings field goals, netball serves, etc. it is part of the ‘game’. You will have losses. The market will always move in the direction that will cause the most amount of harm to the greatest amount of people. But YOU get to decide how much harm and loss you will take.
Don’t trade just to trade. Don’t trade just because you are at your trade desk (or home office, or whatever you call your trading area). This was hard for me because my ADHD and impulsiveness put me into some bad trades, still do.
Set a daily loss limit in your software that stops you from trading any more that day when it’s hit. One of my biggest mistakes (and I still do it sometimes) is ‘revenge trading’. It’s when you have a loss or two, big or small and you feel like you want to ‘get it back’. This will destroy your account and success.
Don’t chase. “That’s 3 points of movement I just missed! There has to be more in it.” And then you enter and it moves against you. This will kill your account.
Don’t listen to anyone else but yourself. Once you start letting other people’s opinions influence your already thought-out plan, you start to doubt yourself and lose confidence in your decision-making. I am a naturally insecure person so this continues to be a challenge for me, but it’s not as bad anymore.
Take care of yourself physically. The body fuels the mind. I suggest strength training over cardio. I say this because strength training is the practice of lifting heavier and heavier weights with the sole purpose of failing, so that futures higher weights lifted are yesterday's failures you’ve overcome. It is the perfect analogy for market movement: any resistance that is met with ease is indicative of little effort. When your lifting becomes easy, you’re not trying hard enough. When prices move easily, the participants are not trying hard enough.
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