How To Day Trade For A Living

how to day trade for a living make money trading stocks daily

If you've been thinking about taking day trading courses, becoming a day trader, and giving up your standard job, then there's a lot you need to consider before you quit your 9-to-5 work week. While quitting your current gig to become a day trader may sound appealing, it is anything but easy in 2023. Educating yourself is highly recommended before you go all in with your investment funds.

Day traders have made major headlines as of late with their Reddit and Twitter armies boosting penny stocks, cryptocurrencies, and silver on young beginner exchanges like Robinhood and Webull. A lot of money has been made, and some has been lost as well. But the overall message stands strong than ever before: You have the potential to make a lot of money as a day trader with experience and know-how.

While day trading can be a great way to make some extra money, there's a lot more to it than simply keeping up to date with the latest stocks to watch or paying a broker to do the hard work for you. 

Introduction To Day Trading In The Market

In the days before computers were available to the world, and instantaneous communication was everywhere, many Wall Street firms employed traders to sit and watch the stock transactions that emerged from mechanical tickers in trading cities. These old-school day traders would be responsible for identifying opportunities for quick profits. Today, day traders follow the same strategy, although they have a much easier way of viewing the changes in the market with the help of the internet including premarket trading and after-hours trading within microseconds of real time market data. There are dozens of great options for day traders including Webull, Robinhood, eTrade, Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, and TD Ameritrade just to name a few online brokers.

Could You Be A Professional Day Trader? 

A professional day trader needs several things to succeed in today's competitive marketplace. If you want to make a significant profit on your investments, then you'll need to understand how the markets work, and how small changes around the world can affect the securities that you buy. Additionally, another thing you'll need to be aware of is when you should be trading each day. There are certain times for trading that are best depending on whether you're trading Stocks, Bonds, Mutual Funds, Forex, Cryptocurrency, and Futures. 

Professional day traders buy and sell stocks on the same day. These traders aim to gain from the sudden rise or fall in the price of a stock. Brokers offer stocks recommendations for intraday traders.

Most importantly of all, stock day traders need a strategy. Without a strategy, and tactics that can adapt to new market conditions, your investments could go sideways fast when day trading for a living. Some of the most popular day trading strategies include: 

Top Day Trading Strategies

Here are some the top trading strategies for securities:

- Scalping:  Scalp trading is when a day trader sells their position as soon as a security becomes profitable. Usually, this means that trades are made within a matter of minutes instead of hours. 

- Fading:  This is when day traders sell short-sell stocks that are engaging in rapid upward movement. Short sellers often create an imbalance between buyers and sellers to drive stock value downward. 

- Daily Pivots:  These are the traders who may hold onto their stocks for a longer period than the scalpers, waiting for the best price to sell the securities that they bought earlier in that day. 

- Swing Trading:  While swing trading is very different than day trading, occasionally a day trader may need to swing trade depending on the circumstance. That means they may hold on to stocks for days or even weeks before selling, if it is more profitable. 

- Position Trading: This is pretty much the opposite of day trading, because it deals with long securities holdings for months, years or even decades while building up compound interest through dividend reinvestment or company growth. I've included it just to contrast the other types of trading. This is more traditional investing you'd find in a retirement account or long-term stock portfolio. 

What type of trading will you choose for your investment strategy?

Choosing A Day Trading Strategy 

While there are many different kinds of day trading strategy to choose from, there's no single plan that works perfectly for every kind of trader. You'll find that as you hone your skills as a day trader, you'll begin to learn more about your ability to manage risk, and what you can do to limit your chances of making the wrong purchasing decisions. 

For example, you might want to trade live accounts straight after the fee is paid with a chance to manage a 1 million fund account even if you don't have an evaluation or a demo account. Over time, you'll be able to come up with your own unique strategies and put them to the test through things like virtual trading simulators and paper trading. 

Final Thoughts On Day Trading For A Living

One particularly important thing to remember is that even the best trading strategies won't work forever in a stock day trading environment. If you want to stay ahead of the competition and make sure that you're continually bringing in profits, then you need to be willing to upgrade your trading strategy as the stock market continues to change.

Day Trading Done Right

Do your day trading done right and double your returns. And don't forget the golden rule of day trading stocks for a living: never invest more than you can afford to lose! Good luck day trading for a lucrative living! 

And join me on Robinhood, Fidelity, Merrill, or Webull for free trading and incredibly low fees for full time day traders and swing traders! Minimizing or eliminating fees and expense ratios are essential for new and professional day traders. Just don't ever trade or invest on insider information or the SEC will come down on you one way or another.

To better day trade stocks, bonds, mutual funds, forex, and cryptocurrency make sure to follow the biggest winners and losers of the day in the market. Do your research, learn from your mistakes, and take calculated risks to succeed as a professional day trader in 2023.

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