So you’re a day trader. Ok, you have the computer, a few monitors, and a brokerage account with a few bucks that is going to make you many more bucks. Throw in a charting program, a few books worth of knowledge and the passion for trading and your set. Now what? Good question!
As a new or even a struggling trader with all of the above in hand, what is your job description? When you come to work each day at the screen what is your job? How are you planning on doing your job? Can you describe to me in simple terms what you are trying to accomplish?
If these questions give you pause, it may be best for you to prepare yourself for some rough sailing. In my experience rough sailing in the trading business usually involves losing money!
Wait… now hold on a minute, that’s not the job you signed up for. This all too common scenario occurs with a percentage of probability that equals “all in” in your friendly poker game or “get bigger” in the trading world. Among remote traders this is way too common. Office traders most likely have some sort of support system to help them or at the least point them in the right direction. To those of us who go it alone from home where do you start?
You should be starting with a job description that you can visualize and understand. Yes, I said visualize and simply understand. If you can’t really tell me what your job is as a day trader in a KISS (keep it simple stupid) kind of way you most likely will struggle. Struggling is no fun for any trader.. been there done that. So tomorrow I will give you a KISS version of my job description as a professional day trader. It’s not rocket science but I employ it every day!
Until tomorrow I would love to hear some thoughts of yours as to a day trader job description.
Jeff Davis @Shaq48_Trading
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Day Trading:
-Analyze the market to see the direction it is headed for.
-Look to see which Stocks are strong or weak according to the market
-Try to find a spot in these stocks where your risk is minimal. Usually 1:3 risk to reward or better. An ideal trade is one where you risk $.10-$.20 to make $.80-$1.00.
***When trading make sure to keep your losses small. This reduces the risk of being emotionally scarred for the day which can hinder any future trades. Jeff always says to maintain your losses as “paper cuts”. In other words, keep your losses small so they won’t affect your performance!
I wrote a really a detailed response and realized that it wasn’t simple at all…so I stripped away all of the complexities and came up with this:
My job as a daytrader is to prepare for the day with a mechanical plan and to execute my plan during trading hours to the best of my ability. The primary goal is to achieve consistency by improving little by little each day. I strive to get better by reviewing my trades, learning from my mistakes, and building on top my successes.
Even simpler:
Plan. Execute Plan. Review. Move Forward. Rinse. Repeat.
have the DISCIPLINE to keep quite until trade setup comes….
Spend 80% of time planning my trade, anticipate its setup, plan for entry, plan for exits. Sit on hands until I know what I will do in all situations. Spend 20% of time managing trade – the entry and exits.
My job as a day trader is to make One good trade, and then…one good trade…
If your plan is complex ,then even though the definition seems simple it may not be in reality. I mean “Forrest Gump simple”.
Sorry to switch up usernames, I’m actually the same guy as ahabib2788. Thanks for the response Jeff. I guess what I meant by complexities, are all the different aspects of keeping stamina, focus, monitering emotions, routing, strategies etc. But that stuff should be a given. I’m having some trouble relaying it in a “box of chocolates” kind of way. Looking forward to your post on the subject!