 
Carole C. Wilbourn: The Story of the Cat Therapist! Career Transitions: Corporate to Creative - An Interview with Photographer Chantal How to Become a Day Trader How to Be a Voice Over Talent How to Make Money as a Wedding Singer How To Be A Cat and Dog Therapist Business Networking Sites: a Review A List of Mobile Networking Sites The Internet: Soon to be One Global Language Your Safest Lipsticks How Drinking Affects Your Complexion Role Models: Why Women Need Them The Afterglow Boutique: Vegan Cosmetics |
How to Become a Day Traderby Suzann Kale
page 1 of 2 As long as there's a stock market, there will be day traders. The beauty of day trading is that, with training and skill, you can make money in both bear and bull markets. It's not a random gambling thing. Day trading allows you to accurately calculate your risk before making a trade - thus eliminating what might otherwise be bad surprises. Plus, the technology available to the individual day trader is extraordinary. Real-time market data, detailed charts and tables, and readily available backup information give you lots of guidelines. 
Market volatility is good for day trading. However, extreme volatility, like we're seeing now, is for the experienced and steely-nerved trader only. If you can stay calm and level-headed, the rest is relatively easy. Day trading is not your mother's day job. It's not a stock pick, buy and hold scenario. It's a fast-paced, chart-based, specialized, technology-oriented method for generating income. Your trades may last minutes, and sometimes hours, but never more than one day. In day trading, you never hold a position overnight. Intensive Training: The Key to SuccessBut you've got to take courses and align yourself with a mentor. I studied for 6 months before making my first trade. And my mentor was with me all the way. Your mentor could be your course instructor, or even a friend with lots of positive trading experience. continued below |
|
My first step was a short university extension course to see if indeed day trading was something I could do. I was intrigued by the course, so I went on to take a formal, long-term course from the same instructor. At the end of the coursework, he had all of us students write up business plans, detailing every aspect of how we intended to manage our day trading. 
After all that study, our instructor turned us loose on one of the e-brokerage houses he had chosen for us. But even then we did not start to trade right away. We did what is called "paper trading" - pretend trading - practice trading with pretend money. Most of the e-brokerage firms allow for this, because they don't want inexperienced traders losing a lot of money. Our instructor didn't want us to lose a lot of money. No one wants to lose money. So we did our paper trading for a long time, before we went "live." Going LiveGoing live is exciting and potentially profitable. My first few months of live trading were nothing short of thrilling. I loved the fast pace, the money that was to be made, and my diagnostic charts, which looked to me like fine art. I was trained to trade the Russell 2000 futures, and could make $100 within seconds. Once a week our instructor would get us all together on a web conference call, and critique the trades we had made during that week. You never stop learning. The Downside to Day TradingYou can't make mistakes. That's why a day trader trains so much before putting her money on the line. And there's a lot going on when making a trade. Details are important. An unruffled attitude is crucial. Being able to make rational decisions in a split second, having the skill to move forward with confidence during your trading day, are just as important as knowing your market. I was great at chart analysis. I could do the math reasonably quickly. I had enough money to start up an account with a fabulous e-brokerage
house.
Continue to page 2 of How to Become a Day Trader |
I had had excellent training. I loved day trading. But guess what - I could not handle the pressure, and I could not resist the temptation to jump into an exciting-looking trade, even if my indicators signaled against it. 
No portion of this article may be copied without written permission from the author.