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News should not be a strong component in your evaluating trading opportunities. Yes, you should review several reliable news sources (Investing.com, ForexFactory.com, Finviz.com), however, your focus should be more on the market conditions (trending or not trending) to help determine whether you should trade or sit-on-your-hands. When the markets conditions suggest trending then you can focus on being more aggressive and increasing your position size to maximize profits. When the markets are not trending you should reduce your position size to minimize risk with the uncertainty. Leroy Trading EveryDay Menu - Getting Started - Trading EveryDay Blog

Determine whether or not FOREX trading can help you achieve your daily financial target/goals, weekly and monthly goals. Most traders easily gravitate to the FOREX because of the 24 hours availability but the Emini Futures might be a better trading instrument to achieve your goals. Leroy Trading EveryDay Menu - Getting Started - Trading EveryDay Blog

Most traders ignore the obvious "Dirty Little Secrets" that impede their progress. The markets consistently provide repeatable events, so experience and profitable traders pick one or two events (ie., flags, breakouts) and learn to make money with those. One of the most not-so-obvious lessons for traders is having a great SOH strategy...Sit-On-Hands that is!

The percentages fluctuate, but mostly are accurate. As an experienced trader with 15+ years of experience, you have good months and bad months. A few reasons traders struggle: Smart traders have an insurance nest egg (ie., 5-10% of all profits) that they can use to pay themselves during the tough times. Consistent profits can be generated from using consistent chart patterns and formations for chart analysis and execution. (KISS method.) The focus is to master your style of trading and learn to always be humble with the markets. For example, mastering the most repeatable chart pattern (i.e., FLAGS) in all markets can lead to great profits ....weekly! If you can learn to make just a $100 a day consistently with a small account, then you can begin to make a nice monthly living. As you gain experience and success in one style of trading, then you can experiment with small risk in another. This approach will lead a developing trader down the path of multiple streams of profits. Leroy

As technology and software continue to advance, you don't want to be stuck with a crappy video card. At some point you might consider streaming video and TV (i.e., CNBC. Bloomberg) into your monitors also.

I highly recommend DELL precision workstations. I have (7) 20 in. monitors (i.e., 3 DELL workstations with 3, 2 and 2 monitor configurations). If you are going to be a serious, professional day trader, then consider 2 duplicate computers at a minimum. Get the best video graphic card you can afford and maximize memory. Consider older Windows operating systems since they are more stable and lag behind in updates. Trading EveryDay | The Better Way To Learn To Trade

Market profile is effective for intra-day trading and scalp trading. Experienced traders use it as a visual normalizer to identify extreme trading areas. These extreme trading areas enhance entry, stops and target analysis. Leroy

Hello Nick, A small word of advice would be to initially focus on considering a different style of trading (i.e., swing trading or position trading) because the natural course of day trading requires a significant amount of dedication, commitment and time. Based on your available schedule, you can learn to trade one style and gain some success and experience and then migrate your success, hopefully with profits to a different style (i.e., more active day/scalp trading) as your schedule and lifestyle permits. Trying to day trade with other demanding responsibilities could/will lead to some bad habits and unnecessary experiences no matter what markets you trade before or after hours. Professional and experienced traders know that distractions can/will impact your trading psychology and results.

There is so much information available to traders that sometimes I find it overwhelming or even confusing at times. Since the majority of the available and convenient information is in written form, it makes it difficult to ask questions of the author or the website. And if you do, more often than not you never hear back from them, right? And if you do, so much time has passed that you don’t even remember asking the question much less why you asked the question in the first place. Let’s say a trader is not sustaining consistent profits, and his question is “What do I do?” For the answer, you can go to the internet via any number of search engines; you can go to the book store and/or library to find out how to establish consistent profits; you might even go to some seminars and courses to find the answer. If you’re really on top of things, you might even ask your trading mentor. It’s a pretty broad question, but for as many traders that might be asking this question, there’s probably just as many answers. Why? Because there are a number of moving parts that are necessary for sustaining consistent profits, and depending on where you are in your trading development, the answer can be different and vary for each trader. Integral components to the answer may include your trading plan, your trading style, strategies, and more. The point is, you might “kinda sorta” find an answer to your question, but you may also find out relatively quickly that it is not necessarily customized to your current needs. To add to that, the answer to that question today may very well be an entirely different one if you ask the same question a year from now. The truth is, you need an affordable avenue for asking questions and getting direct, immediate feedback customized to your current needs and situation. Well, I’m happy to report that there is a solution to this sometimes “path to nowhere” when it comes to answering your trading questions. Trading Everyday has launched a new FREE mini-series of seminars called "Day Trading Questions Answered”. It is probably only one of very few seminars available without an agenda because the it is determined by you, the trader. Traders send their questions in advance or they can ask them when they join the seminar. The entire 90 minutes is dedicated to answering only those questions that traders bring to the table. Nothing more, nothing less. How refreshing is that? So if you’ve had those nagging trading questions that you can’t seem to find the answer to, you might want to consider registering for one of the sessions. Even if you don’t have any questions, my bet is that you’ll learn from the questions that other traders ask. It’s free. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Whether you’re a doctor, a basketball or tennis player, a musician, or even a cowboy, knowledge and skills are going to determine your status in your “community” of peers. The level of your knowledge and skills can either catapult you to world class status or usher you out the door; create increased (or decreased) demand for your services or performances; provide opportunities to win awards and generate tons of money if you’re the best, or no awards and little money if you’re not. Whatever you choose to do in life, your knowledge and skill level will determine your success level. If you’ve been in the workforce for a while now, you probably already know that how much you know (knowledge) and how well you perform (skills) are major factors in whether or not the company will keep you or fire you. Let’s take a look at how trading knowledge and skills determine your success in trading. While many people believe that the goal of trading is to make money, professional traders know otherwise. Being an active, professional trader, I know that making money is a byproduct of the primary goal of trading, which is to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to protect your capital. Simply put, it is extremely difficult to make money if you don’t have the capital with which to make the money. Nearly all entrepreneurs would not have been able to start their businesses if they didn’t first have seed money, a line of credit or loan, or investors to do so. Trading is no different. Trading is a business, not an investment. Successful traders know this. It’s all about protecting your capital. If you are still struggling with your trading when it comes to making money consistently, take a look at your level of trading knowledge and skills vs. those who are actually trading successfully. What do they know that you don’t? Why are they doing well while you are not? Where did they get the knowledge and skills to do so well? It could be anything - from your Knowledge (Have you mastered the concept behind candlestick charts, studied up on risk and money management in trading, established an understanding of the stock market price cycle like the back of your hand?), Skills (How good are you at identifying Traps and 3-Bar Candlestick Plays, or how quick are you at responding (vs. reacting) to the trade signals with the proper set up?), Or even your Psychology (Are you too desperate, unable to control your emotions, distracted?), Habits (Do you have the discipline to follow your trading plan no matter what, the tenacity to focus on the charts on your computer screen 8+ hours a day, the determination to get up every morning no matter how bad it was the day before to do it all over again?). Attitude (Are you willing to learn from your mistakes, to get help from experienced traders through coaching or mentoring, to practice patience and a willingness to do what it takes to succeed?). At the end of the day, if you are deficient in your trading knowledge and skills, be prepared to work harder than those who are already successful. Commit to do what it takes to protect your capital and make money. If you don’t, you may well be ushered out the door sooner than you would like.

There’s a wonderful quote that goes something like “Don’t learn the tricks of the trade. Learn the trade.” That rings especially true when it comes to trading. That’s simply because there are no tricks, or shortcuts, when it comes to trading. The trading environment is a very unforgiving one that does not discriminate. Each and every one of us can fall victim to the ways and unpredictability of the market, and the moment you think you beat the system, think again, because chances are you didn’t. Fundamentally, successful trading requires very clear and easily identifiable skills and habits. They must be thoroughly established, constantly and consistently in place. Otherwise, your trading experience will be very short or painful, or both. First and foremost is controlling your emotions. Anybody who knows anything knows there are no shortcuts when it comes to controlling your emotions. You either control them or you don’t. Not being able to control your emotions - whether it’s fear, greed, frustration, confusion, elation, etc. - when trading may very well be the primary reason behind trader failure. Detaching yourself emotionally from your trades is much easier said than done. Something that has helped me tremendously in removing emotion from my trades is gaining a high-level of confidence in my trading strategies and execution, and the only way to do that is NOT to take shortcuts! I’ve worked hard and become very logical with my trading because I had to. I had to develop a trading plan and have the discipline to follow that plan, trusting that all the research, strategies, risk and money management plans in the trading plan are right for me and my trading. Not far behind controlling your emotions might be lack of preparation. Can you imagine not being prepared when it comes to taking off for the moon, cutting your first incision for major surgery, singing and dancing on Broadway, or going to court for your first criminal trial? Imagine it. Pretty frightful sight, yes? I can almost guarantee you that anyone in any of the above situations prepared themselves through many years of education, study sessions, rehearsals, and practice. My guess is that they did not take shortcuts! That’s not to say that people don’t take shortcuts, because obviously they do. I say “obvious” because the standards of those who take shortcuts are usually pretty low, so the quality of their work and/or performances is subpar and pretty obvious. Therefore, it would follow that those who take shortcuts very quickly separate themselves from the pack - from those with potentially long, successful careers. So, why should trading be any different? It shouldn’t. Taking shortcuts when it comes to trading will most certainly shorten your trading career. Take the steps to Trade Smart and develop a trading plan, incrementally add to your arsenal of trading strategies, utilize the proper hardware/software for charts and analytics, acquire the skills and tools to execute your trades, and record everything you do. That way, you will have taken the long road to learning how to trade, but it’ll be the right road to a long trading career.

Most people feel the lure of day trading: seeing the frenzy on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, grabbing onto the tail of a skyrocketing stock, and earning your millions. They want to start day trading and find the answer to that famous quote from the movie Wall Street: "How many yachts can you water-ski behind?" Unfortunately, the vast majority of these beginner traders want to see results faster than it takes to watch the movie. In fact, about 90% of beginner day traders are knocked out of the game within the first few months. The good news is that this fact can easily be addressed. Just about all of those who crashed and burned did so because they didn't have a plan. If you take the time to develop a plan and learn how to trade, you stand a much better chance of making that top 10% of day traders who go on to successful day trading careers. Here are five things you need to know before you start day trading: 1. Is Day Trading Right For You? - This seems like a basic question, but you should seriously evaluate your trading personality. Will risking that much money make you nervous? Can you afford to lose money in the stock market? Are you financially - and emotionally - prepared to leave your job and co-workers behind you? These and other questions must be answered before you go any further in planning your day trading career. 2. How to Control Your Emotions - What most beginner day traders don't realize is that trading psychology has a huge impact on your success - and the market likes to play with your mind! There are many different emotions that come into play, but it boils down to two main dangers: fear and greed. It is vitally important you learn how to control your emotions before you try to tackle the market. 3. How to Develop a Solid Trading Plan - If you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And yes, it really is that simple. A solid trading plan will include details like determining what type of trader you are, your trading strategies (see below), what products (stocks, e-minis, etc.) you will trade, what software you will use, even your entry points, exit points, and stop loss points. The more detailed your plan, the more likely you are to have day trading success. 4. What Kind of Trading Strategies You Will Use - There are many trading strategies that will help you succeed at day trading. As a beginner trader you will probably be best served learning one or two to start with. For example, the Bull Trap is an easy type of momentum play for beginners to learn that allows you to predict a trend reversal, and cash in by following the momentum. But there are many different trading strategies; the key is finding the right set of strategies for you. 5. How to Develop a Business Plan - You should approach day trading as a business, not a hobby. Even if you plan to trade just part time, make sure you develop a full business plan that covers all the financial basics like how much trading capital you have, what your short-term and long-term financial goals are, developing cash flow statements, etc. You should also decide how you will work: where your office will be, what time you will be in your office in the morning, what daily preparation you will need, etc. Learning these five things won't guarantee that you will become a successful day trader. But if you start day trading before you find out these answers, you most certainly won't get too far.

For swing trading stratgies, I use 65 minute charts, daily charts, and weekly charts in a multiple timeframe approach.

Identify each emotion - postivie or negative that will have a dramatic impact on your daily trading activity. Associate with each emotion, a set of action steps you will take and adhere to once the emotion is identified. Combine your emotions and action steps with your trade execution to assist you with developing new habits while eliminating old or bad ones. For example, if you find that after a losing trade or series of bad trades, you get anxious to get back in the market, i.e., revengeful, set a rule to change and reduce your position size to indirectly assist you in risk management and protecting your capital. Another example, might be to pre-determine how much of your profits you are will to continue to risk in the market after reaching a daily target, hence helping address the emotion of "greed".

Whether you’re a doctor, a basketball or tennis player, a musician, or even a cowboy, knowledge and skills are going to determine your status in your “community†of peers. The level of your knowledge and skills can either catapult you to world class status or usher you out the door; the demand for your services or performances will either increase or falter; you may even win awards and generate tons of money if you’re the best, or no awards and little money if you’re not. Many people believe that the goal of trading is to make money. This writer believes that making money is a byproduct of the primary goal of trading, which is to acquire the necessary knowledge and skills to protect your capital. You simply cannot make money if you don’t have capital with which to make the money. If you are still struggling with your trading when it comes to making money consistently, take a look at your level of trading knowledge and skills vs. those who are actually making it work. What do they know that you don’t? Why are they doing well while you are not? Where did they get the knowledge and skills to do so well? It could be anything - from your Knowledge (Have you mastered the concept behind candlestick charts, studied up on risk and money management in trading, established an understanding of the stock market price cycle like the back of your hand?), Skills (How good are you at identifying Traps and 3-Bar Candlestick Plays, or how quick are you at responding (vs. reacting) to the trade signals with the proper set up?), Or even your Psychology (Are you too desperate, emotional, distracted?), Habits (Do you have the discipline to follow your trading plan no matter what, the tenacity to focus on the charts on your computer screen 8+ hours a day, the determination to get up every morning no matter how bad it was the day before to do it all over again?). Attitude (Are you willing to learn from your mistakes, to get help from experienced traders through coaching or mentoring, to practice patience and a willingness to do what it takes to succeed?). At the end of the day, if you are deficient in your trading knowledge and skills, be prepared to work harder than those who are already successful. Commit to do what it takes to protect your capital and make money. If you don’t, you may well be ushered out the door sooner than you would like.

So you’ve developed and applied your well-thought-out risk and money management strategies. You’ve created a healthy work environment in which to study and perform your trades. You have a daily schedule to review and execute your trades. You are extremely focused and disciplined and study the market’s price movements all day looking for, let’s say, bullish or bearish engulfing signals for the perfect set ups. Sometimes you see them, but more often than not, you don’t. So why is that? How can you possibly be missing the signals when, as far as you can tell, you are doing everything right? One reason might be because you are literally too close to the screen. You are “missing the forest for the treesâ€Â, so to speak. Thinking and taking actions strategically is nearly impossible if you don’t allow yourself to see the whole picture. Back up a little; take in the entire “pictureâ€Â. You may actually see more of those signals if you make an effort not to get pulled into the minutia of just a few of the candlesticks on your screen.

SDS, There are numerous definitions and examples of "high odds" and "low odds" trades. But here is an example of each. Assume at a high level the overall market is bullish (i.e., 60 min/daily charts on E-mini futures) and somewhat congruent. And you trade one of these markets, like the YM. If you are scalp trading and get a short trade signal on lower time frames (2/5/15/30 charts) then you are counter trend trading and going against the macro market conditions. Even though this trade setup might be a great setup, in relationship to getting a long trade signal on that same time frame, this short trade signal has lower odds of consistently returning a high risk-to-reward. So if you conduct a series of 3, 4, 5, ... short trades going against the macro trend, How many do you think will make you consistent profits and reach your target. An example of a low odds trade could be taking a long entry signal in a downtrend, such as buying a sideways consolidation breakout on a lower time frame and the higher time frame is in a strong downtrend. This trade might work and you reach your target, but if you take enough of these trades, you will find your batting average diminishing and your capital also.

Both, If the market is demonstrating a sideways consolidation, I use scalping tactics. If the market is clearly demonstrating a trend, then I will day trade and swing trade the markets.

A lot of traders accept that day trading is a game of "odds". So the more trades you can get that go from a risk-based trade with some predetermined stop loss amount to a trade with a breakeven stop,(i.e, FREE trade) the better your chances of making profits consistently.

Brownsfan019, It's seems that you have discovered your style of trading and a comfort level that meets your goals. One suggestion, if I may, is that you incorporate in your trading techniques, "high odds" trades vs. "low odds" trades. High odds trades have a natural tendency to be associated with low risk (good technical stops based on price action) and good reward potential if successful and low odds trades in a simple form can be viewed as the majority of every thing else. A significant number of traders understand Reward-to-Risk or Risk-to-Reward ratios, but may not apply them to their daily trading routine. So the more trades you experience and take, if the % is more low odds trades then for example, you will need to ensure that you let some of your high odds trades reach their target in order to offset the losses from the high number of low odds trades, breakeven and then try to make some additional profits. Hence it's very crucial to understand whether you are taking a lot of "high odds" trades or a lot of "low odds" trades. Once you reduce the number of "low odds" trades you will see significant improvements in "FREE" trades and your profits.

Every once in a while, I’ll be in conversations with people who are talking about something then ask me if I understand what they just said. Sometimes I say yes, sometimes no, and sometimes yes when I actually don’t. If it’s the latter and then they continue, I get totally lost and have to admit that I have to back up and fess up that I didn’t get it. Not only am I a bit embarrassed, but I’m sure the individuals are having second thoughts about my ability to carry on a conversation. There is so much information when it comes to trading, that I don’t think there is any trader out there who knows everything about trading. They may have some expertise in reading gap plays or momentum trading, but have a weakness with setting stop losses. The point is there are no dumb questions when it comes to trading. If you still don’t get it, even after you’ve purchased numerous articles and books on the subject, attended too many seminars to remember, and sat in a gazillion trading rooms, ask again and again until you find someone or something that answers your questions. That’s the only way you are going to ever get it. That’s the only way you are going to move forward.

Some of the most effective trading strategies incorporate a three-prong approach to entering a trade. Consider the overall market sentiment, trend and whether there is congruency in the e-mini futures (i.e., NASDAQ, S&P 500, Russell, Dow) Consider whether the the financial instrument being traded is trending or consolidating. Determine whether the trade set-up is a "high odds" trade or "low odds" trade. As more evidence of a potential "high odds" trade is gathered, the position size can be increased accordingly. The reciprocal is also very important to consider. That is, when there is less evidence of a "high odds" trade and a trade signal is given, the position size should be reduced.

If you take a risk perspective first in your trading activity, then because of the weekend, economical affairs, and global implications potentially, it's is a more conservative approach to allow Mondays to provide some market direction or non-direction and use these insights to establish your trading bias towards "high odds" trades. Trading can be rewarding everyday of the week, however, if your focus is on "high odds" trading, then realize there is still 4 days left in the week after Monday to trade, don't be in a hurry to compete with the markets first thing Monday mornings!

Combining multiple market internal indicators provides more insights and evidence towards identifying "high odds" trades across the entire market. Smoothing of the TRIN & TRINQ and monitoring the relationship respecitively with trending upwards vs downwards provides better filtering for set-ups and entries.

One of the many joys day trading provides to many individuals is freedom. This emotional state of freedom has a tendency to create a mindset of carefree. It is important to remember that as traders, each and everyday, you are competing among some of the best minds and financially savvy individuals and institutions in the world. Hence, it is always paramount that you are the most prepared you can possibly be. Enter each trading day in the best shape mentally and physically you can. Anything less than this puts you at a disadvantage that you just cannot afford to have. Learn to take as much time as you can away from the markets to sustain a balanced lifestyle. For most, trading is tough enough as it is, and not being at your best only makes the journey more challenging and difficult. Remember, there are very few second chances, and even fewer third chances in the markets.