How Long Does It Take To Learn To Trade Price Action

One of the biggest issues I see with new traders is an inability to be patient while navigating the day trading learning curve.  Most think that they can study our price action manual for a few weeks, then start trading and make money right away.  This is simply not the case for 95% of all people who attempt to learn to day trade.  I am asked the following almost daily by confused and disheartened day traders:  How long does it take to learn to trade price action trading strategies profitably?  Unfortunately, I don’t have a clear answer for that, but of this I am certain!  It won’t happen quickly and it probably won’t happen anywhere nearly as quick as you think it might.

I have had some traders write back to me saying that our price action strategies are so easy to lean that it’s like “taking candy from a baby!”  That’s an actual quote from a trader that studied our price action manual and then begin trading the strategy within a couple of weeks.  Last I heard, he was still making money.  Unless he chose to lie to me and mislead me, he learned very quickly.  Most however, start to see improvements within a couple to three months, but still have issues that will probably take them even more months to sort through, because they are mental mistakes, and not the fault of their trading strategy.

Another problem that I see often is that many traders have already been through a dozen other trading strategies that were nothing more than empty promises that they spent a fortune to buy, prior to losing another fortune trading the strategy.  I look at other websites all the time and when I see some of the promises made, I just shake my head and close the page.  Here is what I can tell you, and this is the real deal, not some trumped up claim to sell you trading materials.  Anyone that is consistently making money as a day trader has learned to read a price chart.  Even if they use some type of indicator, if they are profitable day in and day out, then they have some understanding of price movements and they are able to use that understanding to help them make money consistently.

I can promise you that if someone tells you that they are making money solely from some indicator, it’s either not true, or it won’t last.  Trust me when I tell you this, because it is the honest to goodness truth.  There is no holy grail in day trading.  The secret to profitable day trading is that you must have an understanding of prices first and foremost.  Then, you need a lot of practice and screen time simply watching prices move  up and down on your chart until you slowly begin to have the necessary experience to know when prices will likely turn.  There is no other way to become a profitable day trader other than learning to understand prices while also getting experience watching prices move day after day.  If you are brilliant, you might be able to do this quickly.  Notice that I underlined “might,” and that’s a big might.  Most will take many months and maybe even years, and then some will still never learn it, because they don’t have the skill set that it takes to be a profitable trader.  The majority will go broke or go crazy and give up before ever making it.

If you understand that it is very difficult and that the odds of success are stacked against you, and you are still willing to give it a shot, then you should also understand that you are going to have to learn to read a price chart so you must learn price action.  Don’t waste your time spending money on anything other than learning to read a price chart.  Forget the fancy indicators and the slick stuff that sounds sexy, because those items are created for one thing and one thing only.  To sound slick and sexy so that you will spend large amounts of money to get your hands on them.  In the end, they will fail you unless they are teaching you how to read a price chart.  It’s really that simple, but learning the skill of reading a price chart takes time and experience, which most want-to-be day traders will be unwilling to put forward towards learning the necessary skill sets.  The majority will get bored or go broke before they learn it and simply give up.

If you are still with me, then you are at lest motivated to find out the real facts about day trading.  You should understand what it really takes and how difficult a road it will actually be for you now too though.  Your first goal is to find someone that teaches price action and how to read a price chart.  We can help you with that at a reasonable cost, but if you don’t like our price action trading course, find someone that teaches price action and look into their course.  Remember to forget the sexy sales messages and look for the real deal first and foremost.  Once you have the proper knowledge, you are just getting started.  Now you need to study the materials every day, and you need to spend time at your screen watching prices every day.  Pick one market and stick to it, just make sure it has sufficient volume or you are wasting time learning that market.

Most importantly, do NOT attempt to trade one thin dime of your real money while you are learning.  You can open simulation accounts at many brokers for free, trading live data streams.  These are the same data streams people are trading real money with, so it’s the real deal.  We suggest you trade futures picking one of the stock indexes like the ES, YM or NQ.  Start your simulation account with  $10,000.00 and start trading it every day.  Don’t worry about how well or how bad you do at first.  Just try trading the strategies and getting experience watching prices every day.  Now comes the important part.  Once the trading day is over, go back and study your charts and trades every day.  Look for what you did right, and when you were wrong and see if you can determine why.  This chart review or chart study time will help you more than anything else.  Learn from your mistakes each day and look to correct them the following trading day. Do this every day until you can double your starting account trading only a single contract.

Looking back at our original question of how long does it take to learn to trade price action, the answer is relative and simple.  It will take at least however long it takes you to double your simulation account trading single contracts.  Until you can do that, you must never take even a single live trade with real money.  This will eliminate the number one reason most traders don’t make it, and that’s because they run out of money.  When trading the simulator, you won’t have that issue to deal with.  Trading is really not that hard in the end if you follow our directions.  Time, hard work, studying and experience are the keys, and that takes time and lot’s of it for most people.  Remember, you are going up against professionals.  Do you think the average person, or even you, could strike out a professional baseball player by pitching for a few weeks at practice?  Beating a professional trader at day trading is no different, so make sure you understand that fact!

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