Keys To Day Trading Success

I am amazed at the daily number of questions I get in regards to how one can conquer the mental and emotional aspects of day trading with price action or any other strategy for that matter.  I actually share with people over and over, every singe day, the keys to learning price action day trading, but most do not seem to grasp the concept and very few will actually follow the steps as I have outlined for them. If you never read another article that is posted on this website, at least make sure that you read this as many times as is necessary for you to grasp this small secret.  I am certain that other teachers out there are aware of this learning technique, but honestly, I have never read or heard of it elsewhere. In the end, it is the “holy grail” of learning to day trade in my opinion.

Keys To Day Trading Success
Keys To Day Trading Success
(telligent.com)

The one mistake that most day traders make is that they read a book or two, or maybe take a trading course, and then they open a trading account and jump head first into live trading with real trading funds.  It’s like taking someone out of the stands that has never hit a baseball before and putting them in the batters box against a major league pitcher in the world series of baseball.  The odds are stacked so greatly against them that they will never be successful.  Most lose a lot of money or go broke and never really learn much if anything at all.  At the end of the day, they have no idea why a trade worked or failed, so they are just churning money and losing to the guys that understand how prices work and how markets move and react during the day.

What we have learned or discovered is a much better and cheaper way to actually learn to day trade. The key in our opinion is the fact that you learn by studying your trading work, versus actually learning while you are day trading.  There are some benefits that you gain while trading, which is screen time and experience watching prices move, but you can’t really concentrate on this aspect of trading when your money is on the line and prices are constantly moving against you.  It is frustrating, demoralizing and emotionally draining when your money is slowly, or even quickly, evaporating away, and it’s not a great environment in which to learn anything of value.  If you have ever traded live with real money, then this needs no explanation for you and you already understand exactly what I am talking about here.  If you haven’t traded live before, then you will probably have to experience it for yourself before you will listen to what I am saying.  Take it from me here, don’t make that mistake!

Now that it should be clear that you do not learn by actually trading, or at least not enough to help you become profitable, then how is a trader to learn this business?  The first thing you must do is open a simulator account.  You can sign up for a free MultiCharts demo account right here on our website. Just look for the sign up form on the right hand side of most any page on the website. This is the very same software and data that you will be trading when trading live, and the software works exactly like a live charting software, so it is as real as it gets when it comes to day trading.  The only difference being that you are trading with monopoly money and not your real money.  The key to success is getting on the simulator every day and just trading. Most importantly, you do not have to worry about being right or wrong with your trades.  Obviously you want to try and follow our trading rules and take the proper trades, but when you see a set up that looks legitimate to you, just take it and let the trade sort itself out.  Don’t worry if you are right or wrong, but just concentrate on what happens with the trade.  Too many times traders tell me they were scared to pull the trigger or else they got scared out of a good trade.  Don’t do this.  Take the set ups and let them play out in full.

Just keep trading like this as much as you can and as often as you can every single day.  Here is the real key to success though.  At the end of the trading day, you must study your trades and your chart diligently.  You need at least a good hour at the end of every trading day to seriously look at your work and decipher it properly.  Try to determine what you did right and also what you did wrong. Then the next day, capitalize as much as you can on what you learned during your study time.  Do this every day over and over, and you will be amazed at what you will start to notice and you will slowly start to understand what prices are doing and why they did what they did prior to and after you enter your trades.  We have already completed one step for you, which is to give you the keys to how price action works, and that’s in our price action trading manual in easy to read English.  If you will put in the trading time without fear or worry, and then pay your dues by studying your work closely at the end of every trading day, you will slowly get better and better.

We have seen this work over and over, while most people that fail do not listen.  They are too eager to jump right in to live trading thinking that they will be different than everyone else. I can assure you though, you will not be different.  Amateurs do not beat professionals.  Sure, you may get lucky on occasion and have a winner or two, but in the long run, you can not beat the guy that has this down to a science.  It’s impossible and the odds are stacked against you, so don’t even try it.  Again, if you never learn anything from our teachings, make sure you understand this point we are trying to make with you about not going live until you are ready, which will be much later and longer that you will believe.  The keys to learning price action day trading are all here in this article, so read it a few times if necessary, but in the end, trust that I am telling you the real facts here and act on them accordingly.

If you want to learn how we use price action to day trade the markets each day with success, you can find more on that information at http://priceactiontradingsystem.com/pats-price-action-trading-manual/.

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Comments

Alex September 5, 2013 at

Hi Mack,

I also think that once you practised on simulator, another good way to check whether you’re ready to trade live or not is to pay for TopStepTrader.com Combine and see if you can pass one. You can get some for less than $200. Once you pass a Combine, they will give you the real funding and you will be able to trade live without any risk of losing money. Once you see that you can stay consistently profitable on “free money” while still leaving to yourself most of the profits, you can use those profits to fund your own account and start trading 100% without spending a cent (other than paying for a Combine).

The only drawback is that they’re only supporting SierraCharts now, however, it’s not much different to NT.

Hope that helps.
Alex

Reply

    corwinpoa April 19, 2017 at

    Great reminder as always Mack.

    Alex, according to the TST website the recommended platform is Ninjatrader – are you sure they don’t support it? I am also curious, having never heard about TST before this evening, what your experience with it has been? Thanks in advance.

    Reply

      corwinpoa April 19, 2017 at

      Geez, vever mind on the Ninjatrader aspect – for whatever reason I JUST noticed the date on this entry. Still interested in your experience with TST Alex if you’re still around.

      Reply

        Mack April 20, 2017 at

        NT changed the rules on us, so if you are new to them, they force you to use them as a broker. We are recommending MultiCharts if you want to go with AMP as your broker.

        Reply

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