Day Trading
by: Dan Alvarez
If you have come this far, congratulations! You can now start day trading with the confidence that you have drastically improved your probability of succeeding. Day trading is a business like any other. The reason why most businesses fail when they start is because of lack of preparation, not because of a lack of intelligence or potential. You do not need potential to day trade. All you need to start day trading is at least $5000 in your account (for a regular currency trading account, $250 for a mini forex account, or $25,000 or more for stocks), a desire to learn, a good teacher, the proper tools, an open mind, discipline, and conviction that you can do it. That's it! Forget talent or intelligence. Those things can easily lead you to believe that you are God's gift to man and that you are destined to succeed. Well, a feeling of grandiose and overconfidence will only lead to frustration and failure in day trading. You can learn day trading if you really want to, but get prepared first (if you feel that day trading is not for you or you want to diversify your trading capital, take a look at the new project I am involed with; the trading robot).
In summary, before you start day trading you must know some important day trading facts like, the account size requirement (which depends on the particular broker you use) and that you need to use a direct-access broker to obtain the best results (the RealTick direct-access trading platform is my favorite for stocks - for currencies you can request a free simulator by clicking here). You must also have or get a computer for day trading. This trading computer is where the direct-access software will be installed and run. The trading computer should have a high-speed Internet connection like DSL or Cable Modem, an antivirus program like Norton or McAfee, a firewall, and, if you could afford it, a UPS back-up system. After that, you should proceed to learn some basic information on day trading and investing like ""bid"" and ""ask"" and types of orders like market, limit, and stop orders. Once you have a solid grasp of these things you need to become very familiar with additional trading concepts like level II, Electronic Communication Networks (ECN's), market makers, order routing and technical analysis (remember that you only need to learn technical analysis to day trade currencies). The best way to become familiar with these concepts is while learning how to use the direct-access trading software (like RealTick) that your direct-access broker provides. Then you are ready to open an account with a direct-access broker that provides a trading platform like RealTick (or a currency broker). From that point on, you should do paper trading with the trading software in simulator mode (demo) until you are ready to trade with real money. The final step is to start day trading!
After having gone through these seven steps that I have described, you will be on your way to becoming a successful day trader. Best of luck and God bless you! If you are ready to start day trading, click here to download a free 30-day currency trading simulator.
If you have not read the new section on trading currencies, click here to do so now. If you don't want to day trade yourself or feel trading is not for you, read the trading robot section.
About The Author:
Dan Alvarez is an established writer and arbitrage trader. Author makes it easy for any one wishing to start in trading.
dan_alvarez@webpopularity.org
March 2006
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