Day Trading Signals and That Full Time Job

Day trading signals must be monitored but day trading itself is not for everyone. This type of trading takes serious commitment and a large time investment. For those working a full time job, it can be almost impossible to do well.

You may consider using, then, a day trading signals service. One of the best to consider is SixFigureTrader.com, but choose the one that works for you. Brian Heyliger's program is ideal because he has over ten years of experience in the field. In addition, like many good traders, he trades using solid principles and, as a direct result, makes money consistently.

When considering day trading signals services like this, there are a few things to look for specifically. For example, he provides day trade as well as swing trade signals, emini and 30-year bond signals. In addition to this, the service offers one trade each day for each of the markets. More so, you need to consider things like sensible stops and the risk to reward ratio you are willing to take. Heyliger does not trade every day, but the days to avoid are those that are low probability days. In addition, this program offers emini methodology based on exhaustion as well as New York Stock Exchange TICK readings.

Another reason to turn to this type of day trading signals service is the email that arrives each day. It gives you specific instructions on what trades to place, the profit target, the stop loss and the entry price. You place the trade with the broker or enter it into the trading platform you are using. This email provides information about the market, which can help you to confirm what you are thinking yourself.

More so, this program is one that focuses on the fact that over trading will destroy your account, a very important factor to consider. This system makes that a point since you make one trade per market each day without any complicated exit. This day trading signals service is easier to use for many, even those who have a full time job to manage, making it a good option for busy professionals. The risk and reward ratio works and you just may find yourself making higher percentages of profit. Well worth considering to maximise return and increase the effectiveness of your trading, in particular while balancing the demands of a full time job and other commitments.

The Trading Mastermind

I'm a huge fan of author Napoleon Hill. One of his 17 Principles of Success is that of the "Mastermind Alliance."

"A mastermind alliance consists of two or more minds working actively together in perfect harmony toward a common definite objective. Through a mastermind alliance you can appropriate and use the full strength of the experience, training, and knowledge of others just as if they were your own. No individual has ever achieved success without the help and cooperation of others." - Napoleon Hill

My opinion is that any individual can achieve SOME success, but not to the level they are capable of if they DO NOT have a Mastermind Alliance. Great and massive success and accomplishments are only made if one has a Mastermind Group that they have access to.

The key is to pick people who are excellent at what they do and are constantly pursuing improvement and excellence. People who have the wisdom to know that there is always another level and that they realize they do not have ALL the answers. Humble people with a strong self image. Not selfish people with low self-esteem that have to put others down to feel better about themselves. Not 'know-it-alls' who pretend like they have all the answers, because, once again, their low self-esteem begs them to so they can feel better about themselves.

You need nurturing, supportive, and positive people - people that are working to live by all of Hill's 17 Success Principles.

The Relationship - You want to place a very high premium on these relationships and friendships and partnerships. Mastermind allies are instrumental to the progression of the group as well as each individual. You want to choose individuals that are different from you in experience and knowledge but complement what your goals are and generally have the same goals you have. There has to be a high level of trust within your alliance.

How do you build your Mastermind alliance? You have to go back to the very basic sales concept of WII-FM. "What's In It - For Me." Each and every member of the mastermind must have a personal benefit from being a part of the membership. Each member must be able to bring something strong and unique to the table. Each member must also be able to wildly benefit from the relationship and the input, guidance, and feedback from the others.

So when building your group make sure that the members understand the mutual benefits and those benefits must be such that they really light a fire under everyone in the group to help/contribute/learn/share in order to advance all the members of the group forward.

Trading can be a lonely lifestyle. It's hard for many to stay motivated at times and it's hard for many individuals to see past their conditioning and their patterns. I believe that the road to trading mastery is so much more easier and enjoyable when you have friends that you are working and developing with.

It's important to have Mentors and Coaches that will be honest with you and provide you an objective and fresh perspective. Often times we get so deep into what we're doing and our programming we lose sight of the big picture and the errors we are making.

If you do not currently have a mastermind group or some key people or a coach who is helping you trade consistently well and profitably, then you need to get to work on that immediately. I tell my students:

"You don't know what you don't know. You can't see what you can't see."

A coach or mentor can open your eyes to a new fresh perspective. A member of your mastermind alliance can help you see what you don't see now. There may be a whole other world out there that you haven't seen yet in regards to trading and investing. It's there, but maybe it doesn't exist for YOU now because you don't see it. You COULD see it, and are able to see it, but you don't... yet.

So if you don't have a mastermind alliance... it's time to get cracking on putting one together. And don't rush it. The quality of your members is of HIGH importance. If you don't have a trading coach, it's time to get one.

The key is to make sure you are constantly measuring your progress and if your Mastermind alliance, coach, and/or mentors are not working for you, how about now would be a good time to look at a change?

Tom Willard has over 15 years of trading and investing experience and he trains and teaches others to make money consistently in the markets through simple and powerful techniques.

Visit http://www.tomwillardtrading.com for more information about how to gain access to his free educational trading and investing resources.

Tom invites you now to gain free access to his live interactive trading room where you can listen to many trading ideas being shared and trade with Tom LIVE!

You Are Wasting Your Time, Unless You Have a Trading Mentor

Have you ever felt extremely frustrated in trading and felt like quitting?

You may find yourself asking "why can't I make it as a trader". I've put in hours and hours. I am still unable to be consistently profitable ... why? Everyone experiences this cycle at the beginning so don't worry it is normal and part of learning to trade.

Does this Vicious Cycle Look Familiar?

LEVEL 1 - UNCONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE, Individual has no clue about trading and nil profitable experience.

LEVEL 2 - CONSCIOUS INCOMPETENCE, Traders start searching the internet and are overwhelmed by the information. They are constantly looking for the easy and better solution. Start trading with limited or no success. 90% of traders are at this level.

LEVEL 3 - CONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT, Trading is carried out successfully Full application and concentration is maintained.

LEVEL 4 - UNCONSCIOUSLY COMPETENT, Trading is automatic and effortless and requires no intense concentration.

Most traders are stuck between Level 1 and 2, so how do you move up to the next level and stay there?

Your poor decisions are not actually your fault a lot of the time, your mind is not programmed to handle the new psychological process. Your challenge is to program your mind to automatically respond. There is absolutely a science behind why you are struggling at the moment.

Now you're asking "could it really be a physiological event occurring that's making me trade so poorly"?

If you've been stuck at Level 2 on the competence ladder then the following information will resonate with you. Let us take a quick lesson in Neural Anthropology. The secret to your success is in that 15cm space. That is of course the space between your eyes, your mind.

There are four key systems in your brain that co-exist together affecting your results in life & in trading. The four systems are Associations & neural, reticular activation, psycho-cybernetic mechanism and the Amygdala. To achieve success as a trader you need to be able to control these 4 systems to properly implement your traders mindset and all 4 need to be optimally controlled for success. Trading is made up of you making decisions. This is the reticular formation part of your brain that performs this task. This is the part of your mind that responds to outside stimuli, looking at trading charts for example.

You are biologically hardwired to react instantly to things you see and your Reticulation System searches for the best response or solution. Your beliefs and or your programmed training or lack thereof determine your response. Without a plan you experience a state of panic or stress searching for a solution. Your Brain then engages the amygdala into selecting a solution, remember that an instant solution is not always the best one for traders.

What is the psycho-cybernetic mechanism?

In charge to keep you in your comfort zone no matter how badly you want to change. It picks up any deviation then sends feedback to your nervous system trying to correct the deviation to bring you back to your comfort Zone.

What is the Amygdala?

"The human brain has adapted over many centuries by providing processes that improve the survival of the individual and the species. A part of our brain, the amygdala, acts as our protective filter, it has the ability to remember painful experiences and it will attach emotions to those experiences. It makes judgments about likes and dislikes and passes its prejudices to the outer part of the brain." (Richard W Friesen)

So you can see that you automatically assign pain or a negative emotion to trading outcomes.

That part of your brain (the amygdala) stores details about EVERYTHING that ever hurt you and tries to avoid those things in the future. You can see it is not your fault you are making poor decisions in your trading it is all automatic and happening before you actually know it. How to you fix it?? Easy.

It seems easy doesn't it, find the problem and here's the solution.....bang you're a successful trader? Losses have much more impact on the amygdala than wins. In fact, it does not register wins at all. It only registers the negative emotion connected to an event. The more you trade, the more times you will lose and the amygdala never forgets a loss and who or what caused it. Never.

Gradually, therefore, the amygdala adds emotional color to your trading experience in the form of fear.....and so the cycle begins!! Can you see where you are headed? Trading has a vicious cycle and over time YOU become afraid of the trade setups. Doubt starts to eat away at your ability and confidence which is fueled by negative reinforcing self talk and you miss trades entirely or think up a reason why you should not take it. Sound familiar?

So your solution is to ensure that you maintain a coherent emotional state and do not trigger the amygdala. You should avoid trading positions or activities that produce fear and trigger it and practice maintaining a calm, balanced emotion during your session. Be sure to also eliminate any negative self talk.

This may sound a bit far fetched but you should monitor your heart rate to ensure your resting rate is at a calm controlled level. It will also detect any unusual spikes in your heart rate during your trading session. 

Underlying stress can sometimes be difficult to detect. So how do you put these filters into play when you trade?? Process, structure and of course SCIENCE...

Traders often start out with a streak of 'beginner's luck,' but eventually the inherent risk of trading catches up with them. Most traders go into Self Sabotage mode ... The thought of this syndrome as "self-sabotage" is unhelpful. Traders do not have a deep-seated desire to remain trapped or fail and at the root of the problem is Toxic Stress and this is the nasty beast causing the problems.

Toxic Stress!

Simply put, trading stresses you out and remember the response from the amygdala? It tries to avoid things that hurt you including trading losses. That is why trading to avoid risk (trading not to lose) produces diminishing returns... or worse. Risk can be managed and mitigated, but there can be no reward in trading without it. When your caught in the Cycle of Toxic Stress, you get out of sync and just about everything you do is wrong. You know you are caught in Toxic Stress when:

- You hesitate to enter when and where your plan calls for an entry 

- You impulsively chase trades, causing you to buy high and sell low 

- You get out of trades too early instead of letting winners run 

- You let winners turn into losers and you hold the losers too long 

- You try to follow a plan, but you act impulsively or freeze 

- You're desperate and you try make back losses

We've all been there so don't pretend you haven't!!!!

Here is 3 steps to help you defeat the nasty toxic stress psychological by-products of trading.

1. MAINTAIN YOUR EMOTIONAL STABILITY

Active trading will trigger primal defensive (or aggressive) emotions in your psychology. Emotional activation will cause your prefrontal cortex to shut down (part of your brain), making it impossible to identify the opportunities right in front of you. You will miss the obvious things which makes you unable to trade your plan as you want to. Your fear of missing out will cause losses and your fear of loss will cause losses. Sound familiar??

2. MAINTAIN A CONFIDENT MINDSET

You need to actively manage your mental attitude in order to remain confident independent of short-term results. Are you paying too much attention to what just happened and not enough attention to your plan? 

Successful trading requires you to always be confident in your trade plan. Maintaining a confident mental attitude is a skill that can be fine tuned. Top athletes practice it. Top traders practice it. You can, too.

3. MASTER YOUR TRADING 'EDGE'

Your trading 'edge' is the technical or methodological advantage you have that comes from pattern recognition. Professionals trade patterns, amateurs trade opinions and biases. For example, professionals expect reversals when amateurs are biased for breakdowns and breakouts. Professionals buy dips when amateurs are picking tops. If you don't master your trading edge, you'll be targeted over and over

Another part of trading which is often overlooked is the risk in each trade, day, week, month and year. As a trader you should determine your level of risk.

What level of risk you are prepared to accept in the market?

Are you comfortable with the level of risk you are assigning to your trades?

The most important aspect of risk in the market and often the deep seeded reason why traders are failing is they are trading with money that is not risk capital this immediately produces an emotional response to losses. Hence the point of the article, risk capital is risk capital. Risk capital is not mortgage, rent and food money.

All traders no matter if they are professional, part time, hobby or new to the game should be measuring their performance. This should include a daily review of your performance which can be undertaken by a non biased third party based on a trader assessment checklist if possible. You need to be accountable for your performance just like any other profession.

No doubt you would have heard that you should have a plan, you already know that I hope. If you want to know how to trade professionally please read on.

Remember, your success will come from doing the simple things exceptionally well. You will find that everything you have covered in this module is simple but very effective when combined as an overall strategy for maintaining your internal control. We are the experts in this field so please use us to succeed.

The Psychology Behind Online Day Trading Losses

One of the attributes that we are taught from an early age is that it is good to be right. We probably notice this most at school where we are taught the importance of getting the right answers to pass tests and exams to progress in life. This means that most people come to associate being successful with being right. The problem with this kind of thinking when it comes to trading is that wanting to be right can lead to stubbornness. 

  

Stubbornness often presents itself as an inability to take a loss quickly when the signs are there that you are wrong. However, successful traders have to face being wrong every day because they are simply making their best guess on the market. As Bruce Kovner was quoted in Schwager 's Market Wizards: "Michael Marcus taught me about making your best judgment, being wrong, making your next best judgment, being wrong, making your third best judgment, and then doubling your money". Essentially what this means is that traders have to face doing what they believe is right but accepting that the market can confound them and act to take losses and move on. Somewhat paradoxically, a good trader needs to be able to act right, by accepting when they are wrong. 

  

The next area where traders have to battle against what comes naturally to most people is acting in response to emotional stimuli. Traders have to observe their emotions but respond to their strategy. Making a decision based on emotions is almost always a recipe for disaster and it 's most often done because traders are watching their PL rather than the market.Finally, we come to the nature of hard work. One of the many issues that affect traders is the problem of overtrading. Part of the reason for this is that most traders assume; I am a trader, therefore my business is to be in the market and trade. 

  

A new trader usually takes this attitude into the marketplace with detrimental results on their performance because what they often fail to realise is that entering the market is only part of the business of trading. For most of us it is a natural thought process to make the following assumption: those that succeed are those that work hard. We are taught this from an early age. In trading, we connect working hard with the amount of time we spend actually working i.e. actual buying and selling. It seems fairly logical - a trader only makes his money by being in the market. Therefore it is assumed, the more you trade, the more time you are in the market and the more chance you have of making money. However, this thinking is, in most cases, fundamentally flawed. 

  

For many traders, some of the hardest work we put in is when we are not trading. In the time we spend studying the markets order flow and resulting movements to gain an edge, reading up on the markets mechanisms and fundamentals to improve our understanding, analysing any trades we may have taken and constantly thinking about how to improve ourselves. When we are trading, the hardest work we will do is in the preparation for the trade; in watching, in concentrating, in being patient so we can act at the optimum time that the market offers the highest probability of a successful trade. 

  

Actually, entering the market by buying or selling is the end product of the work we have already done. The point at which we see whether that work has been fruitful.As a result of this it is vital that traders rein in that part of them that makes them want to be in the market at all times and concentrate on only entering at those times that their groundwork has shown them they have a clearly definable edge.

Trading Rules and Why Traders (Like Children) Need Them

You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else. 

--Albert Einstein

Every trader knows that he must have a good set of trading rules. However, assuming he does indeed have them, following the rules is the hardest part. We constantly violate our rules, then wonder why our strategies fail us.

Whether it's moving a stop, taking a trade outside our Trading Plan, trading against trend when our history shows that we trade better with the trend, or risking an inordinate amount on a single trade because "it can't lose," many beginning traders spend an extraordinary amount of time extricating themselves from bad situations resulting from a failure to stay within their rules. It is not a stretch to say that the sooner a Trader develops AND adheres to a good set of Trading Rules, the sooner he will achieve consistent profitability.

The significance of setting and following a set of Trading Rules is simple. Trading is an arena with boundless, if unpredictable, opportunity. Unfortunately, it also has boundless, unpredictable risk. In such an environment, humans (and most Traders are human notwithstanding rumors to the contrary) tend to become highly emotional and, as a result, as unpredictable as the market with which they are attempting to interact. Traders forget the rational, well-considered plan laid out in the calmness before the market opened. They become transfixed by blinking lights, squiggly lines, and weird chart patterns (many of which are as indiscernible as most constellations). Before long they are jumping in and out of positions basing decisions on everything from a whim to ascending triangles to upside down head and shoulders to the oscillator du jour. If lucky, by day's (week's, month's, or year's) end, the Trader has only lost a portion of his trading capital. More often, he has lost something much more important. He has lost his ability to interact with the market profitably. The financial loss, while painful, can be overcome. Loss of confidence, on the other hand, can sound the death knell for a Trader.

How does setting and following rules help preserve a Trader's belief in herself? Confidence is generally a function of certainty. Websters Dictionary defines confidence as "certitude; assurance: He described the situation with such confidence that the audience believed him completely." Study psychology in the most rudimentary way and you will learn that certainty is also one of humanity's most basic needs. In a chaotic environment, that same need expands exponentially. In the market (chaotic by definition), it is virtually impossible to have certainty about the future, or more precisely, the future direction of the market. This is true notwithstanding assurances to the contrary by gurus, portfolio managers, analysts and the like. The best Traders (defined as most profitable) will tell you that they are wrong... FREQUENTLY, and that they are profitable only because their Trading Rules (and strategies) take the resulting losses into consideration.

So if it is impossible to have any real certainty about the market's future behavior, and the human Trader needs massive certainty, there is only one alternative. The successful Trader must have (or develop) certainty about how he will interact with the market. Magic tricks and mysticism aside, it is impossible to force, cajole, beg or will the market to do anything other than what it pleases. The only thing a Trader can control in the market environment is himself.

Uh Oh... most people would rather try to control the market than control themselves. Feel free to give it your best shot. Just do it with a tiny account. When you destroy that account (and you will), come back and resume your path toward learning to control yourself by developing a set of Trading Rules customized to suit you and your goals.

Trading is similar to other areas of life and/or work that require high levels of discipline and focus. For example, as part of her study rules, a law student may require herself to read a minimum number of pages each night. She may also require herself to independently brief every case that she reads before referring to study aids for further explanation. She does this as part of a broader set of study rules to help her stay on top of the massive amounts of information she must wade through. This, in turn, will help her achieve her ultimate goals of learning the material and performing well on exams. Notice that the student's rules help keep her on the path toward her ultimate goals. They provide boundaries. They do not automate the learning process, but they do (in her estimation) give her the best chance of attaining her goals.

Similarly, a Trader's Rules do not guarantee success in the market environment...nothing does. But they do provide boundaries which can help keep a Trader moving toward his ultimate goal...consistent profitability. If a Trader requires himself to ALWAYS use stops appropriately (one of my personal favorites), he does not guarantee himself success, but he does help minimize his chance of failure (also known as blowing up). Reduce the chance of failure and you increase your probability of success by giving yourself time to learn and accumulate profits.

Well developed and religiously applied Trading Rules will:

* provide a consistent framework through which to view the market

* help Traders avoid catastrophic losses

* help Traders fully exploit an edge

* soothe the emotional beast

* maximize certainty in an uncertain environment...you don't know what the market will do, but you do know what you will do

* free the Trader to execute his Trading Plan without hesitation

There is, of course, a caveat. A Trader must be sure to adopt Trading Rules that support his style of trading. For example, Position Traders need to have an idea of what is going on in the macro environment. They need to understand what is happening in other areas that can have a significant impact on the securities they trade. Day traders, on the other hand, care much less about broad market themes as they are focused on the ultra short-term, and thus chart patterns and indicators are likely to be more relevant. As a result, a Trading Rule that requires a trader know and understand what is going on at the macro level each day (through news and other non-price data) would be more helpful to the Position Trader than to the Day trader. In fact, many Day traders say they have to do the exact opposite (avoid paying too much attention to pre-open news) as the information tends to distort their view of price action.

Do yourself a favor...spend as much time committing yourself to a strong set of Trading Rules as you do to searching for the Holy Grail strategy. You (and your account) will be glad you did. For a free list of common trading rules to help you get started developing your own, visit us at TheArtofSimpleTrading.com.

Why Day Trade the DAX When There Are Alternatives?

You may be wondering: Why day trade the DAX when you could make much more profits by accessing other programs? For Americans this is the equivalent of the Dow. It is comprised of the 30 largest companies in Germany which are assessed for capitalization and then weighted to give investors an indicator of how stable their money is going to be if they join.

The Prime Standard is the template for the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. Book volume and market capitalization represent the best measure of commercial competency. An electronic trading system known as XETRA is responsible for generating prices. Why day trade the DAX formula? It is based on performance over a given total return. The assumption is that cash distribution and dividends are invested into the index.

A pathway to the European Union markets 

Germany is by far the most dominant economy within the EU thanks to its remarkably resilient manufacturing base. As a word of warning do not try to utilize the Dow Jones lot statistics because they are different in Europe. You could end up with significant losses. It is also advisable to sign up for the Eurex data feed which will cost you in the region of $9.00 per month.

Why day trade the DAX on a consistent basis? It gives you fairly good returns and it is operated from a country with proven economic stability since World War II. The symbol for the exchange is FDAX. Under the contract value one point is equivalent to twenty five Euros. The EURUSD exchange rate hovers between 1.25 and 1.50 depending on the metrics.

That means that each point will be equivalent to about $34.00. The incremental rises are staggered at 0.5 of a point or 12.50 Euros. Each tick is equivalent to $16.90 on average. Why day trade the DAX contract months? They offer variety since they run on YM and ES. That means that you can run through December, March, June and September. The trading hours are between 12.50 am and 3.00 pm Central Time.

Critical information about the exchange 

It must be noted that this is a gigantic contract which is worth about $225,000. This is greater than emini which comes in at $72,000. The S&P is slightly higher at $369,000. Why day trade the DAX on a daily basis? You require an overnight margin of 12,900 Euros which is about $17,415. On the other hand the intraday margin lies between $2,000 and $5,000.

A low margin on the DAX means that you are more susceptible to risk factors. The combination of liquidity and volatility can be toxic if you have not taken the time to deal with it. Why day trade the DAX? You should go for this option because it offers relative stability over the long run.

Trade With Confidence?

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along." 

--Eleanor Roosevelt

Learning to trade is often compared to learning to drive. The risks, potential for freedom and skill required make the activities fairly analogous. Unfortunately, while most drivers settle into a natural, almost innate confidence when driving, most private traders never get to that point. In fact, many faced with increasing frustration and mounting losses leave the activity altogether becoming a member of the legions of failed traders. What accounts for the resulting (and oft quoted statistic) that 90-95% of short-term traders wash out? More importantly, how might we join that minority of successful traders? How can we trade with the same confidence we experience when driving or doing some other rote activity? To answer these questions, let's take a look at how we transition from frightened new driver to a confidant, experienced one.

Most of us can barely remember the terror we felt when we first began learning to drive. It was somehow different from what we had imagined. The vehicle didn't drive itself as it seemed to do when we were in the passenger seat. The sense of freedom we imagined had evaporated and been replaced by the fear that, perhaps, we were too close to the center line. How was it that the passenger side front end seemed so much farther away? Why was the passenger door mirror so much smaller than it was when we were sitting on that side? And, by the way, was that a skateboard or a cat behind us? Why did we find ourselves sitting up so straight? Why were our hands cramping from gripping the steering wheel so tightly? Where was the unfettered cool we thought we would feel as soon as WE were in control?

While you may see yourself in some or all of the descriptors above, one thing is for certain...driving was not as easy as it looked. Now imagine if, on that first day, your teacher said, "Drive with confidence. You have to act with certainty when driving." Confident was certainly not what you felt.

Fast forward a few months... You had taken and passed Driver's Ed. You had even obtained your license. You had taken solo trips to the convenience store 3.78 miles away without further destruction of your beaten up 1973 225. You'd reached a level of comfort.

Fast forward two years... You were then the epitome of cool. You handled that 225 like the pro you were. You had named her Shirley. You and Shirley had made trips all over the place together... 50, 60 even 100 miles one way. You had negotiated windy country roads as well as sped along the Interstate traveling just a touch above the speed limit. Your friends suggested driving to a beach a couple of states away...you didn't even bat an eye because you knew you could handle it. You had completed the journey from nervous beginner to self-assured driver.

Fast forward ten years... Driving is now second nature to you. You have driven so many times and over so many distances that you no longer even think about it. You have seen so many different travel and road conditions that you are completely aware of your capabilities and limits behind the wheel. You're an expert. 

Now consider the progression of a new trader.

You have spent a lot of time reading about trading. You read about system trading, spread trading, option trading, Day Trading, algorithmic trading, etc. You even attended trading expos and paid for a few seminars and webinars. The writers and teachers have had a way of explaining things that made it clear just how easy it would be if you committed and applied yourself.

You decided trading was for you. Of the many types of trading, you decided Day Trading was the way for you to go. You purchased several more books on the subject and immersed yourself. You discussed it with your wife and got her on board. You wrote a business plan and a trading plan just as the books suggested. You opened a brokerage account with a broker who focused on Day Traders. You decided on a few choice setups and back tested them. The results were awesome. You purchased a new computer and monitors and set up your office to reflect your new undertaking. You installed your broker's trading software. You were ready.

On the following Sunday evening you ran your scans for potential trade setups for Monday. Your scans delivered tons of potential candidates. You culled them down to a few and went to bed. You couldn't sleep. You tossed and turned for most of the night then practically flew out of bed at 5am. You wanted to get an early start on reading the news and seeing what the foreign markets did overnight. There was no important news on merger Monday surprisingly, but no matter...you had your tested setups in hand.

We could continue this story, but it is all too familiar. Whether the new trader made or lost money that first day (or week for that matter) is of no consequence. Generally, within a few weeks, he has lost a substantial portion of the capital he allocated to trading. Within a few more weeks (months if he is lucky) he has blown out the account, added money to the account or, if smarter than the average bear, gone back to the drawing board. We are not sure what the average tenure is these days, but certainly inside a year (no more than two), the "trader" has moved on.

Why the difference in outcomes between trading and driving? The would be trader certainly completed more prep work than the novice driver. So why, at the end of two years, will one newbie have safely arrived at the intermediate level while the other newbie will have thrown in the towel? In a word, practice.

It may be argued that trading requires more skill than operating a car. But it may not be argued that it requires significantly more. Both take time and practice to learn. Both offer rich rewards and freedom to those who perform correctly. The individual actions required to perform each are simple, but in both cases actions must often be performed simultaneously. There are significant risks inherent in both activities. Finally, as with most any endeavor, the more one performs the required actions, the better one becomes.

The neophyte driver went from driving with a relative around his neighborhood, to driving to the local convenience store, to driving longer distances. He did this over time and as his skill level increased. He did not read a driver's manual then jump in a late model car to test himself on the closest interstate.

The neophyte trader while taking some time to back test his ideas, jumped right into the thick of trading without so much as a week spent watching the market trade day in and day out. Without working with his broker's simulator (if one exists) to develop an understanding of how the software worked and whether it had any nuances of which he should have been aware. Without paper or simulator trading any of his ideas live to make sure the results matched the back tests. Is it any wonder he failed?

If you remember nothing else from our rambling, remember this, ALL confidence is developed. None of us are born with preternatural confidence. We may have it instilled at an early age and thus feel that we can do anything, but it is not a natural part of anyone's psyche from the moment they enter the world. "Those people you know who exude confidence, who have beaten back worry, who are at ease everywhere and all the time, acquired their confidence, every bit of it. It did not come naturally.

In our opinion, it takes several years of uninterrupted screen time to develop confidence as a trader...preferably watching a single or just a few securities trade day in and day out. Getting to know how they trade on normal days...how they trade around both stock specific and non stock specific announcements...whether they tend to be highly correlated to the larger market or contra indicated...how wide the intraday spreads are...who the main players are (institutions or individual traders)...what the normal intraday ranges are...today's, yesterday's, last week's and last month's important levels and how the security acts around those levels, etc. While constant learning from books, seminars and the like is important, the supremacy of simple screen time cannot be overstated. This is the only way to truly develop the trading confidence to which every educator (myself included) refers.

Once developed, the trader can then deploy her skills across virtually any volatile, liquid security successfully. As long as a simple, robust strategy is the method, she will find herself perpetually confident...and profitable.

Pay us a visit at TheArtofSimpleTrading.com to see how we expedite the trader learning and development process.