The interesting thing is that the novice's perspective of what the professional trader is doing isn't incorrect.  Trading well should be a simple exercise, though not necessarily easy.

You have your trading plan, execute it with consistency, manage your emotional and mental state, and achieve consistent profitability week after week as a result.  There's a certain routine to elite day trading performance and most who have done this for a while are happy to settle into those positive habits and don't look to over-complicate their approach too much or make sweeping changes to their methods.

The Pressure to Profit

For the complete market novice who is looking to day trade and is finding consistency difficult to come by the problem is usually one of pressure.  It's the weight of expectation they put on themselves, the "get rich quick" mentality people can have in the financial markets, and the struggle to detach themselves from the outcomes of single trades in order to see the "big picture" of trading performance over time.

All of this leads to a number of fresh faces entering the day trading arena who struggle as they place a very real burden on themselves to achieve elite results almost immediately.  Of course, anyone putting this kind of pressure on themselves is rarely going to achieve positive outcomes and in many cases this pressure only serves to draw out the learning and development process thanks to over-trading, breaking of rules, and other key trading errors.

So this begs the question - if you are looking to learn to day trade and to develop a skill that can be utilized for the rest of your life then why are you putting that pressure on yourself during the infancy of your trading development?  If you're trying to learn how to swim you wouldn't have someone drop you into the middle of the ocean and then hope for the best.  You would take things slowly, learning the basics step by step, until you had developed the skills and confidence to swim in a variety of conditions and situations in a calm and measured way.  Learning to day trade is no different.

I've worked with a number of people over the years and I consistently see the same thing - when people understand that trading is a long term skill to be developed and are willing to put their time and effort into learning in a minimal pressure environment then they achieve great results.  

While I know through my own experience and that of STA students that consistent profitability can be achieved in a matter of months it is still a process and only in extremely rare cases can a trader hit their goals from week one.  It takes screen time, practice, and the building of patience and discipline to get there.

How to Develop Your Trading Skills More Quickly

I've stressed in many posts here on Samurai Trading Academy that learning to day trade isn't a race and you shouldn't put immediate pressure on yourself to make massive profits but that doesn't mean that the learning process can't be streamlined.  There's no substitute for screen time and experience in this business but not every hour spent on skill development is equal and there are a few ways to accelerate the process.  In order to learn any skill as quickly as possible, including that of day trading, there's a handful of factors that should be present.

First, when initially learning the skill you need to put it into practice immediately.  

You can spend a lot of time reading books on candlesticks, price patterns, trading psychology, or any number of subjects relevant to becoming a day trader, but unless you take actionable steps to actually trade then you're not going to get anywhere.  Right from the start you should take your basic lessons and apply them in a demo account through the platform of your choosing and start to develop an understanding of the theory being put into actual use.

Second, you need to utilize your developing trading skills with regularity during the initial weeks/months in low to moderate pressure environments.  

This is the only way to develop pattern recognition, reinforce good trading habits, and continue to grow as a trader week after week.  What this all boils down to is simply making sure that you set aside time consistently for focused practice sessions.  NinjaTrader, the platform most STA traders use, is great for this.  Using the Market Replay functionality you can download historical data and replay it as if it was live while trading in Sim mode without real money.

These practice sessions remove a great deal of the emotional pressure that new traders often put on themselves to perform in a real-time market (even while Sim trading) and makes skill development that much faster.  Of course, there's still a lot of benefit to be found in trading in a moderate pressure live environment and eventually some things that can only be learned through trading with actual money but early on a trader will find having extra hours spent in calm, focused practice sessions to be hugely beneficial to their development.

Lastly, having the guidance of a coach, mentor, or more experienced peer who can give you clear feedback can help to greatly accelerate the learning process.  

Over the years I've learned countless lessons from veteran traders that have provided me with insight into my own trading and have challenged me to continue to develop and improve.  However, it's not as simple as just getting a bit of feedback and putting it into practice for immediate results.  In order to realize the most benefit from personal coaching and feedback a developing trader needs to be receptive, mentally adaptive, and willing to put some effort into tweaking their trading approach and their own behaviours to ensure positive (and profitable) decisions are made.

It's important to note that while it's hugely beneficial to have this kind of coaching support it's not a requirement.  I can say that with confidence because I personally began learning to day trade through self-study and achieved profitability through hard work, a LOT of testing and practice sessions, and finding like-minded traders to brainstorm with.  It wasn't ideal and I made a lot of mistakes along the way that made my overall development take longer (something I try to help people avoid these days) but it's certainly possible for those who are highly motivated and determined to be successful as traders.

Keeping Your Cool

The mark of an elite trader is their ability to keep cool under pressure and this comes from utilizing many of the guidelines listed above.  Maintaining a calm mental state and "trading in the zone" is something that comes from a combination of preparation (a solid trading plan and practice), support (from a coach and/or family), and a sense of long term purpose.

The full-time professional traders that we talked about at the start of the article have those traits and that's why they succeed in an almost effortless fashion.  It isn't magic or something that just miraculously happened the first time they sat down at their screens - they worked for it!  They put in the time and the effort and kept their eyes focused not just on the outcome of a single trade but on what they could achieve in weeks or months by simply following their tested plan and letting their trading edge play out.

Daily profits and the pressure that's involved in meeting short-term financial goals isn't something that concerns most long-term traders.

They simply set a goal of executing their plan to perfection each and every day and profit is the inevitable by-product of that disciplined approach.  

They've tested their edge, they follow a simple plan, have positive expectancy backing them up, and know that if they just remain discipline and execute well that they'll be consistently rewarded.

The post Learning to Day Trade and the Pressure of Performance appeared first on Samurai Trading Academy.

Why not?  Because it seems like it will probably take a lot of hard work, has some risk of not working out, and for most it means entering uncharted professional territory far outside their comfort zone.  The thing is, they're right!

It does take effort and plenty of determination to become a day trader, but in my opinion nothing could be more worthwhile.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately after embarking on my latest adventure thanks to the incredible flexibility my profession provides me.  I've recently arrived in Thailand where I will be spending the next four months trading, teaching through Samurai Trading Academy, and exploring this amazing country and some of the surrounding ones too.  For me, this epitomizes the kind of professional freedom that got me into day trading in the first place.

Of course, I didn't always have the freedom to travel to different countries for extended periods of time without worries of getting back to my “normal job”.  It only came about because I made a clear decision about what was important to me and then took the difficult steps to get where I wanted to be.  It wasn't easy, but nothing truly worth doing ever is.

When I first made the decision that I wanted to become a full time trader it had little to do with an initial passion for the markets.  I had always been interested in stocks since being introduced to them in a classroom stock portfolio exercise many years before, but I had yet to really dig into what active trading was all about.

So how did I come to the conclusion that I should spend months or maybe even years completely dedicated to developing my skills in the markets?  It was all about identifying what really mattered to me, where my passions lied, and envisioning where I wanted to be in the future.

Realizing What's Important

At the time of my major career decision to become a day trader I had been doing consulting work in the US over a couple of different states.  I enjoyed the work as I was helping others to build their businesses from the ground up, but there were some things I definitely didn't find as appealing.

For one, I was always on my way to the next meeting as I drove or flew from place to place.  My time was scheduled to the minute to fit in as much as possible with people spread out in numerous cities and towns.  Worse, what little personal time I had was often interrupted by phone calls from those I was working with or messages that urgently needed to be returned.

It didn't take long to realize that this wasn't a good plan for long-term happiness.  All of it made me feel that I was spread "too thin", with little time to enjoy the things that were important to me.

It was at this point that I realized I needed to make a change.  I had to figure out what truly mattered for my quality of life and I needed to map out a plan to improve it.

After a period of introspection, I came to the conclusion that what truly mattered to me was having complete career freedom.  I wanted to be able to schedule my own hours and more importantly I needed to have the ability to take a day or even a week off on a whim.  I didn't want employees or customers that I would need to manage my time around.  Most of all, I wanted to be able to work from anywhere in the world so I could exercise my passion for travel.

Achieving this sort of career independence was a lofty goal, no doubt, but I knew it was extremely worthy of my time and effort.

Deciding to Become a Day Trader

In the following weeks I considered many career options and eventually decided that learning how to become a day trader would fit the criteria perfectly.  I already had some interest in the field as I mentioned and it fit my general background in commerce well.  It had minimal start-up costs, offered a work day I could set myself, and would give me complete location freedom.

Simply put, day trading fit my career and lifestyle goals exactly.  What started as a logical decision to become a day trader soon ignited an intense passion for the markets that continues to this day.

Keeping on the Path of the Samurai Trader

It's perhaps interesting to note that, for me, choosing to become a trader was never about the money.  I didn't care if I made millions because I knew that my freedom would be worth far more.  I think that’s an important distinction because for many people the initial reason they become interested in trading is purely for rapid financial gain.

The trouble is that for most of us, this kind of financial focus isn't a sustainable passion over the long term as it usually provides little if any real fulfilment.

I've come to believe that it's vital to identify your true motivations and underlying passions before you enter the trading arena if you want to reach your goals.  

Do you want to be free of the typical career path?  Is spending more time with your family what drives you?  Do you have an intense desire to travel and experience other cultures?  These motivations are easy to sustain over the longer term compared to those that are purely financial with no underlying emotional drive.

Having these motivations is what has allowed me to develop as a trader and has kept me on the Path to trading success for many years.  My experience training others has been similar - those with a desire beyond their financial bottom line are the ones who end up finding the greatest rewards.

Without true passion and a white hot desire to achieve your goals, it will always be difficult to bring forth the effort and focus  needed to become a successful trader.  You must take the time to consider what truly matters to you before embarking on your trading journey, then take calculated steps to get to your destination.

The Path of the Samurai Trader is not an easy one and is fraught with various perils, but those with full knowledge of their underlying passions are the ones that persevere and reach their trading and lifestyle goals.

The post My Decision to Become a Day Trader appeared first on Samurai Trading Academy.