Forex Day Trading: Beginner's Guide

Scroll down to get an idea of what it is like to live the life of a Forex day trader for a single day, who has to tackle private accounts that include family funds and other people’s money.

Gaining the professional stature of an expert Forex day trader takes years of dedication, commitment, and willingness backed by strategies that are clearly defined and that promise persistent profitability. The rewards that are earned are worth the efforts with huge income and a lavish lifestyle that the majority can only dream of.

Favorable circumstances abound for these players who may either think of working for foreign banks or hedge funds or just slide into their pajamas and trade from their home offices. Scroll down to get an idea of what it is like to live the life of a day trader for a single day, who has to tackle private accounts that include family funds and other people’s money.

Learning the Tricks of the Trade

As long as the world of foreign exchange is concerned, day trading can always be a lucrative option depending on the time zone of your state/country. Suppose you wish to trade the stocks and futures of the US, the initial two hours of the day are the most crucial hours that offer the best opportunities for earning profits. Residing in the Eastern Time, 8.30 AM is the best time by which it is expected for the day trader to start trading if he wishes to trade during the usual trading hours.

For a potential day trader, you’ll get more choices though the aforementioned time also works well for the Forex market as well. That is the time when companies and banks in America just start working and when markets in London are already open. Hence, these few hours are said to be of the highest liquidity and volatility as against other times of the day.

Preparing for Day Trade: the Key to Being Disciplined

You have the discretion of doing anything that you want when you work as a day trader from the comfort of your home. Get up one hour prior to the time you start trading and here are the preparations you should take for having a great day:

Reenact the well-planned techniques and in case of new issues that you’ve been lately facing, devise a Plan B to tackle them.
To get an accurate idea of your risk toleration level, you need to be aware of your trading account balance. Foreign exchange experts usually recommend not more than 2% of the balance in your account.
What are the leading events on your financial calendar? Exit trade minimum 3 minutes prior to any major financial event.
Make sure your quotes are streaming and your trade platform is operating perfectly.

Become a Successful Forex Day Trader

Post the official opening time of the market (9.30 – 10.30 AM EST in case of futures, Forex, stocks), you should definitely trade the initial hour to make the best gains. In the case of the Forex market, you may start by 8-8.30 AM, particularly when you trade EURUSD or GBPUSD. On the contrary, while trading in an active market, you may continue trading up to 11.30 AM EST as the volatility decreases thereafter.

Do you find your day trade journey to be challenging enough? If yes, there’s a high chance that there’s something not right. The trader may not have been armed for various market environments or he might be taking on too much risk. The job of a Forex trader is to keep finding trade setups and later on handling them as per his Forex technical analysis or strategy.

How the Entire Day Looks Like

Once day trading is done with, which for some may end at 10.30 AM or for some at 4.00 PM EST, make sure you save a screenshot of the trading chart. Have a clear idea of the profit and losses of all the trades that you’ve made during the day also note the below-mentioned points:

How many hours did you trade?
How many trades did you handle?
How many trades did you win and what is the total of all winning trades?
How many trades did you lose and what is the total of all lost trades?
What is your net profit and net loss in pips, points, and cents?

Mentioning the figures in the dollar can sometimes be misleading since the balance in your account will keep fluctuating with time leading to trades of variable size. The screenshots should be carefully kept in different folders so that you can go through them later on and learn from your mistakes. Besides reviewing the trading time, there’s not much that you have to do unless you decide to trade on a definite issue.

Conclusion

If you thought Forex trading is always a bed of roses, you’re wrong as there are days when the job will seem way too monotonous. A Forex day trader spends few days trading for 2-5 hours a day and trading for 5 hours at a stretch is the best that they can do. Therefore it is needless to mention that you can sneak out time for all your other pursuits and hobbies.