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Trading Business Plan

Mar.29, 2024

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Table of Content

According to a report, 13% of day traders maintain consistent profitability over six months, and a mere 1% succeed over five years. This is primarily due to inadequate planning and undercapitalization. A well-crafted trading business plan can help you avoid these pitfalls, and this article will guide you.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• The current trends and growth forecasts in the stock trading industry
• A breakdown of the costs involved in starting a trading company
• The key components of a trading business plan (with a trading business plan example)
• Strategies for securing funding and overcoming the barriers to entry

By the end of this article, you’ll understand what it takes to create a business plan for an investment company , positioning your trading business for long-term success in this lucrative but highly competitive industry.

Pros and Cons of Trading Company

Let’s explore the pros and cons associated with running a trading company before diving into the specifics of a trading site business plan. Understanding them will help you make informed decisions:

• Potential for significant profits.
• Flexibility in terms of time and location.
• Opportunity for continuous learning and skill development.
• High risk due to market volatility.
• Emotional stress and psychological pressure.
• Requirement for constant vigilance and discipline.

Trading Industry Trends

Industry size and growth forecast.

According to a report , the global stock trading and investing applications market size was at around $37.27 billion in 2022 and projects to grow at a CAGR of 18.3% from 2023 to 2030 (Source: Grand View Research). The following factors drive this growth:

• Increasing internet penetration
• Rising disposable income
• Growing awareness of investment opportunities.

(Image Source: Grand View Research)

The Services

As per our private equity firm business plan , a stock trading business offers various services, including:

• Facilitating Trades on behalf of clients
• Algorithmic trading services to automatically execute trades
• Market Insights (research reports, market analysis, and economic forecasts)
• Technical and Fundamental Analysis (price charts, historical data, and company fundamentals)
• Investment Recommendations
• Seminars and Webinars
• Online Courses
• Demo Accounts
• Portfolio Diversification
• Stop-Loss Orders
• Hedging Strategies
• Direct Market Access (DMA)
• Global Market Access
• Trading Platforms
• Mobile Apps
• High-Frequency Trading (HFT)
• Legal and Compliance Services
• Educate clients about Risk Disclosure

How Much Does It Cost to Start a Trading Company

According to Starter Story, you can expect to spend an average of $12,272 for a stock trading business. Some key startup costs include:

How Much Can You Earn from a Trading Business?

Earnings in the trading business can vary significantly and depend heavily on:

• Trading strategy and approach
• Market conditions and volatility
• Risk management techniques
• Capital allocation and leverage

While specific income figures are difficult to predict due to these factors. However, here are some statistics showing the earning potential of a stock trading business:

• According to Investopedia, only around 5% to 20% of day traders consistently make money.
• According to Indeed Salaries, the average base salary for a stock trader in the U.S. is $80,086 per year.
• 72% of day traders ended the year with financial losses, according to FINRA.
• Among proprietary traders, only 16% were profitable, with just 3% earning over $50,000. (Source: Quantified Strategies)

What Barriers to Entry Are There to Start a Trading Company

Barriers to entry into the stock trading business include:

• Regulatory Requirements: Obtaining necessary licenses and registrations from governing bodies like the SEC and FINRA is a complex and time-consuming process.
• Capital Requirements: Trading activities require significant capital to manage risks and leverage opportunities, which can be a substantial challenge for new or small firms.
• Technological Expertise: Developing or acquiring sophisticated trading platforms, algorithms, and data analysis tools is costly and requires specialized expertise.
• Market Knowledge and Experience: Gaining in-depth knowledge and practical experience in the complex and dynamic financial markets takes years of dedicated study.
• Competitive Landscape: Breaking into the highly competitive trading industry dominated by established firms and well-funded proprietary trading desks is challenging for new entrants.

You can overcome these barriers by developing unique strategies, leveraging innovative technologies, and offering competitive and specialized services to differentiate yourself in the market. Do check our financial advisor business plan to learn more.

Creating a Trading Business Plan

A well-researched stock trading business plan is crucial to start a trading business. A general trading company business plan is a comprehensive document that defines your goals, strategies, and the steps needed to achieve them. It helps you stay organized and focused and increases your chances of securing funding if you plan to seek investors or loans.

Steps to Write a Trading Business Plan

You can use a business plan template for a trading company or follow these steps to prepare a business plan for a personal trading business:

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Investment Objectives

Step 2: Conduct Market Research

Step 3: Develop Your Trading Strategy

Step 4: Establish Your Business Structure

Step 5: Develop a Financial Plan

Step 6: Outline Your Operational Procedures

Step 7: Create a Marketing and Growth Strategy

Step 8: Implement Risk Management

Step 9: Create an Exit Strategy

What to Include in Your Trading Business Plan

Executive summary, company overview.

• Market Analysis
• Trading Strategy and Risk Management
• Operations and Technology
• Financial Projections
• Management and Organization
• Appendices (e.g., research, charts, legal documents)

Here’s an online trading business plan sample of ABC Trading:

ABC Trading, a recently established stock trading firm, provides online trading services to individuals and institutional investors. Key highlights of our business include:

• Vision – Becoming a leading online trading platform with a wide range of trading products and services.
• Values – Our core focus is innovation, excellence, integrity, and customer satisfaction.
• Target market – Tech-savvy and risk-tolerant investors looking for alternative ways to invest their money and diversify their portfolios.
• Revenue model – Commissions and fees for each trade, as well as subscription fees for premium features and services.
• Financial goal – Break even in the second year of operation and generate a net profit of $1.2 million in the third year.

ABC Trading is seeking $500,000 seed funding to launch its platform, acquire customers, and expand its team.

Company Name: ABC Trading

Founding Date: January 2024

Location: Delaware, USA

Registration: Limited Liability Company (LLC) in the state of New York

Regulated By: Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)

Our team comprises seasoned professionals with diverse finance, mathematics, computer science, and engineering backgrounds.

Marketing Plan

Marketing Strategy: We aim to leverage online channels, such as social media, blogs, podcasts, webinars, and email newsletters, to create awareness, generate leads, and convert prospects into customers.

Marketing Objectives:

• Reach 100,000 potential customers in the first year of operation
• Achieve a 10% conversion rate from leads to customers
• Retain 80% of customers in the first year and increase customer lifetime value by 20% in the second year

The customer profile of ABC Trading includes the following characteristics:

• Age: 25-65 years old
• Gender: Male and female
• Income: Above $100,000 per year
• Education: Bachelor’s degree or higher
• Occupation: Professionals, entrepreneurs, executives, or retirees
• Location: US or international
• Trading experience: Intermediate to advanced
• Trading goals: Income generation, capital appreciation, risk diversification, or portfolio optimization
• Trading preferences: Stocks, options, or both
• Trading style: Technical, trend following, or volatility trading
• Trading frequency: Daily, weekly, or monthly
• Trading risk: Low, medium, or high

Marketing Tactics:

• Create and distribute engaging and informative content on social media platforms
• Offer free trials, discounts, referrals, and loyalty programs
• Collect and analyze customer feedback and data to improve and personalize the customer experience
• Partner with influencers, experts, and media outlets in the trading and finance niche

Marketing Budget:

We will allocate $10,000 for our marketing campaign, which we will use for the following purposes:

Operations Plan

ABC Trading’s operations plan ensures the smooth and efficient functioning of the company’s platform and services and compliance with the relevant laws and regulations.

Operation Objectives:

• Maintain a 99% uptime and availability of the company’s platform and services
• Ensure the security and privacy of the company’s and customers’ data and funds
• Provide timely and professional customer support and service

Operation Tactics:

• Use cloud-based servers and services
• Implement encryption, authentication, and backup systems
• Hire and train qualified and experienced customer service representatives and technicians
• Monitor and update the company’s platform and services regularly
• Follow the best practices and standards of the industry and adhere to the applicable laws and regulations

Operation Standards:

Financial Plan

ABC Trading’s financial plan is to provide a realistic and detailed projection of the company’s income, expenses, and cash flow for the next three years, as well as the key financial indicators and assumptions that support the projection.

Financial Objectives:

• Achieve a positive cash flow in the second year of operation.
• Reach a break-even point in the second year of operation.
• Generate a net profit of $1.2 million in the third year of operation.
• Maintain a healthy financial ratio of current assets to current liabilities of at least 2:1.

Financial Assumptions:

• Launch its platform and services in the first quarter of 2024
• Acquire 10,000 customers in the first year, 20,000 customers in the second year, and 30,000 customers in the third year
• Average revenue per customer will be $50 per month, based on the average number and size of trades and the subscription fees
• Average operating expense per customer will be $10 per month, based on the average cost of salaries, rent, utilities, marketing, and legal fees
• Pay a 25% tax rate on its net income
• Reinvest 50% of its net income into the company’s growth and development

Projected Income Statement:

Projected Cash Flow Statement

Projected Balance Sheet

Fund a Trading Company

To successfully establish and operate a trading company, raising funds to finance daily operations and business expansion is crucial. There are different ways with their advantages and disadvantages:

1. Self-funding (Bootstrapping)

Self-funding, also known as bootstrapping, is when the founder or owner of the trading company uses their own personal savings, family business ideas , assets, or income to finance the business. This is the most common and simplest way to fund a trading company, especially in the early stages.

• Complete ownership and control
• Flexibility in decision-making
• Potential for higher long-term returns
• Limited access to capital
• Personal financial risk
• Slower growth potential

2. Debt Financing

Debt financing involves borrowing money from lenders, such as banks, credit unions, or microfinance institutions, to fund the trading company’s operations. The borrowed funds must be repaid with interest over a specified period.

• Retain ownership and control
• Potential tax benefits from interest deductions
• Disciplined approach due to repayment obligations
• Debt burden and interest payments
• Collateral requirements and personal guarantees
• Difficulty in securing financing for startups

3. Angel Investors

Angel investors are wealthy individuals who invest their own money into early-stage or high-potential trading companies in exchange for equity or convertible debt. Angel investors typically provide smaller funding than venture capitalists and offer mentorship, guidance, and access to their network.

• Access to capital and industry expertise
• Potential for additional mentorship and guidance
• Lower risk compared to traditional investors
• Dilution of ownership and control
• Potential for conflicting visions and expectations
• Limited resources compared to larger investors

4. Venture Capital (VC) Funding

Venture capital firms are professional investment firms that provide capital to high-growth startups in exchange for equity ownership. They typically invest large sums of money and are active in the company’s management and strategic direction.

• Access to substantial capital for growth
• Expertise and industry connections from the VC firm
• Validation and credibility for the business
• Significant dilution of ownership and control
• Intense pressure for rapid growth and return on investment

Depending on your business model, goals, and needs, you may also consider other options, such as grants, subsidies, partnerships, etc. Ensure to check for relevant documents, like the hedge fund private placement memorandum . The best way to fund your trading company is the one that suits your situation and preferences.

OGSCapital: Your Strategic Partner for Business Success

At OGSCapital, we specialize in professional business plans that empower startups, established companies, and visionary entrepreneurs. With over 15 years of experience, our seasoned team combines financial acumen, industry insights, and strategic thinking to craft comprehensive plans tailored to your unique vision. Whether you’re seeking funding, launching a new venture, or optimizing your existing business, we’ve got you covered.

If you have any further questions regarding how to write a business plan for your trading business, feel free to contact us. Our team at OGSCapital is here to support you on your entrepreneurial journey. You can also check our hedge fund business plan sample here.

Download Trading Business Plan Template in PDF

Frequently Asked Questions

What does a trading business include?

A trading business involves trading stocks and other financial instruments under a legal business structure. It includes:

• Market analysis
• Trading strategy
• Risk management

How does a trading company work?

A stock trading company facilitates the buying and selling of stocks (shares) on behalf of investors. These companies operate within stock exchanges, executing trades based on specific trading strategies.

OGSCapital’s team has assisted thousands of entrepreneurs with top-rate business plan development, consultancy and analysis. They’ve helped thousands of SME owners secure more than $1.5 billion in funding, and they can do the same for you.

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Trading Business Plan Template

Written by Dave Lavinsky

Trading Business Plan

Over the past 20+ years, we have helped over 500 entrepreneurs and business owners create business plans to start and grow their trading companies.

If you’re unfamiliar with creating a trading business plan, you may think creating one will be a time-consuming and frustrating process. For most entrepreneurs it is, but for you, it won’t be since we’re here to help. We have the experience, resources, and knowledge to help you create a great plan.

In this article, you will learn some background information on why business planning is important. Then, you will learn how to write a trading business plan step-by-step so you can create your plan today.

Download our Ultimate Business Plan Template here >

What is a Trading Business Plan?

A business plan provides a snapshot of your trading company as it stands today, and lays out your growth plan for the next five years. It explains your business goals and your strategies for reaching them. It also includes market research to support your plans.

Why You Need a Business Plan for a Trading Company

If you’re looking to start a trading company or grow your existing company, you need a business plan. A business plan will help you raise funding, if needed, and plan out the growth of your trading business to improve your chances of success. Your business plan is a living document that should be updated annually as your company grows and changes.

Sources of Funding for Trading Companies

With regards to funding, the main sources of funding for a trading company are personal savings, credit cards, bank loans, and angel investors. When it comes to bank loans, banks will want to review your plan and gain confidence that you will be able to repay your loan and interest. To acquire this confidence, the loan officer will not only want to ensure that your financials are reasonable, but they will also want to see a professional plan. Such a plan will give them the confidence that you can successfully and professionally operate a business. Personal savings and bank loans are the most common funding paths for trading companies.

Finish Your Business Plan Today!

How to write a business plan for a trading company.

If you want to start a trading business or expand your current one, you need a business plan. The guide below details the necessary information for how to write each essential component of your trading business plan.

Executive Summary

Your executive summary provides an introduction to your trading business plan, but it is normally the last section you write because it provides a summary of each key section of your plan.

The goal of your executive summary is to quickly engage the reader. Explain to them the kind of trading company you are running and the status. For example, are you a startup, do you have a trading business that you would like to grow, or are you operating a chain of trading companies?

Next, provide an overview of each of the subsequent sections of your plan.

• Give a brief overview of the trading industry.
• Discuss the type of trading business you are operating.
• Detail your direct competitors. Give an overview of your target customers.
• Provide a snapshot of your marketing strategy. Identify the key members of your team.
• Offer an overview of your financial plan.

Company Overview

In your company overview, you will detail what type of trading business you are operating.

For example, you might specialize in one of the following types of trading businesses:

• Retail trading business: This type of business sells merchandise directly to consumers.
• Wholesale trading business: This type of business sells merchandise to other businesses.
• General merchandise trading business: This type of business sells a wide variety of products.
• Specialized trading business: This type of business sells one specific type of product.

In addition to explaining the type of trading business you will operate, the company overview needs to provide background on the business.

Include answers to questions such as:

• When and why did you start the business?
• What milestones have you achieved to date? Milestones could include the number of customers served, the number of products sold, and reaching $X amount in revenue, etc.
• Your legal business Are you incorporated as an S-Corp? An LLC? A sole proprietorship? Explain your legal structure here.

Industry Analysis

In your industry or market analysis, you need to provide an overview of the trading industry.

While this may seem unnecessary, it serves multiple purposes.

First, researching the trading industry educates you. It helps you understand the market in which you are operating.

Secondly, market research can improve your marketing strategy, particularly if your analysis identifies market trends.

The third reason is to prove to readers that you are an expert in your industry. By conducting the research and presenting it in your plan, you achieve just that.

The following questions should be answered in the industry analysis section:

• How big is the trading industry (in dollars)?
• Is the market declining or increasing?
• Who are the key competitors in the market?
• Who are the key suppliers in the market?
• What trends are affecting the industry?
• What is the industry’s growth forecast over the next 5 – 10 years?
• What is the relevant market size? That is, how big is the potential target market for your trading business? You can extrapolate such a figure by assessing the size of the market in the entire country and then applying that figure to your local population.

Customer Analysis

The customer analysis section must detail the customers you serve and/or expect to serve.

The following are examples of customer segments: individuals, schools, families, and corporations.

As you can imagine, the customer segment(s) you choose will have a great impact on the type of trading business you operate. Clearly, individuals would respond to different marketing promotions than corporations, for example.

Try to break out your target customers in terms of their demographic and psychographic profiles. With regards to demographics, including a discussion of the ages, genders, locations, and income levels of the potential customers you seek to serve.

Psychographic profiles explain the wants and needs of your target customers. The more you can recognize and define these needs, the better you will do in attracting and retaining your customers.

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With Growthink’s Ultimate Business Plan Template you can finish your plan in just 8 hours or less!

Competitive Analysis

Your competitive analysis should identify the indirect and direct competitors your business faces and then focus on the latter.

Direct competitors are other trading businesses.

Indirect competitors are other options that customers have to purchase from that aren’t directly competing with your product or service. This includes other types of retailers or wholesalers, re-sellers, and dropshippers. You need to mention such competition as well.

For each such competitor, provide an overview of their business and document their strengths and weaknesses. Unless you once worked at your competitors’ businesses, it will be impossible to know everything about them. But you should be able to find out key things about them such as

• What types of customers do they serve?
• What type of trading business are they?
• What is their pricing (premium, low, etc.)?
• What are they good at?
• What are their weaknesses?

With regards to the last two questions, think about your answers from the customers’ perspective. And don’t be afraid to ask your competitors’ customers what they like most and least about them.

The final part of your competitive analysis section is to document your areas of competitive advantage. For example:

• Will you make it easier for customers to acquire your product or service?
• Will you offer products or services that your competition doesn’t?
• Will you provide better customer service?
• Will you offer better pricing?

Think about ways you will outperform your competition and document them in this section of your plan.  

Marketing Plan

Traditionally, a marketing plan includes the four P’s: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. For a trading company, your marketing strategy should include the following:

Product : In the product section, you should reiterate the type of trading company that you documented in your company overview. Then, detail the specific products or services you will be offering. For example, will you sell jewelry, clothing, or household goods?

Price : Document the prices you will offer and how they compare to your competitors. Essentially in the product and price sub-sections of your plan, you are presenting the products and/or services you offer and their prices.

Place : Place refers to the site of your trading company. Document where your company is situated and mention how the site will impact your success. For example, is your trading business located in a busy retail district, a business district, a standalone facility, or purely online? Discuss how your site might be the ideal location for your customers.

Promotions : The final part of your trading marketing plan is where you will document how you will drive potential customers to your location(s). The following are some promotional methods you might consider:

• Advertise in local papers, radio stations and/or magazines
• Reach out to websites
• Distribute flyers
• Engage in email marketing
• Advertise on social media platforms
• Improve the SEO (search engine optimization) on your website for targeted keywords

Operations Plan

While the earlier sections of your plan explained your goals, your operations plan describes how you will meet them. Your operations plan should have two distinct sections as follows.

Everyday short-term processes include all of the tasks involved in running your trading business, including answering calls, scheduling shipments, ordering inventory, and collecting payments, etc.

Long-term goals are the milestones you hope to achieve. These could include the dates when you expect to acquire your Xth customer, or when you hope to reach $X in revenue. It could also be when you expect to expand your trading business to a new city.  

Management Team

To demonstrate your trading business’ potential to succeed, a strong management team is essential. Highlight your key players’ backgrounds, emphasizing those skills and experiences that prove their ability to grow a company.

Ideally, you and/or your team members have direct experience in managing trading businesses. If so, highlight this experience and expertise. But also highlight any experience that you think will help your business succeed.

If your team is lacking, consider assembling an advisory board. An advisory board would include 2 to 8 individuals who would act as mentors to your business. They would help answer questions and provide strategic guidance. If needed, look for advisory board members with experience in managing a trading business.  

Financial Plan

Your financial plan should include your 5-year financial statement broken out both monthly or quarterly for the first year and then annually. Your financial statements include your income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statements.  

Income Statement

An income statement is more commonly called a Profit and Loss statement or P&L. It shows your revenue and then subtracts your costs to show whether you turned a profit or not.

In developing your income statement, you need to devise assumptions. For example, will you charge per item or per pound and will you offer discounts for bulk orders? And will sales grow by 2% or 10% per year? As you can imagine, your choice of assumptions will greatly impact the financial forecasts for your business. As much as possible, conduct research to try to root your assumptions in reality.  

Balance Sheets

Balance sheets show your assets and liabilities. While balance sheets can include much information, try to simplify them to the key items you need to know about. For instance, if you spend $50,000 on building out your trading business, this will not give you immediate profits. Rather it is an asset that will hopefully help you generate profits for years to come. Likewise, if a lender writes you a check for $50,000, you don’t need to pay it back immediately. Rather, that is a liability you will pay back over time.  

Cash Flow Statement

Your cash flow statement will help determine how much money you need to start or grow your business, and ensure you never run out of money. What most entrepreneurs and traders don’t realize is that you can turn a profit but run out of money and go bankrupt.

When creating your Income Statement and Balance Sheets be sure to include several of the key costs needed in starting or growing a trading business:

• Cost of equipment and supplies
• Payroll or salaries paid to staff
• Business insurance
• Other start-up expenses (if you’re a new business) like legal expenses, permits, computer software, and equipment

Attach your full financial projections in the appendix of your plan along with any supporting documents that make your plan more compelling. For example, you might include your facility location lease or a list of your suppliers.  

Writing a business plan for your trading business is a worthwhile endeavor. If you follow the template above, by the time you are done, you will truly be an expert. You will understand the trading industry, your competition, and your customers. You will develop a marketing strategy and will understand what it takes to launch and grow a successful trading business.  

Trading Business Plan Template FAQs

What is the easiest way to complete my trading business plan.

Growthink's Ultimate Business Plan Template allows you to quickly and easily write your trading business plan.

How Do You Start a Trading Business?

Starting a trading business is easy with these 14 steps:

• Choose the Name for Your Trading Business
• Create Your Trading Business Plan (use a trading business plan template or a forex trading plan template)
• Choose the Legal Structure for Your Trading Business
• Secure Startup Funding for Trading Business (If Needed)
• Secure a Location for Your Business
• Register Your Trading Business with the IRS
• Open a Business Bank Account
• Get a Business Credit Card
• Get the Required Business Licenses and Permits
• Get Business Insurance for Your Trading Business
• Buy or Lease the Right Trading Business Equipment
• Develop Your Trading Business Marketing Materials
• Purchase and Setup the Software Needed to Run Your Trading Business
• Open for Business

What is a Trading Business?

There are several types of trading businesses:

• Retail trading business- sells merchandise directly to consumers
• Wholesale trading business- sells merchandise to other businesses
• General merchandise trading business- sells a wide variety of products
• Specialized trading business- sells one specific type of product

Don’t you wish there was a faster, easier way to finish your Trading business plan?

OR, Let Us Develop Your Plan For You

Since 1999, Growthink has developed business plans for thousands of companies who have gone on to achieve tremendous success.   Click here to see how Growthink’s business plan advisors can give you a winning business plan.

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Trading Business Plan

Starting a trading business can be challenging because you have to build contacts, negotiate, and whatnot. But amidst worrying about all these things, planning is the last thing you want to worry about.

While anyone can start a new business, you need a detailed business plan when it comes to raising funding, applying for loans, and scaling it like a pro!

Need help writing a business plan for your trading business? You’re at the right place. Our trading business plan template will help you get started.

Free Business Plan Template

Download our free business plan template now and pave the way to success. Let’s turn your vision into an actionable strategy!

• Fill in the blanks – Outline
• Financial Tables

How to Write A Trading Business Plan?

Writing a trading business plan is a crucial step toward the success of your business. Here are the key steps to consider when writing a business plan:

1. Executive Summary

An executive summary is the first section planned to offer an overview of the entire business plan. However, it is written after the entire business plan is ready and summarizes each section of your plan.

Here are a few key components to include in your executive summary:

Introduce your Business:

Start your executive summary by briefly introducing your business to your readers.

Market Opportunity:

Mention your product range:.

Highlight the product range of your trading business you offer your clients. The USPs and differentiators you offer are always a plus.

Marketing & Sales Strategies:

Financial highlights:, call to action:.

Ensure your executive summary is clear, concise, easy to understand, and jargon-free.

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2. Business Overview

The business overview section of your business plan offers detailed information about your company. The details you add will depend on how important they are to your business. Yet, business name, location, business history, and future goals are some of the foundational elements you must consider adding to this section:

Business Description:

Describe your business in this section by providing all the basic information:

Describe what kind of trading company you run and the name of it. You may specialize in one of the following trading businesses:

• Retail trading
• Wholesale trading
• Export-import
• Dropshipping
• Describe the legal structure of your trading company, whether it is a sole proprietorship, LLC, partnership, or others.
• Explain where your business is located and why you selected the place.

Mission Statement:

Business history:.

If you’re an established trading business, briefly describe your business history, like—when it was founded, how it evolved over time, etc.

Future Goals

This section should provide a thorough understanding of your business, its history, and its future plans. Keep this section engaging, precise, and to the point.

3. Market Analysis

The market analysis section of your business plan should offer a thorough understanding of the industry with the target market, competitors, and growth opportunities. You should include the following components in this section.

Target market:

Start this section by describing your target market. Define your ideal customer and explain what types of services they prefer. Creating a buyer persona will help you easily define your target market to your readers.

Market size and growth potential:

Describe your market size and growth potential and whether you will target a niche or a much broader market.

Competitive Analysis:

Market trends:.

Analyze emerging trends in the industry, such as technology disruptions, changes in customer behavior or preferences, etc. Explain how your business will cope with all the trends.

Regulatory Environment:

Here are a few tips for writing the market analysis section of your trading business plan:

• Conduct market research, industry reports, and surveys to gather data.
• Provide specific and detailed information whenever possible.
• Illustrate your points with charts and graphs.
• Write your business plan keeping your target audience in mind.

4. Products And Services

The product and services section should describe the specific services and products that will be offered to customers. To write this section should include the following:

Describe your products:

Mention the trading products your business will offer. This may include product categories, product range, product features, product sourcing, etc.

Describe each service:

Mention the trading services your business will offer. This may include:

• Logistics & shipping
• Warehousing & storage
• Distribution & fulfillment

Additional Services

In short, this section of your trading plan must be informative, precise, and client-focused. By providing a clear and compelling description of your offerings, you can help potential investors and readers understand the value of your business.

5. Sales And Marketing Strategies

Writing the sales and marketing strategies section means a list of strategies you will use to attract and retain your clients. Here are some key elements to include in your sales & marketing plan:

Unique Selling Proposition (USP):

Define your business’s USPs depending on the market you serve, the equipment you use, and the unique services you provide. Identifying USPs will help you plan your marketing strategies.

Pricing Strategy:

Marketing strategies:, sales strategies:, customer retention:.

Overall, this section of your trading business plan should focus on customer acquisition and retention.

Have a specific, realistic, and data-driven approach while planning sales and marketing strategies for your trading business, and be prepared to adapt or make strategic changes in your strategies based on feedback and results.

6. Operations Plan

The operations plan section of your business plan should outline the processes and procedures involved in your business operations, such as staffing requirements and operational processes. Here are a few components to add to your operations plan:

Staffing & Training:

Operational process:, equipment & machinery:.

Include the list of equipment and machinery required for trading, such as office equipment, warehouse equipment, transportation vehicles, packaging & testing equipment, etc.

Adding these components to your operations plan will help you lay out your business operations, which will eventually help you manage your business effectively.

7. Management Team

The management team section provides an overview of your trading business’s management team. This section should provide a detailed description of each manager’s experience and qualifications, as well as their responsibilities and roles.

Founders/CEO:

Key managers:.

Introduce your management and key members of your team, and explain their roles and responsibilities.

Organizational structure:

Compensation plan:, advisors/consultants:.

Mentioning advisors or consultants in your business plans adds credibility to your business idea.

This section should describe the key personnel for your trading business, highlighting how you have the perfect team to succeed.

8. Financial Plan

Your financial plan section should provide a summary of your business’s financial projections for the first few years. Here are some key elements to include in your financial plan:

Profit & loss statement:

Cash flow statement:, balance sheet:, break-even point:.

Determine and mention your business’s break-even point—the point at which your business costs and revenue will be equal.

Financing Needs:

Be realistic with your financial projections, and make sure you offer relevant information and evidence to support your estimates.

9. Appendix

The appendix section of your plan should include any additional information supporting your business plan’s main content, such as market research, legal documentation, financial statements, and other relevant information.

• Add a table of contents for the appendix section to help readers easily find specific information or sections.
• In addition to your financial statements, provide additional financial documents like tax returns, a list of assets within the business, credit history, and more. These statements must be the latest and offer financial projections for at least the first three or five years of business operations.
• Provide data derived from market research, including stats about the industry, user demographics, and industry trends.
• Include any legal documents such as permits, licenses, and contracts.
• Include any additional documentation related to your business plan, such as product brochures, marketing materials, operational procedures, etc.

Use clear headings and labels for each section of the appendix so that readers can easily find the necessary information.

Remember, the appendix section of your trading business plan should only include relevant and important information supporting your plan’s main content.

The Quickest Way to turn a Business Idea into a Business Plan

Fill-in-the-blanks and automatic financials make it easy.

This sample trading business plan will provide an idea for writing a successful trading plan, including all the essential components of your business.

After this, if you still need clarification about writing an investment-ready business plan to impress your audience, download our trading business plan pdf .

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Frequently asked questions, why do you need a trading business plan.

A business plan is an essential tool for anyone looking to start or run a successful trading business. It helps to get clarity in your business, secures funding, and identifies potential challenges while starting and growing your business.

Overall, a well-written plan can help you make informed decisions, which can contribute to the long-term success of your trading company.

How to get funding for your trading business?

There are several ways to get funding for your trading business, but self-funding is one of the most efficient and speedy funding options. Other options for funding are:

• Bank loan – You may apply for a loan in government or private banks.
• Small Business Administration (SBA) loan – SBA loans and schemes are available at affordable interest rates, so check the eligibility criteria before applying for it.
• Crowdfunding – The process of supporting a project or business by getting a lot of people to invest in your business, usually online.
• Angel investors – Getting funds from angel investors is one of the most sought startup options.

Apart from all these options, there are small business grants available, check for the same in your location and you can apply for it.

Where to find business plan writers for your trading business?

There are many business plan writers available, but no one knows your business and ideas better than you, so we recommend you write your trading business plan and outline your vision as you have in your mind.

What is the easiest way to write your trading business plan?

A lot of research is necessary for writing a business plan, but you can write your plan most efficiently with the help of any trading business plan example and edit it as per your need. You can also quickly finish your plan in just a few hours or less with the help of our business plan software .

About the Author

Upmetrics Team

Upmetrics is the #1 business planning software that helps entrepreneurs and business owners create investment-ready business plans using AI. We regularly share business planning insights on our blog. Check out the Upmetrics blog for such interesting reads. Read more

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Trading Plan Template & Examples: Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Solid Trading Plan

Bonus Material:

Trading plans are an important part of any trader’s toolkit. The problem is, most traders don’t actively lay out a plan before they begin trading.

The result? They lose money and wonder why . Furthermore, many traders don’t know how to create a trading plan , or what to include.

Successful traders understand that trading plans are crucial to profiting consistently. In this article, I’ll walk you through creating your own plan, step-by-step, plus you can get a head start by using my free trading plan template, download below :

What is a trading plan?

A trading plan is an integral part of a trader’s strategy, outlining how trades are executed. It establishes rules for buying and selling securities, position sizing, risk management, and tradable securities. By following this plan, traders maintain discipline, consistency, and leverage proven strategies.

Why you should create a trading plan

Ask a new trader what they intend to do before the trading day and then ask them what they did at the end of the day. They almost certainly didn’t follow their plan. 

Trading plans are there for us to follow. Trading plans mean we take trades that are consistent with our rules and risk, and it means we remove a lot of emotion and discretion . This is important because humans are not rational agents and outsourcing this work means we can achieve a better P&L and make more money. 

A trading plan should resemble a business plan. A trader’s capital is their business and so we need to include everything that might be useful, but it should always cover the below.

What to include in your trading plan

• The time required to spend on your trading

Your trading goals and targets

• Your risk tolerance and risk management rules

Available capital for trading

Specific markets you wish to trade, the trading strategies you’ll use, your motivation for trading.

Read more information on what to include in your trading plan (with examples) below, and download your free template here:

The time required for trading

We need to define the time we need in order to trade successfully. For example, if you’re in full-time employment, then it’s unrealistic to spend six hours a day trading the market.

For example: Here is a part of my trading plan…

“To trade the UK stock market on a full-time basis I realistically need to spend at least 8-10 hours per day in order to take advantage of intraday opportunities and manage open positions in real time”.

It’s important to set realistic targets in trading. Once you have a target, you can reverse engineer how to achieve it.

For example: A target of increasing a trading account by 20% is an achievable target. To do that, we need to look at our trading capital and work out which trading strategies we’ll use.

Using breakouts to trend follow is a strategy I have had much success with, and I explain how I do this in my guide to breakouts.

There are several trading styles:

• Swing trading: This is a common strategy that attempts to capture moves over several days or weeks. Swing traders look for shorter term trends and then move onto the next trade.
• Momentum trading: This is a trend-following strategy based on upward movement and momentum. It can be a successful strategy over months and years as the stock continues to move higher. This is often coupled with increasing fundamental strength and accelerating earnings.
• Scalping or intraday trading (also known as ‘day trading’): Intraday strategies refer to trades placed and closed within the same trading session. 

Your risk tolerance and risk management rules 

Risk management is the most important part of trading. Position sizing is the first and last line of defence in our trading accounts.

If you take position sizes with 20% of your account, then that means you are risking 100% of that position every time it is risked in the market. Even if the chances are 99%, then eventually that 1 in 100 chance of the stock going to 0p and losing 100% of the position will happen.

Whilst a 20% drawdown on the trading account isn’t fatal, the law of compounding means that we will now need to gain 25% of our account just to get back to where we started. 

Never underestimate the numbers here – a 33% drawdown requires a near 50% gain just to get back to where we started. 

It’s important to put in place risk management rules that will protect the account and prevent us from taking on too much risk.

Only you will know how much risk you’re willing to take, but if you put yourself in a position where you could do yourself material damage, then eventually that outcome will be presented.

If taking a loss hurts, then it means you are trading too large. Most traders blow their accounts due to overexposure. I’ve never heard of a single trader who blew their account due to continuously taking small losses. Position sizing and risk management is covered in detail in my trading handbook.

Download the free ebook now

Enter your email to receive my free UK stock trading handbook, packed with professional techniques to manage risk and consistently profit on AIM stocks.

Traders should always be clear about what money should be used for trading and what money should stay in their bank accounts. 

Far too many traders have drawdowns in their trading accounts and decide to top up their account with a bank transfer.

Unfortunately, they end up putting far too much money into their account and do not keep track of their losses.

You should never trade with money you can’t afford to lose. I’ve had emails from people asking me what to do because they’ve lost the deposit for their house and they haven’t told their partner. Sadly, there is little that can be done at that point because the money is already lost.

In your trading plan you should be clear about how much is going into your trading account and how much you will top this up each month if that is going to be your strategy to grow your account further. 

However, the best way of growing your trading account is by making money trading successfully in the market. Once you can consistently do this, then it makes sense to increase your funds and scale up. 

A trading plan should also include the specific markets you wish to trade. Do you plan on trading UK stocks, US stocks, foreign exchange (forex), or cryptocurrencies? Once you’ve picked a market, you still need to drill deeper. 

For example: If you pick UK stocks will you trade all of these, or just AIM, or just the Main Market? Will you trade only small cap stocks? Will you trade both SETS and the SETSqx platforms ? 

In my case, I trade all UK stocks, and don’t discriminate between any of them. However, my focus is on smaller stocks under £500 million market cap. 

Your trading strategies are the ways you are going to make money. This part of the trading plan is important because by defining your strategies it will be clear to follow.

For example: I want to trade small-cap stocks that have momentum behind them, and I will find this momentum through technical breakouts and positive RNS announcements.

I will trade gaps and also place orders into the auctions in order to get better fills. I will use various brokers for different types of execution. I will take secondary raises that have news catalysts that can potentially drive the shares higher.

What is your why? What are your goals, and what is your motivation? Trading is hard and there are ups and downs – it’s easy to motivate yourself when the going is good and you’re making lots of money. But it can be harder when you’re suffered several losses in a row, and you keep seeing your account grind lower or flat for weeks on end. 

Writing down your why will make it easier to stay focused and commit to the long-term process and improvement.

For example:

• I want to trade because I enjoy the challenge and I also want to be my own boss.
• I want the freedom that comes with the lifestyle of a full time trader and I want to be around my wife and future children as they grow up.
• I want to offer my family a better life, and by continuing to work on my skillset is putting me closing towards my goals.

Good trading plan example

How do you write a trading plan?

• Know your trading playbook
• Manage your risk 
• Have a realistic profit target

1. Know your trading playbook

You should have a playbook of trades that you know how to execute in the market. A playbook is a list of trades, each with step-by-step instructions on how to trade the pattern. 

If you don’t know what you should trade in your trading plan then building a playbook of trades is a good place to start. 

2. Manage your risk

Risk management is a crucial skill for any trader. I’ve written an in-depth article on trading risk management for further information.

The reason risk management is so important is that without it we would blow up our accounts. Nobody would think about driving a car with no brakes because it would obviously crash – risk management is the brakes and safety system for our trading accounts.

Everyone has different risk profiles. Some are happy to take on high amounts of risk accepting that they may take hefty losses in order for the possibility of excess return. 

Full-time traders like myself tend to be more cautious knowing that if they lose too much capital, they may have to go back to work. 

You should include in your trading plan how much you’re prepared to risk on particular trades in your playbook and how much in your account overall.

3. Have a realistic profit target

Having an idea of a profit target will mean that you don’t end up falling into the trap of never selling. Far too many traders watch a stock rise, see it pullback, then immediately regret not nailing down profit into strength.

By setting out clear take profit targets this avoids indecisiveness and will ensure you execute ruthlessly. 

Bonus tip: Trade the stocks in play

Trading is about being in stocks that are moving. Volatility is the lifeblood of a trader, and a dead stock means dead money. 

The stocks ‘in play’ are the stocks that have moved or are moving in recent sessions, and the stocks we should be immediately keeping tabs on. Stocks can cycle in and out being in play, and so we need to keep track of those that offer the greatest volatility to trade.  

Download my free one-page trading plan template

My opening plan trading template has everything you need to begin the trading day. It forces you to check and review your open positions, so you’re always knowing what to do. 

It also suggests to list the current stocks in play, and how you can trade them, and in what size. Additionally, it asks “What can happen?” so a trader using this template will never be caught out.

By thinking ahead about potential scenarios and how to trade them, this gives the trader an advantage over others who do not put the work in. Traders who punt around their money without a clue or a plan are commonly referred to as “liquidity”.

To download the free template, click the button below and follow the instructions.

About The Author

Michael taylor.

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The Ultimate Trading Plan Template

A proper Trading Plan is essential to your success as a trader.

Anyone thinking of starting a business wouldn’t begin without a plan, if they do, they probably won’t like the end results. Day trading is no different than any other business.

As they say, “If you fail to plan, then you’ve already planned to fail.”

You’re about to learn the same process I’ve used for the past 20 years. It’s also what I currently teach our students.

After completing this post, you should be confident in your ability to write a rock solid trading plan. To speed up the process, I provided a link to our Trading Plan template at the end.

Let’s get into it…

What is a Trading Plan?

A Trading Plan defines a trader’s goals, expectations, routines, risk management, and trading strategies. A successful plan will include the logic underlying the strategies and processes a trader deploys.

Elite traders already know they have won the game before placing a single trade for two reasons.

First, they have a well defined edge that’s repeatable. 

The primary goal of your trade plan is to precisely define your processes and strategies, with the end of goal of creating a repeatable process.

Second, elite traders fully understand there is a random distribution between wins and losses for any given set of variables that define an edge , resulting in flawless execution.

First, you need to focus on developing your process. You will work on developing the mindset of winning trader and the ability to think in probabilities (versus P&L) when you begin backtesting and simulated trading.

A simple google search and you will find endless styles and formats for trade plans.

For me, my plan acts as the CEO of my business. defining the big picture items such as rules, processes, routines, analytics, theories and goals.

A lot of traders include their trading strategies in their trade plan, but I prefer defining them in a separate Playbook. I do this for several reasons…

First, I’ve been trading for over two decades, in that time I’ve developed and traded a lot of different strategies.

I’ve always found it beneficial to have all my strategies broken down individually. This becomes extremely valuable as you get more into strategy development.

A lot of the strategies I’ve built were a result of combining the different tools, theories and processes from other strategies I’d previously traded in my career.

Second, I think a Trade Plan that focuses solely on the macro level picture will help you in your review.

When I began my career I was surrounded by elite traders every day. My mentor and the owner’s of the firm kept me in line and made sure I was following their processes. If I was trading poorly, they held me accountable.

Accountability Partner

If you haven’t already chosen someone as an accountability partner, it should be the first thing you do after reading this post.

Your trade plan will be shared with your Accountability Partner in order to review your progress.

Your playbook will be used in strategy development and shared with your peers for trade review.

Obviously your accountability partner can play both roles if they have a trading background.

However, it’s more important your accountability partner is someone your close to that is committed to helping you achieve goals.

A good accountability partner will call you out and question you when you’re not following your rules, and due to your respect for the individual it should sting a little.

For the remainder of this post we’re going to focus solely on your trade plan.

Once you’ve completed your plan, I have you covered on your playbook as well. (link to Playbook Guide at the end)

Why You Need a Trading Plan

Good trading should be effortless. The preparation is where the hard work comes.

Imagine two runners, on one hand someone completely out of shape trying to run 1 mile in 10 minutes versus a world-class runner. The process looks effortless for the world-class runner, and it is. They put all of the hard work into their preparation, resulting in a process that is effortless.

Your Trade Plan and Playbook are part of your preparation.

The objectivity and clarity that a solid plan provides is essential in a market that requires split second decision making to capitalize on opportunities.

It will empower you to trade objectively, with confidence and less emotional involvement.

Let’s take a look at some categories you will want to include in your plan.

Trading Plan Outline

This outline is a strong base to get you started. You can use this plan for all markets, including Stocks, Forex, Futures, Options, and/or Crypto.

Remember, there’s no formal rules so get creative!

1. Premarket Routine

Developing routines in our lives helps us to stay on track and reach goals. 

By analyzing our current routines and making adjustments, we’re able to form new habits. A skill that is rewarded in this business.

Here’s a great video on the importance of simple routines, especially when starting your day.

Try it, what do you have to lose?

Outline the tasks you will perform prior to trading each day.

Examples: -Read trading plan -Review a personal journal entry twice a week and reflect -Read prior day’s trade journal -Review prior day’s trades -Check economic numbers -Read playbook -Mirror reflection -Pre-market Analysis

2. Visualization/Mantras

Visualization and Mantras are great tools to include in your morning routines.

Examples: -Visualize yourself taking a trade and going through all the steps outlined in your Playbook -I accept that I have no idea what the outcome of any individual trade will be -I accept that today could be a negative day -I accept the loss of my next  trade financially -I accept I will get stopped out on trades that reverse and rip in the direction of the setup

3. Hard Rules

You want to get very specific with some macro rules for your trading business. They should be reviewed with your accountability partner on a monthly basis at minimum. I recommend meeting weekly or daily if you’re a new trader or not yet profitable.

Examples: -3 losing trades switch to SIM remainder of session -Take a random trade, switch to SIM remainder of session -Two max loss days back to back, SIM for remainder of week -No trading outside RTH

4. Risk Management

You don’t need to over complicate your risk management. Below is what I recommend to my students.

Example: -1% max per trade -3% max per day -5% max per week -15% max per month -Adjust trade size on Monday mornings

IMPORTANT! You should never trade real money until you have proven your ability to be profitable on a simulated account!

I promise, if you can’t make money on a simulated account, you won’t do it on a live account.

Don’t start trading a live account until you’ve proven you have acquired the necessary skills to make money on SIM.

5. Aftermarket Routine

All traders make mistakes. The question is whether or not you will analyze those mistakes to learn from them?

When the trade day ends, you still have work to do.

You should do some journaling and reflection on your execution for the day.

Keeping a  trade journal of all your trades as well as grading every trade is essential for growth. Make sure to take screenshots of your trades as well so you can go back and review them.

Here’s a few more examples: -Complete Scorecard for ever trade taken that day -Complete journal entry discussing market conditions for the day and reviewing your execution -Input trades into spreadsheet or whatever you’re using for analytics -Meditate -Workout

Trading can be emotionally challenging at times. There’s not many professions where you go to work and perform your best yet at the end of the day you leave with less money than you started.

Keeping mentally fit is imperative in this business. It’s important you incorporate some stress relieving activities, such as meditating or working out, into your aftermarket routine.

6. Weekend Routine

On Sunday evenings I have a routine to prepare myself for the upcoming week.

-Read trade journal entries from the past week -Review trades from the past week -Check sizing -Goals for upcoming week -Meet with Accountability Partner

7. Monthly Routine

On a monthly basis you should perform a thorough analysis on your trading business.

Examine your processes and trading analytics, looking where you can improve.

Examples: -Review trade analytics and make adjustments to strategies -Backup everything -Check risk management and sizing -Write main goals for upcoming month

8. Goals/Achievements

The markets are always changing and presenting new opportunities as well as challenges. Even after 20 years, I still find myself learning new things.

Reflecting on why you started trading in the first place is important. Don’t ever lose sight of your goals.

Keep track of your goals and achievements in your trade plan as you progress as a trader. You will find it encouraging as you start to see your progress.

Examples: -Zero random trades for a week -Average trade score of X for the month -First chop comma ($1,000 net day)

While I think all these categories should be included in your own plan, remember to get creative and include anything you feel could potentially improve your trading.

Maybe include some pictures to motivate you.

Free Trade Plan Template (Download)

I created a template in Google Sheets with the categories and examples covered in this post to get you started on your trade plan.

If you would like the template and some other cool trading tools,  become a JT Insider. It’s free.

I also recommend you check out this guide “How to Become A Day Trader – (Here’s how I did it…)”. I share with you how I overcame my trading failures by developing an Objective Edge.

Final Thoughts

Whenever a student comes to me struggling, I ask them for their trade plan. The struggles typically lead back to a rule or set of rules they have outlined in their Trade Plan that they’re consistently breaking.

It’s an essential tool when reviewing your trading with your accountability partner. Remember to select someone close to you must be completely transparent with them or you’re only cheating yourself.

Don’t make trading more difficult than it already is. Write a solid plan and work on having the discipline to follow it.

Anything not mentioned you like to include in your plan? Leave a comment below!

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Trading Basics

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• Stock Earnings
• Trading Patterns

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Day Trading Like a Business – Learn What it Takes

Sep 29, 2018

Written by: Al Hill

Traders who are most successful in day trading are those that can draw similarities between their day trading operation and a traditional business. While day trading may be polar opposites from a brick-and-mortar company, similar business principles will decide who has lasting power.

In this post, we will cover some of the basic questions many new traders have when considering day trading as a career. To be clear these are traders looking to go at this on their own either fully funded or with a prop firm.

Trading Plan

Starting a day trading business requires a few basic elements: trading capital, knowledge, trading equipment, measuring performance and how to pay yourself a salary. Let’s analyze each piece of the puzzle.

1. Trading Capital

Starting a day trading business without trading capital is impossible. SEC regulations require that day traders operating in the United States must have at least $25,000 in their trading account to be able to make quick trades commonly associated with day trading.

While you may get away with exceeding the limit for a few days, your operation will be quickly shut down until enough capital is obtained.

However, keep in mind that starting a day trading business most often requires more than the legal minimum investment.

Consider this: to make $75,000 a year on a $25,000 account, you would have to generate an effective 300% annual rate of return. These sorts of return will require you to take on enormous levels of risk. This level of risk taking is often what leads to traders blowing up their account.

2. Knowledge and a Day Trading Business Plan

Starting a day trading business also requires a firm understanding of the financial markets, as well as a solid business plan – a.k.a your trading plan . It should outline how much you’ll stake on each position, how you’ll cut your losses, how you’ll define winners, and how you’ll evaluate each trade.

The goal of the trading plan is to anticipate every outcome while reducing the risk that your emotions and “gut feelings” will get in the way of making money. Just as successful companies thrive on people, process and product you need to ensure your process for trading is ironclad.

No matter your level of experience, if you begin to trade “freely” you will ultimately fall victim to the market.

3. Trading Equipment

Trading Monitors

Starting a day trading business has a number of front-end costs to consider that should be marked in your day trading business plan. The first expenditure is a trading machine and software.

Most day traders have a minimum of two monitors to watch streaming data, charts, and brokerage software. Other day traders have entire walls of monitors that track every type of imaginable tick and chart type.

Also, you should invest heavily in a reliable internet connection – and a backup connection. An unreliable internet connection will result in losing trades and less control. Remember, you may have at any time hundreds of thousands of dollars in the market, and without an internet connection, you won’t be able to enter and exit your positions. Going cheap here could cost thousands in the long run.

4. Measuring Performance

You will need to measure your performance, first for yourself to keep track of your progress but ultimately as a means to attract investors.

At the end of the day, if you don’t have the numbers, you don’t have a business. Now, the numbers are relative. What I mean by that is if you are looking to attract aggressive investors or make a name for yourself quickly, your returns will need to come fast and in a hurry.

If you are more measured in your expectations,  then time will play into your performance and you can focus on showing a positive return over a 5 or 10-year period.

Measure Performance

I have written extensively on how to measure your performance  which goes really deep on this topic.

While these stats are super important and will help you gauge your performance, the one big metric I focus on like a hawk is my profit/loss for the week.

As you are trading like a business and not a hobby, your goal is to make profits.

I like to break my week down into three parts (1) get ahead, (2) stabilize and grow and (3) protect.

This is how I start each week in terms of my mindset. Now that is, of course, subject to change based on how things are going.

Monday and Tuesday are really about getting ahead. I don’t necessarily take more risks, because I try to always maintain control. However, I might not be as strict about the trades I take and I will let my profits run a little longer.

Wednesday and Thursday are building blocks to add onto the success from earlier in the week. This is also a time for me to make sure I build upon the earlier success in the week and not making any sloppy trades.

Friday is about protecting and not taking on too much risk. This is because you do not want to blow up your entire week based on one bad day.

I recently had a Friday like that where I literally gave back an entire week in 2 hours. Let me be the first to tell you this does not feel good and can really screw up your mentals heading into the weekend.

So for Fridays, if I’m up big for the week, I may limit the number of trades I place or limit the amount of money I use on each setup. This way I dramatically lower the risk of blowing up my week.

5. Stringing Together Winning Weeks

Winning Streak

Now that you are building up to your winning Friday the next thing you want to do is string together a number of winning weeks. This will allow you to continually push your account value up and to the right.

In the beginning, do not concern yourself with how much you are making. The only point of importance is that you are not blowing up your account or demonstrating any of the self-destructive behaviors that hold you back from trading success.

Once you start to put together a winning streak, momentum starts to move in your favor. You will start to take on a winning attitude and this game I believe is 80% mental and 20% strategy and technicals.

6. Winning Months

Now, this is the big metric I track and there is no wiggle room on this one. I have to finish up for the month. Let me restate this – I have to finish up for the month.

I will set a potential profit target but I historically aim too high. So the one big metric I focus on is finishing in the black.

You cannot control how much you will make in the market. There are so many factors that drive your potential profits but the one thing you can control is your own actions and refusing to finish in the red.

7. This Does Not Mean Trying to Force Your Will on the Market

Please do not misinterpret my point to say you should do whatever it takes to make the market provide you with money each month. What I am saying is if you are focusing on your daily outcomes. Then you have a game plan for managing your money for the week. Next, you build up these winning weeks to a full month.

If you follow this approach, the odds of you finishing in the red are slim to none. It’s not about forcing trades or trying to force the market your way (which is impossible).

It’s about doing the right things on a daily basis which ultimately over a twenty to twenty-two day period build up to you turning a positive return.

8. Paying Yourself

Never Take a Dime Out – Grow..Grow..Grow

This is where I feel many people on the web mislead traders in terms of the value of money. You hear about traders taking a small amount of money and growing it into some massive fortune.

While this makes for great commentary on the web, do any of us honestly believe this is a common occurrence?

Also, when do these traders pay themselves? How do they structure their lives in terms of paying bills, saving for retirements and family vacations?

These are all answers you need to account for if you plan on taking up day trading as a business.

Now, your first inclination is going to be to grow your account to some mythical number before taking profits. This, my friend, breeds poor habits over the long haul.

To place real value in the money, you need to take money out and use it in your everyday life. This will not only teach you the value of your hard work but will also allow your family members who sacrifice spending time with you to also see benefits of having to put up with your occasional mood swings.

9. How Much Do You Take Out?

This is going to be completely up to you. The minimum you will need to take out is your monthly commitments.

Once we get beyond this figure, what is another realistic number?

Set a Fixed Number

I like to set a monthly target for myself in terms of payout. Once I hit that number I immediately withdraw the funds from the account. The rest of the month can then be used to increase my account value.

You can also use an approach where you take 50 percent of your profit out. The challenge here is that you will have a tough time growing your account after paying taxes.

Starting a day trading business is rewarding and profitable. Whether you’re looking for flexible hours, a work from home environment, or a career with unlimited profit potential, a day trading business is a great way to start a side business.

I have laid out here the key aspects of what you need to consider before picking up trading as a profession. At the end of the day, you must turn a profit in order to consider yourself in the trading business.

Learn how to build your trading day, week and month by replaying the markets in Tradingsim . I have personally been able to trade months in only 5 days.

This way you can see what it takes and tweak your strategy in order to turn a profit.

Tags: Day Trader Salary

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• Search Search Please fill out this field.
• 1. Knowledge Is Power
• 2. Set Aside Funds
• 3. Set Aside Time
• 4. Start Small
• 5. Avoid Penny Stocks
• 6. Time Those Trades
• 7. Cut Losses With Limit Orders
• 8. Be Realistic About Profits
• 9. Reflect on Investment Behavior
• 10. Stick to the Plan

How To Start Day Trading

What makes day trading difficult, deciding what and when to buy, deciding when to sell, day trading charts and patterns.

• How to Limit Losses

Day Trading Strategies for Beginners

How much do day traders make, is day trading worth it, how much money do i need to start day trading stocks, the bottom line.

• Trading Skills

10 Day Trading Tips and How To Get Started

Day trading involves buying and selling financial instruments at least once within the same day. If played correctly, taking advantage of small price moves can be a lucrative game. Yet, it can be dangerous for beginners and anyone else who doesn't have a well-thought-out strategy.

Not all brokers are suited for the high volume day trading generates. Meanwhile, some fit perfectly with day traders. Check out our list of the best brokers for day trading that accommodate individuals who would like to day trade.

The online brokers on our list, Interactive Brokers and Webull, have professional or advanced versions of their platforms with real-time streaming quotes, charting tools, and the ability to enter and modify complex orders in quick succession.

Below, we'll take a look at 10 day trading strategies for beginners. Then, we'll consider when to buy and sell, basic charts and patterns, and how to limit losses.

Key Takeaways

• Day trading is only profitable in the long run when traders take it seriously and do their research.
• Day traders must be diligent, focused, objective, and unemotional in their work.
• Interactive Brokers and Webull are two recommended online brokers for day traders.
• Day traders often look at liquidity, volatility, and volume when deciding what stocks to buy.
• Some tools that day traders use to pinpoint buying points include candlestick chart patterns, trend lines and triangles, and volume.

1. Knowledge Is Power

In addition to knowledge of procedures, day traders need to keep up with the latest stock market news and events that affect stocks. This included the Federal Reserve System's interest rate plans, leading indicator announcements, and other economic, business, and financial news.

So, do your homework. Make a wish list of stocks you'd like to trade. Be informed about the selected companies, their stocks, and general markets. Scan business news and bookmark reliable online news outlets.

2. Set Aside Funds

Assess and commit to the amount of capital you're willing to risk on each trade. Many successful day traders risk less than 1% to 2% of their accounts per trade. If you have a $40,000 trading account and are willing to risk 0.5% of your capital on each trade, your maximum loss per trade is $200 (0.5% x $40,000). Moreover, only trade with suitable online brokers and trading platforms .

Earmark funds you can trade with and are prepared to lose.

3. Set Aside Time

Day trading requires your time and attention. In fact, you'll need to give up most of your day. Don’t consider it if you have limited time to spare.

Day trading requires a trader to track the markets and spot opportunities that can arise at any time during trading hours. Being aware and moving quickly are key.

4. Start Small

As a beginner, focus on a maximum of one to two stocks during a session. Tracking and finding prospects is easier with just a few stocks. It's now common to trade fractional shares . That lets you specify smaller dollar amounts that you wish to invest.

This means that if Amazon.com ( AMZN ) shares are trading at $170, many brokers will now let you buy a fractional share for as low as $5.

5. Avoid Penny Stocks

You're probably looking for deals and low prices but stay away from penny stocks . These stocks are often illiquid and the chances of hitting the jackpot with them are often bleak.

Many stocks trading under $5 a share become delisted from major stock exchanges and are only tradable over-the-counter (OTC). Unless you see a real opportunity and have done your research, steer clear of these. Finding real undervalued stocks can be demanding.

6. Time Those Trades

Many orders placed by investors and traders begin to execute as soon as the markets open in the morning , contributing to price volatility. A seasoned player may be able to recognize patterns at the open and time orders to make profits. For beginners, it may be better to read the market without making any moves for the first 15 to 20 minutes.

The middle hours are usually less volatile. Then, the movement begins to pick up again toward the closing bell. Though rush hours offer opportunities, it’s safer for beginners to avoid them at first.

7. Cut Losses With Limit Orders

Decide what type of orders you'll use to enter and exit trades. Will you use market orders or limit orders? A market order is executed at the best price available, with no price guarantee. It's useful when you want to enter or exit the market and don't care about getting filled at a specific price.

A limit order guarantees the price but not the execution. Limit orders can help you trade more precisely and confidently because you set the price at which your order should be executed. A limit order can cut your loss on reversals. However, if the market doesn't reach your price, your order won't be filled and you'll maintain your position.

More sophisticated and experienced day traders may also employ options strategies to hedge their positions.

8. Be Realistic About Profits

A strategy doesn't need to succeed all the time to be profitable. Traders can be successful by only profiting from 50% to 60% of their trades. However, they need to profit more on their winners than they lose on their losers. Ensure the financial risk on each trade is limited to a specific percentage of your account and that entry and exit methods are clearly defined.

9. Reflect on Investment Behavior

For day traders, frequent reflection on investment behavior is crucial. It helps them identify patterns, learn from past mistakes, and fine-tune their strategies. This fosters continuous learning and adapting to ever-changing market conditions. In addition, it encourages discipline and emotional control, which are key to successful trading.

10. Stick to the Plan

Successful traders have to move fast, but they don't have to think fast. Why? Because they've developed a trading strategy in advance, along with the discipline to stick to it. It is important to follow your formula and methodology closely rather than try to chase profits. Don't let your emotions get the best of you and make you abandon your strategy. Bear in mind a mantra of day traders: plan your trade and trade your plan.

Investopedia / Madelyn Goodnight

Getting underway in day trading involves putting your financial resources together, setting up with a broker who can handle day trading volume, and engaging in self-education and strategic planning. Here's how to start in five steps:

Step 1 : Educate yourself. Before you start trading, it's crucial to understand the trading principles and specific strategies used in day trading. Read books, take courses, and study financial markets. The major topic to study is technical analysis , which should include reading up on trading psychology and (this is a must) risk management.

Step 2 : Develop your trading plan. Outline your investment goals, risk tolerance, and specific trading strategies you've picked up from Step 1. Your plan should specify your entry and exit criteria, how much capital you are willing to risk on each trade, and your overall risk management strategy. Before investing real money, put your plan into practice with a real-time trading simulator. This helps you get familiarized with market behavior and the trading platform without financial risk.

Step 3 : Choose a trading platform and fund your account. You'll want a reputable broker that caters to day traders and has low transaction fees, quick order execution, and a reliable trading platform. Once you're ready, fund your account. It's advisable to begin with a relatively small amount in your trading account and only put in money you can afford to lose.

Step 4 : Begin trading with small positions. This reduces the risks of losing all your money on one or a series of bad trades while you're still learning. As you do so, continuously review your trades and check them against your learning resources to adjust your strategy. Day trading requires constantly adapting to changing situations.

Step 5 : Maintain discipline. Adjusting to changing circumstances does not mean shifting your stop-loss and stop-limit settings or other trading criteria as you take on more risk. Successful day trading relies very much on discipline and emotional control. Stick to your trading plan; don't let emotions drive your decisions. That's the way to quick ruin.

Day trading takes a lot of practice and know-how, and several factors can make it challenging .

First, know that you're competing against professionals whose careers revolve around trading. These people have access to the best technology and connections in the industry, which means they're set up to succeed. Jumping on the bandwagon usually means more profits for them.

Next, understand that Uncle Sam will want a cut of your profits, no matter how slim. You'll have to pay taxes on any short-term gains —investments you hold for one year or less—at the marginal rate. The upside is that your losses will offset any gains.

Also, as a beginning day trader, you may be prone to emotional and psychological biases that affect your trading—for instance, when your capital is involved and you're losing money on a trade. Experienced, skilled professional traders with deep pockets can usually surmount these challenges.

Day Traders Lose

An early popularizer of day trading, Toby Crabel, is also credited with a classic day trading strategy, the opening range breakout. Crabel has had some influence on technical analysis, and he often suggested that day traders are social psychologists with a computer program.

What To Buy

Day traders try to make money by exploiting minute price movements in individual assets (stocks, currencies, futures, and options). They usually leverage large amounts of capital to do so. In deciding what to buy—a stock, say—a typical day trader looks for three things:

• Liquidity . A security with this allows you to buy and sell it easily and, hopefully, at a reasonable price. Liquidity is an advantage with tight spreads, or the difference between the bid and ask price of a stock, and for low slippage, or the difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual price.
• Volatility. This measures the daily price range—the range in which a day trader operates. More volatility means greater potential for profit or loss.
• Trading volume measures the number of times a stock is bought and sold in a given period. It's commonly known as the average daily trading volume. High volume indicates a lot of interest in a stock. An increase in a stock's volume is often a harbinger of a price jump, either up or down.

When To Buy

Once you know the stocks (or other assets) you want to trade, you need to identify entry points for your trades. Tools that can help you do this include:

• Real-time news services : News moves stocks, so it's important to subscribe to services that alert you when potentially market-moving news breaks.
• ECN/Level 2 quotes : Electronic communication networks (ECNs) are computer-based systems that display the best available bid and ask quotes from market participants and then automatically match and execute orders. Level 2 is a subscription-based service that provides real-time access to the Nasdaq order book, which has price quotes from market makers in every Nasdaq-listed and OTC Bulletin Board security. Together, they can give you a sense of orders executed in real-time.
• Intraday candlestick charts :  Candlesticks provide a raw analysis of price action. More on these later.

Define and write down the specific conditions under which you'll enter a position. For instance, buying during an uptrend isn't specific enough. Instead, put down something more specific and testable: buy when the price breaks above the upper trendline of a triangle pattern, where the triangle is preceded by an uptrend (at least one higher swing high  and higher  swing low  before the triangle formed) on the two-minute chart in the first two hours of the trading day.

Once you have specific entry rules, scan more charts to see if your conditions are generated each day. For instance, determine whether a candlestick chart pattern signals price moves in the direction you anticipate. If so, you have a potential entry point for a strategy.

Next, you'll need to determine how to exit your trades.

There are several ways to exit a winning position, including  trailing stops  and profit targets . Profit targets are the most common exit method. They refer to taking a profit at a predetermined price level. Here are some common profit target strategies:

Often, you will want to sell an asset when there is decreased interest in the stock as indicated by the ECN/Level 2 and volume. The profit target should also allow for more money to be made on winning trades than is lost on losing trades. If your stop loss is $0.05 away from your entry price, your target should be more than $0.05 away.

Just as with your entry point, define exactly how you will exit your trades before you enter them. The exit criteria must be specific enough to be repeatable and testable.

Here are three common tools day traders use to help them determine opportune buying points:

• Price charts using depictions such as candlesticks. Also, various chart patterns, including engulfing candles, dojis, and many others.
• Other technical analysis, including trend lines and various indicators such as the relative strength index, moving average convergence divergence, and many others.

There are many candlestick setups a day trader can look for to find an entry point. If followed correctly, the doji reversal pattern (highlighted in yellow in the chart below) is one of the most reliable.

Also, look for signs that confirm the pattern:

• A volume spike on the doji candle or the candles immediately following it, which can indicate that traders are supporting the price at this level
• Prior support at this price level, such as the prior low of day or high of day Level 2 activity, which will show all the open orders and order sizes

If you use these three confirmation steps, you may determine whether the doji is signaling an actual turnaround and a potential entry point.

Chart patterns also provide profit targets for exits. For example, the height of a triangle at the widest part is added to the breakout point of the triangle (for an upside breakout), providing a price at which to take profits.

How to Limit Losses When Day Trading 

Stop-loss orders.

It's important to define exactly how you'll limit your trade risk. A stop-loss order  is designed to limit losses on a position in a security. For long positions, a stop-loss can be placed below a recent low and for short positions, above a recent high. It can also be based on volatility.

For example, if a stock price is moving about $0.05 a minute, then you might place a stop-loss order $0.15 away from your entry to give the price some space to fluctuate before it moves in your anticipated direction.

For a triangle pattern, a stop-loss order can be placed $0.02 below a recent swing low if buying a breakout , or $0.02 below the pattern.

You could also set two stop-loss orders:

• Place an actual stop-loss order at a price level that suits your risk tolerance. This level represents the most money that you can stand to lose.
• Set a mental stop-loss order at the point where your entry criteria would be violated. If the trade takes an unexpected turn, you'll immediately exit your position.

However you decide to exit your trades, the exit criteria must be specific enough to be testable and repeatable.

Set a Financial Loss Limit

It's smart to set a maximum loss per day that you can afford. Whenever you hit this point, exit your trade and take the rest of the day off. Stick to your plan. After all, tomorrow is another (trading) day.

Test Your Strategy

You've defined how you enter trades and where you'll place a stop-loss order. Now, you can assess whether the potential strategy fits within your risk limit. If the strategy exposes you to too much risk, you need to alter it in some way to reduce the risk.

If the strategy is within your risk limit, then testing begins. Manually go through historical charts to find entry points that match yours. Note whether your stop-loss order or price target would have been hit. Paper trade in this way for at least 50 to 100 trades. Determine whether the strategy would have been profitable and if the results meet your expectations.

If your strategy works, proceed to trading in a  demo account in real time. If you take profits over the course of two months or more in a simulated environment, proceed with day trading with real capital. If the strategy isn't profitable, start over.

Finally, keep in mind that if you trade on  margin , you can be far more vulnerable to sudden price movements. Trading on margin means borrowing your investment funds from a brokerage firm. It requires you to add funds to your account at the end of the day if your trade goes against you. Therefore, using stop-loss orders is crucial when day trading on margin.

Now that you know some of the ins and outs of day trading, let's review some of the key techniques new day traders can use.

When you've mastered these techniques, developed your own trading styles, and determined your end goals, you can use a series of strategies to help you in your quest for profits.

Although some of these techniques were mentioned above, they are worth going into again:

• Following the trend: Anyone who follows the trend will buy when prices are rising or short sell when they drop. This is done on the assumption that prices that have been rising or falling steadily will continue to do so.
• Contrarian investing: This strategy assumes a rise in prices will reverse and drop. The contrarian buys during a fall or short sells during a rise, with the express expectation that the trend will change.
• Scalping: This is a style by which a speculator exploits small price gaps created by the bid-ask spread. This technique normally involves entering and exiting a position quickly—within minutes or even seconds.
• Trading the news: Investors using this strategy will buy when good news is announced or short sell when there's bad news. This can lead to greater volatility, which can lead to higher profits or losses.

Why Is It Difficult to Make Money Consistently From Day Trading?

Doing so requires combining many skills and attributes—knowledge, experience, discipline, mental fortitude, and trading acumen.

It's not always easy for beginners to carry out basic strategies like cutting losses or letting profits run. What's more, it's difficult to stick to one's trading discipline in the face of challenges such as market volatility or significant losses.

Finally, day trading means going against millions of market participants, including trading pros who have access to cutting-edge technology, a wealth of experience and expertise, and very deep pockets. That's no easy task when everyone is trying to exploit inefficiencies in the markets.

Should a Day Trading Position Be Held Overnight?

A day trader may wish to hold a trading position overnight either to reduce losses on a poor trade or to increase profits on a winning trade. Generally, this is not a good idea if the trader simply wants to avoid booking a loss on a bad trade.

Risks involved in holding a day trading position overnight may include having to meet margin requirements, additional borrowing costs, and the potential impact of negative news. The risk involved in holding a position overnight could outweigh the possibility of a favorable outcome.

Day traders' earnings vary widely based on experience, skill level, trading strategy, and market conditions. Some may earn a substantial income, while others may not be as successful. It's important to note that day trading involves significant risk and is not suitable for everyone.

This largely depends on individual circumstances, risk tolerance, and expertise. While it can offer significant profits and flexibility for some, it's high-risk, time-consuming, and not suitable for everyone. It's estimated that a majority of day traders don't profit, indicating the need for careful consideration and preparation.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority's (FINRA) pattern day trader rule requires a $25,000 minimum balance if you want to make four or more day trades within a five-business day span. Beyond that, consider transaction costs (commissions, fees) that will eat into your profits and the need for a financial cushion to handle potential losses—the FINRA rule is meant to be a minimum. It's prudent to have significantly more capital to trade effectively and, frankly, reduce the psychological pressure of trading with money you can't afford to lose. Day trading is highly risky, and most individual traders don't achieve success. It should be approached with the understanding that it takes significant skill and a high tolerance for risk. Day trading is not the path to quick or easy profits.

Day trading is difficult to master. It requires time, skill, and discipline. Many who try it lose money, but the strategies and techniques described above may help you create a potentially profitable strategy.

Day traders, both institutional and individual, play an important role in the marketplace by keeping the markets efficient and liquid. With enough experience, skill-building, and consistent performance evaluation, you may be able to beat the odds and improve your chances of trading profitably.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. " Limit Orders ."

P. J. Kaufman. " Trading Systems and Methods ," Pages 733-775. John Wiley & Sons, 2019, sixth edition.

Internal Revenue Service. “ Topic No. 409 Capital Gains and Losses .”

Tony Crabel. " Day Trading with Short Term Price Patterns and Opening Range Breakout ." Traders Press, 1990.

Nasdaq. " Nasdaq BookViewer ."

P. J. Kaufman. " Trading Systems and Methods ," Pages 681-733. John Wiley & Sons, 2019, sixth edition.

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. " Stop Order ."

Mark Andrew Lim. " The Handbook of Technical Analysis, " Pages 887-889. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.

P. J. Kaufman. " Trading Systems and Methods ," Pages 1022-1027. John Wiley & Sons, 2019, sixth edition.

Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. " Day Trading ."

Doojin, Ryu. " The Profitability of Day Trading: An Empirical Study Using High-Quality Data ." Investment Analysts Journal , vol. 41, no. 75, pp. 43–54.

• Day Trading: The Basics and How to Get Started 1 of 23
• Day Trader: Definition, Techniques, Strategies, and Risks 2 of 23
• Is Day Trading Profitable? How to Get Started 3 of 23
• Stocks: What They Are, Main Types, How They Differ From Bonds 4 of 23
• Getting Acquainted With Options Trading 5 of 23
• Forex (FX): Definition, How to Trade Currencies, and Examples 6 of 23
• What Is a Trading Platform? Definition, Examples, and Features 7 of 23
• Choosing the Right Day-Trading Software 8 of 23
• The Complete Guide to Choosing an Online Stock Broker 9 of 23
• Using Paper Trading to Practice Day Trading 10 of 23
• Market Order: Definition, Example, Vs. Limit Order 11 of 23
• What Is a Limit Order in Trading, and How Does It Work? 12 of 23
• Stop Order: Definition, Types, and When to Place 13 of 23
• 10 Day Trading Tips and How To Get Started 14 of 23
• How to Choose Stocks for Day Trading 15 of 23
• Top 10 Rules for Successful Trading 16 of 23
• Short Selling: Pros, Cons, and Examples 17 of 23
• A Guide to Day Trading on Margin 18 of 23
• Market Risk Definition: How to Deal with Systematic Risk 19 of 23
• Risk Management Techniques for Active Traders 20 of 23
• Risk/Reward Ratio: What It Is, How Stock Investors Use It 21 of 23
• Trading Psychology: Definition, Examples, Importance in Investing 22 of 23
• Trading Psychology: What it is and Importance 23 of 23

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Day Trading: Definition, Risks and How to Start

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The goal of day trading is to earn a lot of small profits from the short-term movements of stocks and other assets by buying and selling quickly.

Day trading is not without risks — experienced day traders use an array of strategies and practices to make informed trading decisions and control risk.

Novice day traders may consider starting small, keeping their day jobs and only using money they can afford to lose, along with learning popular day trading strategies such as range trading, spread trading, fading and momentum trading.

Day trading means buying and selling securities rapidly — often in less than a day — in an attempt to profit off of short-term price movements.

If you're researching how to day trade, chances are you're intrigued by the prospect of turning quick profits in the stock market. Make no mistake: you're facing long odds and steep risks.

But even if you're just dabbling in the market with a few extra dollars, it's important to understand the basics so you don't get in over your head.

» Need to back up a bit? Learn to read stock charts

How to start day trading

When it comes to day trading, it’s best to go in with eyes wide open: while the potential for profits might be possible, the risks are real. As you enter the realm of day trading, here are some additional tips to consider:

Establish your strategy before you start. Losing money scares people into making bad decisions, and you have to lose money sometimes when you day trade. Having an exit plan for each of your investment holdings is important because it helps you avoid making an emotional decision when you need to make a rational decision.

Be patient. Look for trading opportunities that meet your strategic criteria. If the situation doesn’t meet it, don’t trade. You don’t have to trade if nothing looks attractive.

Read, read, read. Continually watch what’s happening in the markets. Big news — even unrelated to your investments — could change the whole tenor of the market, moving your positions without any company-specific news.

» Wondering where to day trade? Review NerdWallet’s picks of the best brokers for day trading .

If you’re not quite ready to be a prime-time player, you can always try paper trading with a stock market simulator first. Paper trading involves fake stock trades, which let you see how the market works before risking real money. Paper trading accounts are available at many brokerages. You can also get a feel for the broker’s platform and functionality with this approach, in addition to seeing how theoretically profitable you'd be.

» Check out the best brokers for paper trading

Day trading strategies

You'll need to determine the best trading strategy for you. You may wish to specialize in a specific strategy or mix and match from among some of the following typical strategies.

How you execute these strategies is up to you. Some traders might angle for a penny per share, like spread traders, while others need to see a larger profit before closing a position, like swing traders . Some traders might be willing to hold overnight, while others won’t and prefer to maintain a neutral position in case bad news hits before they can react.

To know when to trade, day traders closely watch a stock’s order flow, the list of potential orders lining up to buy and sell a stock. Before buying, they’ll look for a stock to fall to “support,” a stock price at which other buyers step in to buy, and the stock is more likely to rise. To sell, they’ll look for when the stock hits “resistance,” a price where more traders start selling and the price is more likely to fall. To make judgments like this, you’ll want a broker that lets you see order flow.

Whichever strategy you pick, it's important to find one (or more) that work and that you have the confidence to use. It can take a while to find a strategy that works for you, and even then the market may change, forcing you to change your approach.

How to day trade stocks

Stocks are among the most popular securities for day traders — the market is big and active, and commissions are relatively low or nonexistent. You can also day trade bonds , options , futures , commodities and currencies.

Typically, the best day trading stocks have the following characteristics:

Good volume. Day traders like stocks because they’re liquid, meaning they trade often and in high volume. Liquidity allows a trader to buy and sell without affecting the price much. Currency markets are also highly liquid.

Some volatility — but not too much. Volatility means the security's price changes frequently. This kind of movement is necessary for a day trader to make any profit. Someone has to be willing to pay a different price after you take a position.

Familiarity. You’ll want to understand how the security trades and what triggers moves. Will an earnings report hurt the company or help it? Is a stock stuck in a trading range, bouncing consistently between two prices? Knowing a stock can help you trade it. (Here’s how to research a stock .)

Newsworthiness. Media coverage gets people interested in buying or selling a security. That helps create volatility and liquidity. Many day traders follow the news to find ideas on which they can act.

Day traders who focus on stocks often rely on “ technical analysis ,” or analyzing the movements of stocks on a chart, rather than “fundamental analysis,” which involves examining company factors such as its products, industry and management. While some day traders might exchange dozens of different securities in a day, others stick to just a few — and get to know those well. This knowledge helps you gauge when to buy and sell, how a stock has traded in the past and how it might trade in the future.

» Read more: 5 steps to start trading stocks online

The best times to day trade

Day traders need liquidity and volatility, and the stock market offers those most frequently in the hours after it opens, from 9:30 a.m. to about noon ET, and then in the last hour of trading before the close at 4 p.m. ET.

As to the best time to trade for profitability, theories abound, but what can’t be disputed is the concentration of trades that bookend the regular market session. An analysis from the Jefferies Group showed that in 2018, 25% of average daily trading volume took place in the last 30 minutes of regular trading hours, excluding the closing auction, while 5.5% took place in the first 30 minutes.

A day trader might make 100 to a few hundred trades in a day, depending on the strategy and how frequently attractive opportunities appear. With so many trades, it’s important that day traders keep costs low — our online broker comparison tool can help narrow the options.

Day trading risk management

The above ground rules can help you avoid some of the biggest catastrophes in day trading, but it’s important to manage smaller risks, as well. Risk management is all about limiting your potential downside, or the amount of money you could lose on any one trade or position. When considering your risk, think about the following issues:

Position sizing. If the trade goes wrong, how much will you lose?

Percentage of your portfolio. Closely related to position sizing, how much will your overall portfolio suffer if a position goes bad?

Losses. What level of losses are you willing to endure before you sell?

Selling. After making a profitable trade, at what point do you sell?

Even with a good strategy and the right securities, trades will not always go your way. It’s important to have a plan for when to close a position, whether it's purely mechanical — for example, sell after it goes up or down X% — or based on how the stock or market is trading that day.

Proper risk management prevents small losses from turning into large ones and preserves capital for future trades. But that means traders have to be willing to realize a loss, which is hard for many traders to accept, even though it’s essential to long-term survival.

Bottom line: Is day trading right for you?

Day trading is just one way to approach the stock market — and it’s hardly worthwhile for most investors.

Conversely, investors who buy and hold low-cost index funds that track a broad market index like the S&P 500 could see higher returns over a long period. Historically, the S&P 500 has an annualized total return of about 10%, not accounting for inflation.

If you're going to day trade, It's paramount to set aside a certain amount of money you can afford to lose. Don’t trade more than that amount or use the mortgage or rent money.

Here are some resources that will help you weigh less-intense and simpler approaches to growing your money:

NerdWallet’s guide on how to invest money .

Learn how to buy stocks .

Our round-up of the best brokers for stock trading .

If you execute four or more day trades — that is, trades in which you buy and sell a security the same day — within a five-business-day period, and those trades represent more than 6% of your total trades in that period, you'll be designated as a pattern day trader.

That means you'll have to maintain a minimum equity level of $25,000 in your margin account any time you day trade. That $25,000 can consist of cash, securities or both. You also may have your buying power restricted.

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says that day traders "typically suffer severe financial losses in their first months of trading, and many never graduate to profit-making status. [0] Securities and Exchange Commission . Day Trading: Your Dollars at Risk . Accessed Jan 3, 2024. View all sources "

That doesn't mean day trading is inherently a bad thing — if you have leftover "play money" after paying your bills and meeting your savings goals, and you want to try your hand at day trading with the knowledge that you might lose that money, that's fine.

But the SEC explicitly says that day traders "should never use money they will need for daily living expenses, retirement, take out a second mortgage, or use their student loan money for day trading."

That means you'll have to maintain a minimum equity level of $25,000 in your

margin account

any time you day trade. That $25,000 can consist of cash, securities or both. You also may have your buying power restricted.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)

says that day traders "typically suffer severe financial losses in their first months of trading, and many never graduate to profit-making status.

On a similar note...

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