So you're a newbie and you decide you want to go down the path of learning to Day Trade - accept it's going to take a long time to learn. 

How long? Of course everybody is different, but I'd like to quantify it to clarify what I'm talking about.  Let's say you are starting out with no day trading experience, but you have at least a little knowledge about the stock market and some basic computer skills.  If you were to devote 3 - 4 hours a day diligently developing your Day Trading skills, AND you have the aptitude, AND you do all the right things, you might be profitable in around two years.

Where did I come up with 3 - 4 hours a day for two years?  I have no hard data to back this up, it's a just guess based on my own experience, and a huge expenditure of time reading everything I could on Day Trading.  I just want to give you some sort of idea of what you should expect before you jump in.

If you feel this is just too much time to put in, I strongly suggest you just forget the whole idea of Day Trading, and be glad I warned you before you lost any money.  In this case, you may wish to Invest instead of Trade.  The difference between Investing and Trading, as I'm using the terms, is mostly in the time frame. Trading involves entering and exiting the market frequently. Day Traders enter and exit a position at least once a day, and never hold the position overnight.  And they watch their positions like a hawks.  Investing, on the other hand, involves holding a position for a least a few years and ignoring its ups and downs over time.

It's my contention that earning money by Trading requires a huge expenditure of all time to learn, but it's possible by Investing to earn a reasonable amount of money with a small expenditure of time.   Here's an investing plan in one sentence to illustrate: Buy an index mutual fund, and leave it alone for 20 years.  You will probably make money (be clear I'm not advising you to do this, just illustrating a point).

Now suppose you are a newbie determined to ignore my advice and just start day trading real money right away.  Can I make a suggestion instead?  Take whatever amount you were going to risk Day trading, and donate it one of these worthy charities:

Make-A Wish

DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS

You will be losing the money anyway, but you'll feel a lot better helping one of these charities than giving it to another (smarter) trader.

Check back soon for Day Trading Lesson 2




day trading