10 Ways Technical Traders Prepare For Day Trading

Day trading is an extremely challenging venture, and many successful traders utilize a daily routine to make sure they are well-prepared to pounce on the best trades, avoid costly mistakes and have the right mindset for success.

Here’s a list of 10 ways day traders can prepare for the trading day.

1. Find that winning mindset. Whether it be working out at the gym, meditation, visualization or other techniques, traders should start the trading day with a positive, confident mindset.
2. Assess your recent trading. What was working for you yesterday or in the past week? What mistakes have you made and what can you do to avoid repeating them?
3. Check the economic calendar and the news. No matter how strong a technical signal is, an earnings report, jobs report, interest rate cut or another major news headline can easily trump a stock’s technicals. Make sure you don’t get blindsided by a big news item.
4. Set a goal for the day. Day trading can be very inconsistent when it comes to making profits on a day-to-day basis. But it’s always good to have a daily goal in mind, as long as you remember not to get too aggressive if it turns out to be a rough day.
5. Make sure your trading platform is functional. Once you log into your trading account, double-check streaming quotes, newsfeeds, live charts and any other features that you will be using to inform your trading decisions. Day trading is hard enough without trading off of yesterday’s data.
6. Set up or check your watch list. Spotting technical signals in real time can be difficult, so it’s always good to have a watchlist of stocks that are potentially setting up for a breakout or other tradable signal. There are thousands of charts to look at, but if you can start the day with the 40 or 50 that you have already pre-screened as potentially tradable, you’ll be less likely to miss a big move.
7. Double-check automated orders. Make sure you don’t have unintended orders open from a previous session. Make sure any orders you put in are the correct size and the correct contract or ticker.
8. Set up alerts. Most trading platforms allow you to customize alerts based on moving averages, trendlines or other price movements.
9. Check for trending stocks. Stocks that are big movers may create trading opportunities, either in the trending stocks themselves or in other stocks that are correlated with the trending tickers.
10. Review your exit strategies. Day traders use thousands of different trading strategies, but you always need to at least have a good idea of what your exit strategy will be for each trade before you enter. You don’t want to be making emotional trading decisions in real-time.

Related Link: Should I Day Trade?