The Truth About Day Trading Stocks: A Cautionary Tale About Hard Challenges and What It Takes To Succeed

CONCLUSION

Parting Words

 

 

 

You’ll recall that in Chapter 5, “Knowing When to Take a Break,” I stress the importance of staying involved, even though you’ve briefly stopped trading. My writing of this book is an actual example of how I remained in the loop, during a hiatus of my own.

But why did you take a break? you might ask me. Why did you stop and turn writer, when you were making so much money?

I would respond with the reminder that day trading is a process that requires both rest and reflection. In that process, you can’t skip steps. You can’t be trading in hundred-share blocks, and on the next day start trading in thousands. You need some downtime in between that share increase, in order to study and learn, or you’ll never become a professional, consistently profiting trader.

Even a pro needs some time off. It may be just to rest. It may be to play, to kick back, have fun ... or even to brainstorm a book ... but always with an ear on the market, every day, from the opening bell to the closing.

And the day trading process has setbacks, even for an expert. As usual I can best illustrate this by conveying my personal experiences.

Each time I advanced to a higher trading level, at first things always got rough. One such progression was my arrival at the conviction that I needed a pay-per-share broker. You’ll recall that I’d been very actively trading with a traditional pay-per-trade broker, enduring prohibitive commissions. I cautiously traded in hundred-share blocks, looking ...