What Your Day Looks Like When You’re a Day Trader

If you’re thinking about becoming a day trader sometime soon, you should begin by learning about what your days will be like once you start trading day in and day out. There are a lot of people who are under the impression that day trading is one big adrenaline rush filled with exciting moments throughout the course of an average day. There will be some days that are like this, but more often than not, your days are going to be relatively ordinary when you’re a day trader. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing!

Here’s what to expect on a normal day as a day trader:

Wake up and make the proper preparations

In a lot of ways, day trading will give you a freedom that you won’t enjoy when you’re working a regular 9 to 5. You don’t have to be chained to a desk all day to be a successful day trader. But you do need to get up early enough to start your day at around 8 a.m. on the East Coast so that you’re ready when the stock market opens at 9:30 a.m. Getting up early will give you a chance to eat breakfast and go over the strategies you’ll employ when trading on a particular day.

Spend a few hours, at most, making trades

Most of the heavy lifting that you do as a day trader will be done in the morning. Every day trader is a little bit different, but the majority of the trades that you make on a given day will likely be made between 9:30 a.m. EST and 11:30 a.m. EST. You might not even trade for that long if the market is quiet. But your goal should be to make the most of your trading opportunities first thing in the morning.

Take a break for lunch

There are some day traders, especially those who are just breaking into the business, who think that working through lunch is the right approach to take. But more often than not, the stock market slows to a crawl from about 11:30 a.m. EST until 1 or even 2 p.m. EST. It’s usually not worth your time to sit and try to make trades during that time period.

Continue trading in the afternoon, if you wish

When you finish trading in the morning, you should take stock of your wins and losses and see where you sit for the day. If you want to continue trading in the afternoon, it’s best to do it between 2 and 4 p.m. EST. The final hour is usually pretty volatile and will provide day traders with opportunities to make some winning trades.

Conduct research at night to help you make trades the following day

At the end of every day, you should look back at how you did and evaluate your trades. You should also spend your afternoons and evenings researching stocks and creating strategies that will help you capitalize more off your day trading career. This could lead to more success in the future and make your days even more exciting than they already are.

To be a successful day trader, you need to be very disciplined. You also need to take advantage of the tax services that are available to you to avoid paying too much in taxes on your profits every year. Trader’s Accounting specializes in providing tax services specifically for traders. Call us at 855-938-9513 today to use them to your benefit.