How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginner’s Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology (Stock Market Trading and Investing)
In the book, I describe the fundamentals of day trading, explain how day trading is different from other styles of trading and investment, and elaborate on important trading strategies that many traders use every day. I've kept the book short so you can actually finish reading it and not get bored by the middle.
For beginner traders, this book gives you an understanding of where to start, how to start, what to expect from day trading, and how to develop your strategy. Simply reading this book, however, will not make you a profitable trader. Profit in trading does not come with reading a book or two or browsing online. It comes with practice, the right tools and software and appropriate ongoing education.
Intermediate traders may benefit from the book's extensive overview of some of the classic strategies that the majority of retail traders regularly use with proven success. If you think you are beyond the stage of a novice trader, then you may want to jump ahead and start reading from Chapter 7 for an overview of the most important day trading strategies:
Day trading is not gambling or a hobby. You must approach trading very, very seriously. As such, I wake up early, go for a run, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and fire up my trading station before the markets open in New York. I am awake. I am alert. I am motivated when I sit down and start working on the list of stocks I will watch that day. This morning routine has tremendously helped my mental preparation for coming into the market. Whatever your routine is, starting the morning in a similar fashion will pay invaluable dividends.
For each strategy, I explain:
- How to find the Stock in Play for trade
- What indicators I am using on my charts
- When I enter the trade
- When I exit the trade (profit taking)
- What is my stop loss
Day trading is not gambling. It's not an online poker game. To be successful at day trading you need the right tools and you need to be motivated, to work hard, and to persevere. That's How to Day Trade for a Living.
Reviews (204)
READ THE BOOK FOUR YEARS AGO, AND I'VE BEEN A FULL-TIME TRADER EVER SINCE...
*UPDATE (Originally reviewed in 2016/2017; this is my review as of 2020): I think the headline speaks for itself. About 5/6 years ago I was floundering about calling myself a "swing trader." I'd heard about "day-traders," but never really attempted to peek behind the curtain to see what "it" was all about. I decided to read a handful of books on the topic; a self-education of sorts. I read books written by some of the most "prominent" authors who regard themselves as Traders; William O'Neil, Toni Turner (phenomenal author), Peter Lynch, Ray Dalio, Mark Douglas, and a few others were part of my "education." All were informative for a guy like me, who -- at the time -- knew relatively nothing... One of the books I stumbled upon happened to be this book (How To Day Trade For A Living; Andrew Aziz). Andrew was the first author I'd read on the topic that cut through all the fluff and got straight to the point. I would, in essence, describe his book as a summary of all the other books combined; a little less "hefty" in the arena of details, but MORE powerful (presumably due to efficiency) to the reader as a result. More of a "guide to actually starting your trading journey," as opposed to the other books, which were more of a "hey, look how smart I can sound while rambling about irrelevant things necessary to become a trader." Anyways... One of the things this author (Aziz) did in his book was offer a link to his website and chatroom. Initially, I figured it was just a sales-pitch to rope me in to a perpetual revenue stream (for him), but I decided to take the bait. I was really committed, so I wanted to see what "it" (day trading) was really about; and if it took visiting a website and/or chatroom, well -- so be it (I guess). I think it's important to mention that I've read too many books on the topic to keep track of (probably about 30, or so), and MOST of the authors on trading/day-trading/swing-trading ALSO include links to their websites. Frankly, after I learned to put my skepticism aside, I realized that NOT including a supplemental resource (such as website) was doing the reader LESS of a service than the other way around. I digress... My first impression with the "chat room" was "this ain't for me!" lol... I think my interpretation/assumption of what a "chatroom" would entail wasn't what I got. Instead, I saw a guy with a few charts and scanners, telling people when he was entering/exiting trades, then spending a few minutes thereafter with us (the chat minions) discussing "why" he made certain decisions, and so on. I closed out the chat window, and didn't think about it again for a few weeks... ...and then I realized...after those few weeks...that I was still wandering about hopelessly, and that somebody (like Aziz) who was effectively pulling back the figurative curtain (on his day job), via a "chatroom," was EXACTLY what I needed. I stumbled back into the chatroom after that epiphany, and have been a full-time day-trader ever since... I don't visit chat very often these days, but I can say, unequivocally - and based on EXTENSIVE personal experience -- The book this guy (Aziz) wrote, the website he hosts to this day, and yes -- even his chatroom -- are ALL more valuable than 99% of would-be daytraders will probably ever realize. With all of that said, let me be very clear about this: I have been a full-time trader ever since reading his book, and frankly -- I genuinely believe reading his book was a catalyst to developing the trader I've become. Andrew gave me the down and dirty education via his book (without the fluff), a first-hand look into the world of day-trading (via his chat), and will ALWAYS be regarded as a "pillar" to the successes I've found in this world. I don't know any other way to put it: If you're looking to get involved with the world of trading/day-trading, read this book. You'll be glad you did... Have a great day everyone; stay humble; STAY GREEN!
Do the work
First after reading this book some people love it and some think it simple. Yes, it can be both. I found the book so simple that I was compelled to buy time in his chat room. My thought was, maybe it is just that simple or it could be something I’m missing and it’s actually complex. After a few sessions in the chat room watching someone monitor the market and listen to why buying and selling decisions are made, one way or the other, I decided to purchase three months time in a trading simulator exactly like the one used in the chatroom and connected with a feed just like the exchange floor. After 4 weeks of daily trading I became disciplined enough to start making smart trades and to get out of a trade properly. It’s a business. You are buying and selling a product. Reading this book, putting in training time and practicing your training is no different than any other profession. It’s all about knowing when to get in, when to stay, how long to stay and when to get out. We all know that a lot of business startup’s fail because they didn’t do their research on location and product offered. This is your opportunity to do the research on a specific type of day trading. I am opening my brokerage account and feel confident that I can make money doing this. When I say make money I’m talking 50K range not millions per year. And for those that don’t like this book because it seems “negative” that’s because it is compared to other books that put a nice pair of rose colored glasses on your face and tell you anyone can do this and how you will make millions. This book, the morning chat room, the simulator are all real world and a lot of potential traders lose money because they don’t put in the time before they put in their money. Be smart and learn to do it properly first….or you could just send me your money and save yourself some grief. This is what I consider to be a successful trade. I did my research in the morning before the market opened, this was one of my selected stocks for the day, spent time in the chatroom, we discussed trade possibility for the day, a list was compiled and based on all that information I shorted this stock for a quick $500 then got out for the day.
Grammatically Impossible to Read
I’m not going to take the time to return this book, but It had a severely painful start. The incoherent writing structure and monotony made the read intolerable. I would usually read this anyway, but it was pure torture. The flow is terrible, and "breaks" your focus when it suddenly shifts or changes direction. Like reading a book written by a drunk investor that wants to brag about their money, and "drill" their ideas into your head. This book was utterly upsetting as I really would have liked to of had a book that taught the basic rules, software, and guidelines for navigating the trading process. Then maybe briefly discussed the Psychological and Technical aspect of determining which stock to buy. "HOW TO DAY TRADE FOR A LIVING" attempts to direct you to Aziz's trading network and lead beginners into the sheep's pen for slaughter. I apologize for the harshness, but this ruined my morning reading time so much I decided to spend the remainder of my reading time reviewing the book here. DO NOT BUY.
Solid information for traders
I'm a very experienced day trader of over 20 years. With the coming of HFT and other changes, it has been necessary to adjust my methodology. Scanning for stocks in play and trading unknown stocks is an approach I have resisted for my entire career but I think I have to go there now. I won't do it without a solid method/plan and a hard set of rules. I'm not too proud to look at a "beginner" book to figure out how to do this. This book is exceptional. It gave me what I wanted and I will build on the information using what I already know. The author is an engineer and being of a methodical/mechanical mindset myself, I was happy with the way he laid it all out. There is also good information on other topics for real beginners such as the importance of risk management, emotional control which are important. I will recommend this book to people who ask me how to begin day trading.
mixed feelings
I bought the book and signed up for his membership. I've had on and off success, but with my latest run I told myself I'd stop after a certain amount of loss. Well, I hit the loss. I'm okay not pursuing day trading any more even though I do love the thrill of it. Andrew is a great trader, but I do want to caveat a few things. Yes, I did "lose", so this review might be a little bit more on the negative side, but I feel like people don't hear about the negatives of day trading enough. Andrew is good at what he does, but I think his chatroom helps him succeed even more. First, he does show all his trades which is awesome. But as I participate in his chatroom, I wonder what kind of success rate he has. We all heard the stat that 97% of day traders fail. So, does Andrew beat that percentage? Is there a higher success rate with him? I've seen a lot of members come and go, and there are very few stick around. Brian seems like he's consistent, but seems like he trades with small share size and doesn't show his P/L. Carlos a year ago said he traded full time, but he slowly stopped posting recaps and when he did, the P/L was a lot lower than when he started off. P/L isn't everything, but no one posts consistently. He teaches day trading for a living, so I'd love to see some success stories. Other notable names are Robert H, William that I haven't seen for awhile. The newer guys like Thor or Aiman seem like they are doing well now, but no daily recaps and I have a suspicion they have really bad days as well. Which brings me to my final point. He denies this, and even comments about low float chatrooms, but his chatroom has the potential to change markets. Let's do some math. On a given morning there are ~700 members and only continuing to grow. Let's say half are live. I don't know the numbers, but let's say that's the case. All hypothetical, you can change it however you want. 350 are live. Let's say half of the the live folks follow his trades. 175 people. Half of those people (~87) take small share size, 200 shares. Comes out to 17,500 shares. Half of the remaining half (43) people take share size that can net them 100-200 dollars daily, 400 shares so another 17,500 shares. Again, these are on 20 -30 cent moves, scaling out. Now, there are 43 people left. Let's say 30 of them take 1000 shares, which can make 200-400 a day. 30,000 shares. Then the remaining 10 or so people take 2000 shares, which is still a lower amount then Andrew's buy in (he usually buys in AMD/MU w/ 4k shares). Another 20,000 shares. Total ends up at 85k shares, all after Andrew enters with his 4k position. All of them are hitting the ask, moving the price higher. Now, I think I went a bit conservative, but we can even take a lower number than that, 50k shares. Every time he enters a trade, he has 50k buying power right behind him. That makes a difference, right? This is all in a 1-2 minute span and depending on the Overall Volume for the 1 minute candle stick, it can be a big portion of it. I understand some 1 minute candle sticks are 500k. I also know that some candle sticks are 100k or 50k. Having people enter right after you will have a TREMENDOUS effect. If you watch closely at the Level 2, you can see the order flow and time/sales change after Andrew enters. That doesn't even account for all the other people outside his chatroom seeing the volume flow in. That also doesn't account for people who aren't following Andrew in the chatroom (but are in the chatroom) but see the same pattern he does without hearing the callout. I believe Andrew pushes patterns to come true, and other people follow. How many people are impacted by this indirectly? No idea. Now, is andrew a good trader? yes, he seems disciplined, able to read the market and jump out when needed. You will also often see the stock crash once he jumps out long lol. Do I think he could make a living if there was no chat room, yes. But I would love to see him for two weeks trade with no chatroom. Just post recaps. I could eat my own words. I still think that ~50k shares following him does help him a lot. Best of luck to new traders!
“It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble.”
Mark Twain once said "It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." I believe these words of wisdom apply to trading, as well as life in general. After doing some day trading and making a few nice profitable trades here and there, followed by a couple of losses that cut my profits in half, I remembered that quote by Twain and I had to admit to myself that many of the things I thought I knew about trading were wrong. I decided to visit Amazon to find a good introduction to the subject of day trading. There were so many books, most of them looked like they would take me weeks or months to study, and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared to take on that kind of learning curve. I’m not lazy, but I have a lot of other projects going on. Then I stumbled upon Andrew Aziz’s book “How to Day Trade for a Living: A beginner’s Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology.” This book seemed to cover everything I was looking for, and with only in 232 pages; I felt I could handle that. I wasn’t looking for an encyclopedia on trading; I was looking for information on what day trading is, how to get started, and pitfalls to look out for. Based on the long title and the mostly positive reviews, I decided to go with this book. I am very glad I did. I should mention that I’ve not yet completed my first reading of the book; I’m taking my time to let the information sink in; that’s my preferred learning style. However, a bit more by half way through the book, I can say that I really enjoy this book a great deal. At first it was a little uncomfortable, because as a middle-aged finance professional with an MBA and many classes in finance and investing, I felt that I should know a lot more about day trading than I actually do. Well, the first thing I learned from Aziz’s book is that day trading and investing are very different subjects. I also learned that what I had been doing was not day trading, but “swing trading,” and that they are very different trading modalities that require different education and practice. By far, my most important take-away from this book is that day trading is not easy. The author of reinforces that point throughout the book. This is probably why 84% or so (depending on which study you read) of those of us who give day trading a try end up losing money. We think we can just jump in, get lucky, and make lots of money. We ignore the fact that having consistent success as a day trader requires skills that are usually only acquired through practice and over time. We like the making money part, but we don’t like the steep learning curve, so we start trading with no education, no practice, no skills. In other words, we dabble in day trading. Then, as often is the case, when we lose our trading capital (or most of it), we call it quits and blame day trading as being a sham. That’s the 84% of all traders. Of course, there’s nothing magical about the 85/15 or 80/20% rule; it just happens to be true in so many areas of life. If more “wanna-be day traders” would only be willing to educate themselves and approach day trading with the seriousness and respect it deserves, treat it as an actual business, they could be successful too! And then the ratio of successful day traders in these studies would probably increase by quite a few percentages. Maybe this will happen one day, I don’t know. I say probably not, because despite our amazing potential, human beings tend to be lazy, and very predictable. That’s why the 84% failure ratio for day traders is probably going to remain fairly constant. That doesn’t mean that an aspiring trader willing to humble themselves (a bit) and commit themselves (a lot) to learning the skills can’t be part of the 16% of successful traders! In the beginning of this book, the author talks a bit about the rewards of day trading, and why so many people pursue it. Successful day traders can work from home, make a very decent income, take time off when they want to, work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. You have no boss to answer to; you’re basically your own CEO. I learned from this book that a successful trader who has acquired the necessary trading skills, strategies, tactics, money management, discipline and psychology can sometimes make between $500 to $1,000 per day, on average. That’s a lot of money. It translates into $120,000 to $240,000 per year, before taxes (assuming on average 20 trading days per month). The author mentions how he knows traders who consistently make $2,000 or more per trading day; but he does not hold himself out to be in that category. In fact, he admits to having lost money, and he still has losing days or streaks of losing days, but on average he is consistently profitable. The point I’m trying to make is that becoming a successful trader can be very rewarding, for someone willing to go through the learning curve and acquire the necessary skills and mindset. If the potential rewards of becoming a successful day trader is so great, and since it appears to be very doable, then why isn’t everyone day trading? I believe the author provides the answer in his 11 Rules of Day Trading. “Rule 2: Day trading is not easy. It is a serious business, and you should treat it as such.” If I understand the author correctly, the day traders who are making $500 to $1,000 profit are traders who have taken time to educate themselves and apply the strategies and principles outlined in the book. They have practiced in a simulator for at least 3 months, achieving a favorable ratio of profitable vs non-profitable trades before trading with real money. Then follows several months with “small trades” made with real money, because trading with real money is different from trading in a simulator. So even if you have a talent for day trading, it’s unlikely that you’ll be getting rich quickly. In addition to teaching the general principles of day trading, risk management, money management, several day trading strategies, discipline and trading psychology (very important!) this book also provides a step by step process for people who want to become successful day traders. The author says in the beginning of the book that the book is short on purpose; it allows the reader to understand the basics of day trading and enough information for someone to decide whether they want to pursue day trading as a profession. After reading about halfway through the book, I’ve decided that I would like to continue learning about day trading. Some of the sobering facts outlined in the book almost caused me to put it down. However, based on what I learned from this book, I do believe that becoming a successful day trader is indeed possible. Also, the potential rewards of acquiring the skills of day trading are a great motivation to me. Another reviewer expressed that they really liked the book, but that they had decided not to pursue day trading at this point. I really respect that reviewer, because it shows that the person was willing to read the book and find out what day trading is all about, before making an informed decision. This reviewer then for their own reasons decided not to pursue day trading at this time, but still took time to leave a favorable review of the book. I think that says a lot about a person’s attitude in life and toward learning. In fact, this was one of the reviews that contributed to my purchase decision. As for me, although I am committed to continue my studies of this book and taking the next steps to continue my education, I still don’t know for sure if I will eventually become a day trader and pursue this as a livelihood. After a few months of trading in a simulator, I might reach the same conclusion as the other reviewer who decided it was not for them. However, in my case I feel this is the right time in my life to learn a new set of skills; I find day trading very interesting, and I want to learn more. Not everyone is cut out for day trading, and there are so many factors that come into play. However, I feel I owe it to myself to at least continue to explore and learn more about the subject matter. If I don’t, I will be forever wondering if I made a mistake by not learning more. I’d also like to point out that although I think this book on its own is a great introduction to the subject of day trading, you are getting a lot more than just a book. The author invites you to join his trading community, where you can watch him trade and get trading advice and tips from other traders. You can find the website if you enter the author’s name in Google; the website will have a lot of information about the trading chat room and other day trading education resources. The trading chat room is no longer free, from what I understand all the participants in that community recently collectively decided that there should be a $30/month fee to cover the expenses of the chat/teaching platform. However, it is possible to sit in on several chat session for free by signing up for a 7 day free trial. Personally, I don’t have a problem with this, as I’ve been pitched $5,000 trading “academies” – week long courses that promised me I’d be profitable my first month in trading. Unfortunately, the day trading education industry is infested with vendors preying on people’s hopes and dreams, and many fall for such false promises. I feel that the author of this book is “the real deal.” I must admit that one of the questions I had initially was that if a person is good at day trading and making money with it, why would they teach others? That question was answered after I attended a couple of the author’s trading room chat sessions. It became very clear to me that the reason he’s conducting these training sessions is because he loves trading and he also loves to teach. I know, anybody can say that they love teaching others, but if that statement is actually true, then I believe it will shine through. With Andrew Aziz, it does shine through. In any case, I consider $30/month to participate in the chat room to be a very reasonable fee, and I feel that if I can’t afford that, then perhaps I shouldn’t be day trading at all. If you are joining the author’s trading room, I also recommend that you budget $120/month to cover the cost of trading in a DAS simulator, where you will “paper trade” for at least three months. So all in all, I budgeted $450 for my three month introductory education with this program. I believe that the simulator can be ordered separately from the chat room directly from DAS, but the simplest option is to order it all through the trading community web site. That way everything will be set up for you and you can participate in an on-boarding session where the author teaches you how to use the software. I am mentioning these costs because I think people who are considering joining this path to day trading education should know about the costs up front. No doubt, some people will conclude from my review that the book is just a bait for more expensive courses, and if these thoughts are going through your mind you should be aware that the main cost of this program goes to cover the DAS platform, which is separate from the author’s chat room. I did some quick math based on the number of people in the chat room, and concluded that monetary gain is definitely not his reason for conducting these training sessions. Finally, I will disclose that this is an unsolicited review and I’m not receiving any benefit from leaving it other than the satisfaction of knowing that perhaps I’ve helped another prospective day trader make an informed decision about whether or not to invest in this book. My advice is that if you’re not sure whether this book is for you, get the Kindle version. It’s only $3.75 and you can download and read it immediately. That’s what I did. However, I just purchased the paperback version of the book as well. I know that this is a book that I will be referring to often, and I like to be able to highlight sections and add my own notes. I hope some will find this review helpful, and whoever you are, I wish you the best of luck with your decisions about day trading!
Andrew Aziz has a blueprint to make you a better Day Trader!!! Read this book 1st, then trade!!!
This was my very first read as it pertains to day trading. I must say that after reading it, it's provided me the ability to see just how many flaws there were in my approach to day trading. I am a newer trader having started my journey only six months ago. This book showed me there were things that I have done right (broker, platform, computer, scans, education, & paper trading). That being said, this was the first opportunity to be exposed to what I was lacking (the discipline aspect of what a successful trader needs to do each and every day). Specifically, the planning and writing out a detailed approach before you enter a ticker. The book also cleared my head and reassured me that it was OK to focus on only one or two setups. This reassurance is exactly what I was missing and Andrew Aziz opened my eyes to it. His style of writing makes it very easy for the novice trader to follow along and make sense of the information. He doesn't sugar coat the complexities or obstacles that are part of the market. On the flip side, he provides you the blueprint on how to overcome these pitfalls and establish the level of confidence to make a living and thrive as a day trader. Of all the money I've spent getting myself ready to trade, the cost of this book, was the most valuable.
Okay
Read full review and summary of this book on my blog: imeducatingmyself.com/how-to-day-trade-for-a-living-tools-tactics-money-management-discipline-and-trading-psychology-book-review If you are interested in learning about Day Trading, then this book will help you with learning the basics when it comes to day trading; but it’s an introduction to a Day Trading, and you’ll definitely would need to learn a lot more if you’re planning to succeed. The book is short and it talks about basic things that you need to learn and follow. But, you need to keep things realistically and know that there’s no “magic formula”, or one book like this one that would help to become instantly profitable. You can read and learn as much as you can, but things change when actually start to trade; we all get burned and lose money in the market, the things is are you going to become smarter and find your way to recover from that losses. There are good tips shared in this book, I’m already trading, so I didn’t learn much new things. And, really the best advice shared in this book is being patient and watch the market, create a list in your area of interest and just learn – that’s the best advice (strategy) shared in this book, and it does apply the best. You don’t have to be in the market all the times, that’s the mistake that most of us do when first starting out.
Terrible and unstructured
First off, I saw so many typos it hurt my brain. Second, it literally barely explained how day trading worked. It’s mostly about his experience and how he trades. I wish he broke down the entire process.
Useless book, not worth the penny.
First some of the reviews of this book is fake even for verified purchases. This books is a junk and has lot of useless information. We can get all information online so why waste money for this book?
Comments
Post a Comment