Many people jump into day trading for all the wrong reasons. Some get drawn in by the ads featuring Lamborghinis, some seek financial independence for their families, some simply like the idea of getting rich quickly. But once they submerge themselves into the actual process of day trading, they quickly realize that progressing will take time.
Instead of seeking consistency, many traders start looking for a silver bullet — a fool-proof winning strategy. This can lead to jumping between various programs and trading rooms. And while it’s great to learn from many mentors, it’s also incredibly important to find out who you are as a trader. There’s no cookie-cutter strategy that will lead everybody to success, you have to find your own.
However, advice from pro-traders can still help you find your perfect, tailored strategy. Cruz Hernandez, pro-trader from New Age Wall Street, told us that if he had the chance to re-start his trading career he’d make sure to stay focused in order to find success and consistency faster.
If Cruz had a do-over, he said he’d focus on collecting data from his trading in order to create one winning strategy for himself. He’d start a trading journal earlier, and he’d develop his plan to work with his personality. He’d try to ignore other traders’ charts and PnLs, and instead master a setup that would continuously grow his account.
And once he truly understood the process and achieved consistency using his trading plan, he’d start looking into other setups to add to his playbook. And as the market shifts, he’d need to adjust the original strategy as well. However, that would be a job for an experienced day trader, not a beginner. Finding consistency using a single setup would be the most important goal for as long as he’s not completely comfortable with his trading process.
Bringing spreadsheets from other rooms and using other people’s strategies is fine as a learning tactic, but all successful traders had to develop their own way. So Cruz recommends focusing on a single setup and ignoring the noise. There’s no need to try and learn every popular strategy out there. Finding a niche and doubling down on it may lead you to progress faster.
If you want to see more tips for day traders, check out the informational resources provided by Cobra Trading.
