Day-trading offers many advantages over short-term trading or long-term investing. Typically a day-trader is out of the market at the end of the day, so there is no overnight risk. The day-trader watches the market in real time, enabling him to adjust his position live as the market develops. The frequent trades develops his skill much faster and will help to maintain it at its peak. Trades typically have lower risk with smaller losses and there is a quicker return when they are profitable.



The disadvantages of day-trading are also many. Over trading is a real problem with most day-traders. Quicker analysis and decisions, along with faster responses, are demanded. Emotion frequently interferes with good judgment and its roller coaster ride can be extreme. A margin account can be drained faster than with any other type of trading. Most day-traders give up regular careers in order to trade during regular business hours and so trading often becomes their only source of income, placing a great financial pressure on them. Still, most would agree that they wouldn't trade day-trading for any other career.

When I first started day-trading I found it to be very stressful. I chose as my day-trading market the S&P e-mini, a market I knew well and felt comfortable with. The day would start out well, but as mid-day approached I found myself struggling and making trades repeatedly as I tried to keep up with the frequent changes in direction. Afternoon would ease the stress some, but I found myself so exhausted that I could not focus well. I would make some profits, but by the end of the day I would find that I had spent so much in transaction costs that the profits were very meager. After a few weeks I found myself too worn out to get up and trade, particularly if I had just traded the day before. So I started to skip days that I would trade. Eventually, I was reduced to trading at best just every other day. It was clear that the income was far too little for my needs and I knew that any hope of a long term career in day-trading was in serious trouble. At first I thought I had to just force myself to trade more, but when I did so the situation still didn't improve. In fact, it seemed to get even worse.

When I stepped back and analyzed what was going wrong I realize several issues were standing in my way. First, I was over trading. By the end of the day I would accumulate anywhere between $150.00 to $225.00 just in transaction costs, a huge portion of what I was making in profits those days. Second, I was getting too stressed out and this was impacting my ability to focus as well as eating away at my enthusiasm for trading. I simply didn't enjoy it anymore. Third, most of the over trading and stress was occurring during the mid-part of the day.

When I reviewed what was actually happening in the market I noticed that typically a trend would develop in the morning and afternoon, which were easier to trade and make a profit off of. But during the mid-part of the day the volume dropped off significantly and the market had a tendency to form a consolidation that was much harder to trade and required more frequent trades. It was during this time that the losses dramatically increased.

After realizing these facts I then decided that I would just eliminate all trading during the mid-part of the day. I would instead only trade the first two hours of the morning and the last two hours in the afternoon.

As soon as I implemented this plan I saw an immediate change in the end results. Trading was less stressful, less frequent and of course, less costly since the number of my transactions had dropped off significantly. I was able to take my time and enjoy a pleasant lunch and even though I was spending less time actually trading, I was still much more profitable. Trading was enjoyable again.

When I first started trading I would have hardly imagined that this simply change would have such a drastic effect. My ideal job turned out to be even more ideal than I originally thought it to be. I really liked the fact that I now had a legitimate reason for taking a two hour lunch, it actually made me more profitable.

My experience highlights the importance of taking into consideration the time you spend actually trading and adjusting your schedule to match what is best for the markets. If this simple change had such an immense bearing on my results, imagine what a similar change could do for you and your trading.

In reflection, there are a number of factors that I learned from this experience. First, it is best to trade when the market has a tendency to trend. Consolidations can be hard work, stressful and very frustrating. Trends are much easier to trade, are easier to read and are more forgiving if you make a mistake. While this depends on the consolidation and the trend, likely you have found these conclusion true for yourself.

The first time that I traded the Forex I had a similar experience just as I did when trading the S&P e-mini. By examining the times that the Forex repeatedly trended I was able to again improve my results by adjusting when I traded.

Additionally, markets have periods of time when they will tend to trend more often. The S&P e-mini will trend more often during the morning and afternoon sessions, the Forex will trend more often when a major international exchange opens and most markets in general will trend more often when their respective floors are open for business.

When the traders are mostly trading then the market will mostly trend.

By taking the usual trending times of a market into consideration and adjusting the time that you trade to match it, you too are likely to improve your results. All it requires is for you to review several days of a market in order to discover which times are best for trading. While a market can trend at any time, trading when it is more likely to do so will make it much easier to trade.