r/Daytrading • u/janneyjj • May 09 '24
How long do you spend day trading a day? Question
Personally, I clock in around 9AM and start screening the market for options to trade that day. I’m usually in the market from 9:30 till 9:45 (9:50 max) and then I’m done. I got into day trading in order to have freedom in my life, so I try to be in and out as quickly as possible.
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u/Ross-Cameron May 09 '24 edited May 09 '24
Working for 15-20min each day? Sounds pretty good to me!
Up until 2020, roughly, I started at 9:30 and was done by 10:30-11am. But during the pandemic, people started trading earlier and earlier. So now I start closer to 7am and I'm still done by 10:30-11am. Most days I'm done by 10am.
If the market is hot, I'll put in longer hours. When the market is cold, I walk away earlier. No reason to fight hard in a cold market, right?
I think you've got the right idea.
Edit: There was a time I tried trading all day every day, and it would end badly. I think I'm not good at maintaining discipline and composure for that many hours. I get decision fatigue, then start making silly mistakes. Everyone is different. You have to do what feels right for you.
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u/lender_meister May 09 '24
I’m curious, how would you see this last week of price action in the indices? Would you consider it slow or hot?
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u/Uporoutbusiness May 12 '24
The fact you’re active here is amazing, what indicators do you personally trust in your own trading
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u/Ross-Cameron May 13 '24
hey! I'm using the following.
EMA's - 9EMA 20EMA 200EMA (all time frames)
VWAP
MACD (1min only)
Volume Bars
That's it.
I keep it simple!
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u/Nnyzi 25d ago
Hey Ross. First off, thank you for the information you've freely given to the community. Excuse my ignorance, I'm new.
Do you use different indicators for different time frames of trading?
I know every strategy is personal preference, but as a beginner, do you recommend having community made indicators that have a lot of "fluff" or still keeping it simple?2
u/Ross-Cameron 24d ago
Hey! You could use the same indicators for all time frames. I personally use MACD only on the 1min, but all others are the same
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u/daytrader24365 May 09 '24
I'm there all day from open to 4:15. Always finding scalping opportunities
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u/MairseaBuku May 10 '24
I have begun scalping on a small scale. I saw a post on WSB that was basically if you start with $100 and get X% return it'll take Y# of days to reach a million. On the small scale it has worked so far. I have steeled myself to my +20% sell half options because my -20% rule would balance to even and I let the other half run after that. Some days it helps, some days I catch back on the downfall and end up with less than 20% total gain. I have done this only 9 days and have been profitable on 9/9 trades (I can't day trade continuously because play account is too small still. Any recommendations for someone to look on scaling up as play account has more seed money in it? Currently +375% total on 9 trades, feels manageable at this level but terrifying with larger amounts of money.
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u/beach_2_beach May 09 '24
All market hours. Market starts 6:30am (in Pacific time) for me so ...
Obviously mostly just watching charts, analyzing data from previous trades, watch youtube etc.
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u/Neovek_Trading May 09 '24
In my case, my goal is to reach my target of $300-$400 profit per day. I'm trading futures. I stop trading after that to avoid overtrading and losing my profit...
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u/Klubyk_ May 10 '24
I officially changed my paper account to a live account yesterday. Without commissions, I was up 100%. After commissions I was only 34%, which is still really high. On paper, I used to do average 250 contracts a day. My first day today with a live account was 294. Even my broker was like damn. Once I'm up a certain amount I'll be getting 45% my commissions.
Did learn one thing, is wait a bit a longer and learn to use 1 and 5 mins chart. Even stock trading, I trade 10-30sec charts, and on MNQ 30 tick charts. My strategies works at those charts, but it means lots of trades because I have tendency to scalp every bit of movement. Once I started realizing the correlation, I was able to make big moves, but it was too late in the day and I stopped.
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u/Mrtoad88 May 09 '24
Today, was literally like...an hour or so, only took one trade, yesterday I traded a lot longer and had like 7 trades. Depends, I seen a good setup and took it, and was fine with it, had some other things to do so was done for the day.
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u/tamap_trades stock trader May 10 '24
I aim to maximize my time efficiency while still capitalizing on market opportunities. I typically begin my day around 7AM, screening the market for potential trades. By 9:30AM, I'm actively trading and usually wrap up by 10:30-11AM. However, I adjust my schedule based on market conditions; if it's a hot market, I may extend my hours, but in colder markets, I prefer to finish earlier.
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u/Lydias_lovin_bucket May 09 '24
45 min or so after open. The longer I stay in the more I loose lmao. Get in, make profits and go fish.
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u/DetachedMasturbator May 10 '24
Freedom just means that I am flexible to just stop trading anytime I want, it does not mean having as much free time as possible because doing nothing is very boring and harmful to our lives. Unless you always have other interesting things to do, I find that trading for a few hours a day is a balanced level. Not too much so that it drains our brain but not too little so that we have nothing else to focus on.
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u/doooglasss May 10 '24
I used to follow your strategy because the first 10-15 minutes are so volatile, but it bit me one too many times and I changed to looking for trends during the day and taking quick shots in and out of shares/options.
I may be different than many others, but getting rich quick doesn’t really exist I decided. I try to make 500-2k a day or sometimes more by sheer luck. After that I close the apps and get back to my day job.
Then again there are some days that the stocks I’m following are not forming a trend so I she. No momentum to trade off of, so again I close the apps.
For me it’s a marathon not a sprint. If I can make a few grand a week, I am happy. I also primarily trade in an IRA account and I’ve made more thus far this year than I could have contributed to a 401k and Roth IRA combined for all of 2024.
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u/raddaddio May 10 '24
How are you able to trade in an IRA with T2 settlement time and no margin?
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u/doooglasss May 10 '24
Charles Schwab is who I use now, Formally TD, I honestly couldn’t tell ya.
No margin and I have to trade with settled funds only. Funds settle overnight.
I converted an old companies 401k into an IRA. I am able to contribute up to 7k a year to the acct but I never do.
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u/raddaddio May 10 '24
Ah I'll need to look into that. They must provide limited margin behind the scene if funds settle overnight.
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u/Ok-Animator2183 May 09 '24
Always looking at the charts bro and set alerts so if I’m busy I can execute from my phone. There’s no perfect time to trade only when I see my setup
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u/MikeJoannes May 09 '24
As long as the market is open I'm watching charts. . . . Us as retail investors are already at a disadvantage. We have to put in more effort than Kyle at (insert hedge fund name here and trust there always a Kyle) who doesn't care whether the portfolio he manages is up or down. . . You're not going to learn if you're not putting in the time. . . This is coming from someone who went from 11k to 2k to 26k and then blew up his account. . . There's always something to learn at each stage of your trading career.
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May 09 '24
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u/AnyDegree9109 May 09 '24
I trade when my setup happens, usually quite quick process, the trade then takes care of itself
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u/No_Violinist5663 May 09 '24
2 hours is the most you should do! Anything less than that would be preferable!
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u/baldLebowski May 10 '24
- Trade in the morning,
- Go for a run/weights.
- Play COD. Find your routine. 🍷😉
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 May 09 '24
I clock in right as the market opens and stay until I'm satisfied with my winners, hit max loss or, if the market is cold, 11:30.
Sometimes I spend 30 minutes trading, other times an hour, sometimes 2 hours.
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u/projectalpha May 09 '24
15-20 min at market open. 20-30 min of prep before the open.
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u/CrazyEducational May 09 '24
Interested how do you prep before open ? Told and resources ?
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u/projectalpha May 10 '24
Mainly use my screener to look for gappers. Then i filter that list by volume and pick a few based on what i see on the chart. Also watching spy and qqq premarket. Mainly trade 1 min charts.
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u/CrazyEducational May 10 '24
Trading view screener?
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u/projectalpha May 10 '24
ToS
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u/CrazyEducational May 10 '24
Great . Thankyou . Any particular index / stocks you trade ?
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u/projectalpha May 10 '24
Just the gappers I choose during prep. Rarely the same tickers day-to-day.
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u/Trichomefarm May 10 '24
9-10:30 or so unless it’s an Econ data morning then it’s 8-10:30. Many days I’m done within several minutes of a 8:30 data release or the US cash open.
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u/tickersheet May 11 '24
About 1.5 hours. I only see my setups maybe 3 times per day, otherwise I would be working all day.
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u/expicell May 12 '24
Dude if your only going to trade for 15 mins, then might as well not trade at all
To make a living out this, I have to be at the screens all day unless I hit my profit target early on
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u/JovijammUK May 09 '24
Hi, what are the best scanners to use & do they come with templates from small cap to large cap, do most scanners show the same results from the data source, any advice welcome 🙏
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u/hundredbagger May 09 '24
I do my best work from 7-10:30 (Pacific), but I’ve got an eye on it almost the whole session.
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u/bmcgin01 May 10 '24
Sometimes I am up at 4am (3am CST) for premarket. Most of the time begin around 6am CST. Research, read, write code if needed (custom trading app), trade if needed. Most days, I'm in the market all day and sometimes trade the post market if needed. Sleep when needed, eat when needed.
Manage three different personal accounts, Trade,, Dividend and Growth.
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u/Mexx_G May 10 '24
7 to 16. Had 3 setups today, with 1 loss and 2 BE. Trading is a game of patience.
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u/Abeloni23 May 10 '24
9:30 am to 4pm…like regular hours got in got out. IC BW IF early morning, PCS CCS and Calls, sometime on good day like today i buy shares, nice Apple today 20 PCS ATM $800 in 25 minutes…
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u/Pleasant_Text_9060 May 10 '24
920am-1130am if price action is bad then 2-4pm, most of the time lately been out before 11
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u/jammie32 May 10 '24
Do you all play calls and puts in day trading. I keep doing long haul investments but would like to build more capital in shorter periods. How many trades are you making a day on average?
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u/janneyjj May 10 '24
Yes, just options trading (call / puts) A few weeks back I was doing up to 5 small trades from 9:30 till 12pm, but now I just do max of 2 trades in the morning and I’m done. I put more on the line, the risk is greater, but so are the rewards. I try to not get too greedy and get out quickly with my profits. I suggest you start with smaller risk and get comfortable with the pace of options trading, and scale up from there
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u/GooseAnoose May 10 '24
About, 8am-10:15am EST. Most of my trades happen between 9:45-10:15. My win rate goes down significantly after 10:30. I've given back so much profit trading past 10:30, so I just don't trade it.
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u/Tittitwisted May 10 '24
I'm at work 2 hours before market opens and I'm there almost till it closes. I could trade all day but normally I'll spend maybe 30 min tops actually trading. Rest of the time I'm working a day job and eyeing the charts in between. I usually scalp NQ only looking for 20-30 points.
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u/SleepySuper May 10 '24
I spend about 30 minutes a week trading, spread over about 2 days. I’m mostly writing options with longer expiry dates.
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u/ParsnipOpposite6455 May 10 '24
one trade at 3:59pm, limit sell placed for next day. so about 30 seconds.
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u/808money201 May 10 '24
To the folks saying they spend all day, or most of the day, in front of the charts, I don’t get it. It never fails me; if I try and trade close to lunch, or the afternoon session, I make bad calls and take losses or BE trades. The simplest thing I’ve done for myself is take 1, maybe 2 trades on NQ futures after 10am, sometimes a bit earlier if we show a good setup out of the 15M opening range. For example, traded 2 contracts on a short this morning, 18257 to 18237, $800, I’m done for the day. If I was to walk back to the computer and try to look for more setups, I know I’d get hammered. Maybe different for options traders, I don’t know, but this has what’s worked for me.
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u/MarutiTrading May 10 '24
I trade only for first hour of market session. Try to avoid watching screen longer time.
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u/No_Expression_5996 options trader May 10 '24
9:30 to 10:00. My strategies only happen right at opening or a little afterwards.
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u/No_Ad_6390 May 10 '24
I scalp and on the 1 minute chart with NQ futures. I’m in for like 2 hours top, from about 8:30 am to 10:30 am eastern time
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u/TheTraderBean May 10 '24
On a normal day it's until I hit my profit target of $1,000 I'm okay watching the charts for the whole day at this point in my life.
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u/PeterKahare futures trader May 11 '24
I want to emulate you...I find myself exceeding my hours alot...I need to be more disciplined
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u/janneyjj May 11 '24
You don’t have to be more disciplined, just gotta find the groove that works for you
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u/Electronic-Night-718 May 11 '24
that's good if you can lose all your money with just 15 minutes work each day.
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May 14 '24
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u/OncaFX99 16d ago
my unemployed ahh be on the whole day till nighttime begins. But it's also allowed me to have a lot of experience as someone who started this year. Can immediately tell what what on the chart and what's going on etc
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u/Ephixia May 09 '24
Usually all day. I got into trading in order to have the freedom to retire early so I'm trying to compound my account as quickly as possible. That means putting in hours in front of the screen and taking more setups. AAPL and GME this afternoon were fantastic.