Firstly, I must note my feelings on the contribute section of the site being filled up with advertisements. It makes it harder to find the traders contributions. I hope they can do something about it, and block some of those silly 'magical gemstone' ads and the like.

Day trading has to be one of the most difficult enterprises to succeed at. As far as I can make out, the dedication, work ethic and ability to learn quickly and adapt, and be self-aware is akin to what is required to become a professional sports star, or a master ballerina, singer etc.

I imagined that there was a big amount of gold under the ground, someone told me it's there, 100% its THERE.. all you need to do is grab a shovel and dig, dig, dig, and once you've put in that effort, you will eventually reap the reward. That still holds true in my mind. There's a work and an experience that has to be navigated, and finally you start to figure ways where you can be taking money from the market on a consistent basis. If you are a student, and can ditch classes etc , you might make great progress in 2-3 years, and I think the Timothy Sykes courses are great starting points for someone look to start. If you are a working adult, like I was, I think it will take somewhere between 3-6 years. It all depends on what you can sacrifice. I wasn't prepared to sacrifice everything, I was involved in soccer competitions which probably delayed my progression somewhat.. but sometimes for your sanity you need some kind of outlet. Sitting in front of the screens is not great for your health.

Thats why now I spend 3 hours max at the market. Usually 2.30pm -4pm irish time, the first couple hours of the market session, and I'll spend an hour in the evening but not always. Outside of that I'm watching market replay, updating my trading records, reviewing charts , preparing watchlists, or away altogether playing tennis or soccer or at the gym.

For the first couple years, I was doing 10 hours a day whenever possible, studying DVDs & watching the market. Eventually it gets to a point where you can tone it down a bit. Some don't, and can become the Koby Bryant character such as Jack Kellogg. You have to find what works best for you. You can take the Koby approach, but just rememeber, you can end up sick, burned out and without your health you have nothing. Learn to factor in breaks.

One of the funniest things about trading is in the beginning almost everyone falls into some chatroom or another, reads what people are talking about, sees what big hotshot trader is trading, and just jump in and copy that trader. There are some sites with young, 20 somethings, streaming live.. and have a band of followers trying to emulate.

Buying high and selling higher, on fast moving stocks is called momentum trading. Or to be more precise, hyper-scalping momentum trading. Ross Cameron, Farmer Trader, Relentless trader are examples. They have large followings, especially Ross, and they market courses on the side. So these guys are trading live, selling courses which helps compensate for trading losses. Teaching is a form of security blanket. Also, when you have income coming in from Youtube, and course sales, it can in a way take the pressure off your trading. It could make you trade better. But it also allows you to make stupid mistakes, and sweep them under the rug... tell nobody how bad your loss is and continue to present yourself as a trading guru.

Ignore these momo traders guys. You are trying to become a needle in a haystack.

I have a few trading strategies.

The ones I focus on at the moment are 5 minute green bar long, which can be on day 1, 2, even 3+ of a stock's runup... although day 1 and day 2 tend to work best. 

I also like the First Green Day bounce #5 pattern, where a stock has run up for say, 3 or 4 days, pulls back for 2 or 3 days, then I look for a long for a bounce. 

These strategies work best when the volume is huge. I don't usually play them unless there's tremendous volume, ideally 50million + on the day.

As for short strategies, the overextended gap up is one I really like. This can come in the form of Day 1 gap and crap, although I find these quite tricky and easy to get sucked into nasty squeezes.

I prefer an OEGU where the stock has been already in play, and suddenly one morning it is gapping up maybe 30%+... it just 'looks like' it's too much too soon, so I try to time an entry in the first half hour of the session. They can be tricky, never do two stocks behave the exact same way, but the odds are the stock will drop. So the patterns are similar. Sizing in correctly, and accepting that you might have to just let it drop without you if it doesnt behave as you wanted, is half the battle. Missing an entry by a few ticks etc can cause you to become emotional, and cause you to trade emotionally at a poor point on the chart, then get stopped out, and you lose your senses and end the day in the red.

The best way to approach trading in the beginning is try to find one or two strategies and focus ONLY on those strategies. Focus ONLY on plays with HUGE volume, and stocks with huge RANGE.  Ignore all those other makeshift setups, with too wide spreads, too much risk of slippage etc. Even if a stock looks incredibly overextended, if it has crap volume, I won't trade it. The stocks where the volume is huge are the ones where there is a lot of human emotion and more range.. also, as a general rule of thumb, I don't chase long strength, and I don't chase short weakness.

Also be prepared for days where the market will 'test your patience skills'. This has been my biggest challenge. I have no problem identifying great trading setups, and the right tickers to trade. But I don't always execute the trade well, I can be impatient, only to see my thesis play out later... but I've burned up too much capital entering at the wrong spots, often too early. 

I'm getting back to real money trading in August/September. I have a good spell from October 2024 to April 2025 on my paper platform, making about 5k. I'm looking to do the same in 2025 into 2026, and assuming the first 2 months go ok, I will be sizing up for the November -March period which tends to be the best time of year to profit.

There's really no more excuses, I cannot go to claim 'Oh I'm still building experience, that part is true, but I have enough experience no to know when I should be placing trades and when I should be sitting on the sidelines waiting.

One of the most frustrating things about my own trading journey is how long I feel it is taking me to stop trading non-ideal setups, or getting caught out chasing in the wrong spots. I am not sure it's possible to fix that completely, but I must do better because taking unnecessary losses out of impatience or overeagerness to make money is so so so detrimental to trading.

Thats my update.

G'luck!