5 day trading strategies for beginners
What is day trading?
First, let's define day trading. Day trading involves opening and closing positions within the same trading day, with the aim of making short-term profits. This means starting the day with no positions and ending the day with no positions. Day trading is popular among active market participants who either trade full-time or have the time to monitor their trades throughout the day.
Advantages of day trading
There are several advantages to day trading. Firstly, it reduces overnight risk, which can be particularly beneficial during times of high geopolitical risk. By closing trades daily, you can avoid waking up to large fluctuations in your account. Secondly, day trading allows you to take advantage of new opportunities that arise throughout the day. By closing positions frequently, you free up capital to pursue other trades. Lastly, day trading can help reduce trader emotions. By entering and exiting trades intraday, you can avoid the emotional rollercoaster that comes with holding positions overnight.
However, it's important to note that day trading has its limitations. It may not allow you to take advantage of longer-term trends, such as the significant gains seen in stocks like Apple over the past two decades. Additionally, day trading requires active monitoring of the markets, which may not be feasible for everyone. As a result, many day traders start small and diversify their portfolios across different timeframes, including long-term investments and swing trading.
Why day trade forex markets?
While day trading stocks may seem most popular, forex markets are particularly suitable for day trading. Forex trading offers a wide range of markets, including major currency pairs like EUR/USD, GBP/USD, and USD/JPY, as well as cross pairs like EUR/JPY and GBP/JPY. These markets span different continents, providing high liquidity and diverse opportunities throughout the day due to various news cycles.
Forex markets are also known for their relatively lower volatility compared to the stock market. This lower volatility can be advantageous for day traders, especially when combined with margin requirements as low as 2%. Lower margin requirements mean you can trade larger positions with less capital, making it easier to take small profits from small price moves. Additionally, day trading forex allows you to avoid overnight funding rates and administrative fees associated with holding positions overnight.
Now, let's delve into five day trading strategies beginners can use when establishing their trading plan:
Trading the trend
This strategy also known as momentum trading involves identifying market trends based on daily net changes. If a market exceeds its average daily move, you can consider trading in the direction of the trend. For example, if the EUR/USD is up 50 pips and you are a trend trader, you may decide to buy and ride the trend higher. Conversely, if the market is down 50 pips, you may look to sell and profit from the downward trend. It is important for traders to consider greater market conditions and analyze possible factors in order to manage profit expectations and estimate how long the trend could last.
Contrarian trading
Contrarian trading is the opposite of momentum trading. Day traders who take contrarian positions see breakout trends in a specific market and take the opposite side of the trend - anticipating a pullback or reversal. While timing the reversal can be difficult, contrarian trading is popular in forex markets because currency pairs tend to be mean reverting, historically. Traders can utilize tastyfx’s client sentiment tools to gauge if the majority of traders in a currency pair are long or short and take a position accordingly.
Fundamental analysis
This strategy involves trading based on economic data releases. Forex markets are influenced by various economic indicators, such as interest rate decisions and non-farm payroll reports. By analyzing these releases and their potential impact on the markets, you can make informed trading decisions. While fundamental analysis is often more beneficial for long-term traders, large intraday moves can still occur as a result of large data releases or policy changes. For example, if the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) announces a higher-than-expected interest rate, you might expect the US dollar to strengthen throughout the rest of the trading day.
Technical analysis
This strategy involves using various technical indicators to analyze price action and identify potential trading opportunities. Popular indicators include moving averages, relative strength index (RSI), and Bollinger Bands. By studying historical prices and chart patterns, you can make predictions about future price movements and capitalize on breakout trends. For instance, an RSI reading above 70 might indicate an overbought market, suggesting a potential sell opportunity while a reading below 30 may indicate an underbought market.
Traders using technical analysis may also employ automated trading software for faster execution. Often, traders use automated software for scalping - quickly entering and exiting positions to take smaller profits exploiting movements in the bid-ask spread.
Read more about candlestick charts and technical indicators
Trading the news
This strategy involves monitoring news cycles and trading based on relevant developments. News can significantly impact markets, creating opportunities for day traders. For example, geopolitical events like the ongoing conflict in the Middle East can influence currency pairs such as EUR/USD or the Israeli shekel. By staying informed and reacting quickly to news, you can capitalize on market movements in real-time. Closing these positions intraday also limits exposure to unexpected news that may not occur during open market hours - like the recent outbreak of war in the middle east beginning over a weekend.
Managing your trades
Successful day traders know their risk tolerance and employ several risk management strategies to ensure a sustainable trading plan. Across all strategies, it is important for traders to have clear entry points and exit points in order to manage expectations and capital. Using stop-loss orders is another way to protect trades from moving too far against your position. Even experienced day traders make trades that end up losing money, but by proactively managing their trades are able to mitigate losses and keep capital available for the next trade.
Remember, these strategies are just examples, and it's essential to find what works best for you. Day trading can be an exciting and potentially profitable endeavor for beginners. Developing the best day trading strategy is different for each trader; by understanding the different strategies available and refining your trading style, you can embark on a successful day trading journey. Remember to stay informed, practice risk management, and continuously refine your approach.
How to day trade forex
- Open an account to get started, or practice on a demo account
- Choose your forex trading platform
- Open, monitor, and close positions on forex pairs
Trading forex requires an account with a forex broker like tastyfx. Many traders trade US dollar pairs and watch major forex pairs like GBP/USD and USD/JPY for potential opportunities based on economic events such as inflation releases or interest rate decisions. Economic events can produce more volatility for forex pairs, which can mean greater potential profits and losses as risks can increase at these times.
You can help develop your forex trading strategies using resources like tastyfx’s Learn Center. Once your strategy is developed, you can follow the above steps to opening an account and getting started trading forex.
Your profit or loss is calculated according to your full position size. Leverage will magnify both your profits and losses. It’s important to manage your risks carefully as losses can exceed your deposit. Ensure you understand the risks and benefits associated with trading leveraged products before you start trading with them. Trade using money you’re comfortable losing.
This information has been prepared by tastyfx, a trading name of tastyfx LLC. This material does not contain a record of our trading prices, or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instrument. You should not treat any opinion expressed in this material as a specific inducement to make any investment or follow any strategy, but only as an expression of opinion. This material does not consider your investment objectives, financial situation or needs and is not intended as recommendations appropriate for you. No representation or warranty is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the above information. tastyfx accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of these comments and for any consequences that result. See our Summary Conflicts Policy, available on our website.
