This is my first day trader conference ever and it has been an amazing experience so far. It is nice to be in a room full of like minded individuals. The beauty is last year I was just beginning my journey of day trading and I wanted to attend but felt like I did not know enough to participate. Well these conferences are all about motivation and getting student traders on the right path.
I was absolutely honoured to be featured in Tim Syke’s opening dialogue about trading and you can see a quick 2 min video my hubby filmed. It is still surreal that I began this journey one year ago and have already broken the six figure mark. The hard work and dedication pays off
After the mention by Tim I have been approached by many aspiring day traders with a multitude of questions. I will try to put a small recap here of the most asked questions so if they can help you as well.
First was when and why did I start? and was I a trader before?
I began my challenge program back in February of 2015 when our daughter was 6 months old. In Canada we have a 1 year maternity leave program and I wanted to find a job where I could provide for my family and work from home to be present for our daughter. So I began studying and broke the rules and was distracted by our daughter. I put it aside until I could devote the time and energy to studying while she was in daycare Sept 2015.  I had been a value trader up until 2015. But fundamental value trading is quite different to day trading.
Did I paper trade?
Yes! When I came back to studying, I studied not only Tim’s DVDs and webinars but also the daily market action at open. I took from Michael Goode and started using an excel spreadsheet to track stocks and their actions. I also paper traded to gain my confidence and consistency. From my paper trades I analyzed my trades to see where my strengths lay in my trades. Turns out Tim Syke’s strategies were not the best for me but I had found buying oversold stocks that were reversing were my winners.
Did I have a an Ah-hah moment where it clicked?
Once I analyzed my paper trades and saw my strengths it began to click. Go with your strengths. At that point I positioned small with real money to remain consistent and confident. Once my win percentage started to increase I slowly positioned larger. My confidence went up and by the end of January my positions grew as well as my profits.
Why don’t you trade penny stocks?
I found that trading penny stocks was not a strength of mine and so I stuck with the strategy that works for me. The price action on stocks $5-100 tends to be more predictable and profitable for me.  I have a stock scanner that gives me audible alerts for stocks that meet my criteria and I check the charts to see if that chart follows my ideal setups.
If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice what would it be?
I would stay study the market and terminology before jumping in and trading. Then once you study practice with fake money to build consistency and confidence in yourself and your trades. Once you have that confidence and consistency over 50% position small and protect your equity. Continue to build your confidence and your profits will show that.
Your strategy is different from Tim’s…Why?
Every successful daytrader has their own strategy much like we all have individual fingerprints. It takes time to develop your strengths and your risk tolerance. Your trades are a reflection of you, so take the time to learn yourself through trading and excel with your strengths. It will pay off in the long run to become self sufficient. It won’t be a quick process, but it will be profitable in the long run.
I’m so happy to hear how my blog and tweets have helped others. I was in your shoes just about a year ago and happy to share what I wish I had there to help me along the way. The market is large enough where everyone can win long or short. If you have a bad trade look for the positive in it and take it as a lesson. Try not to beat yourself up but analyze it. You can get there! Surgeons did not wake up one morning and say hey I’m going to perform surgery today. It took time. Day trading is a profession as well and it is expected that if you want to perform well that you study hard too.
I love hearing feedback from you. It makes my trading more personal and I like to hear how I can help you. If you have questions or comments you can contact me here or on Profitly, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. carpeprofit@gmail.com
Working on my book  to be released this spring of 2017 available on Amazon and major retailers in 159 different countries. Sign up here for updates about when and where to preorder.
The tool I use for scanning and alerting is Trade Ideas who offer an always free trading room.
For my charting and level 2 I use Equityfeed.
This blog is for information purposes I am not a registered securities broker-dealer or an investment adviser. The information here is not intended as securities brokerage, investment or as an offer or solicitation of an offer to sell or buy, or as an endorsement, recommendation or sponsorship of any company, security or fund.