How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginner’s Guide to Trading Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology (Stock Market Trading and Investing)

Mark Twain once said "It ain't what you don't know that gets you in trouble. It's what you know for sure that just ain't so." I believe these words of wisdom apply to trading, as well as life in general.After doing some day trading and making a few nice profitable trades here and there, followed by a couple of losses that cut my profits in half, I remembered that quote by Twain and I had to admit to myself that many of the things I thought I knew about trading were wrong. I decided to visit Amazon to find a good introduction to the subject of day trading. There were so many books, most of them looked like they would take me weeks or months to study, and I wasn’t sure if I was prepared to take on that kind of learning curve. I’m not lazy, but I have a lot of other projects going on.Then I stumbled upon Andrew Aziz’s book “How to Day Trade for a Living: A beginner’s Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology.” This book seemed to cover everything I was looking for, and with only in 232 pages; I felt I could handle that. I wasn’t looking for an encyclopedia on trading; I was looking for information on what day trading is, how to get started, and pitfalls to look out for. Based on the long title and the mostly positive reviews, I decided to go with this book. I am very glad I did.I should mention that I’ve not yet completed my first reading of the book; I’m taking my time to let the information sink in; that’s my preferred learning style. However, a bit more by half way through the book, I can say that I really enjoy this book a great deal. At first it was a little uncomfortable, because as a middle-aged finance professional with an MBA and many classes in finance and investing, I felt that I should know a lot more about day trading than I actually do. Well, the first thing I learned from Aziz’s book is that day trading and investing are very different subjects. I also learned that what I had been doing was not day trading, but “swing trading,” and that they are very different trading modalities that require different education and practice.By far, my most important take-away from this book is that day trading is not easy. The author of reinforces that point throughout the book. This is probably why 84% or so (depending on which study you read) of those of us who give day trading a try end up losing money. We think we can just jump in, get lucky, and make lots of money. We ignore the fact that having consistent success as a day trader requires skills that are usually only acquired through practice and over time. We like the making money part, but we don’t like the steep learning curve, so we start trading with no education, no practice, no skills. In other words, we dabble in day trading. Then, as often is the case, when we lose our trading capital (or most of it), we call it quits and blame day trading as being a sham. That’s the 84% of all traders. Of course, there’s nothing magical about the 85/15 or 80/20% rule; it just happens to be true in so many areas of life. If more “wanna-be day traders” would only be willing to educate themselves and approach day trading with the seriousness and respect it deserves, treat it as an actual business, they could be successful too! And then the ratio of successful day traders in these studies would probably increase by quite a few percentages. Maybe this will happen one day, I don’t know. I say probably not, because despite our amazing potential, human beings tend to be lazy, and very predictable. That’s why the 84% failure ratio for day traders is probably going to remain fairly constant. That doesn’t mean that an aspiring trader willing to humble themselves (a bit) and commit themselves (a lot) to learning the skills can’t be part of the 16% of successful traders!In the beginning of this book, the author talks a bit about the rewards of day trading, and why so many people pursue it. Successful day traders can work from home, make a very decent income, take time off when they want to, work from anywhere in the world with an internet connection. You have no boss to answer to; you’re basically your own CEO. I learned from this book that a successful trader who has acquired the necessary trading skills, strategies, tactics, money management, discipline and psychology can sometimes make between $500 to $1,000 per day, on average. That’s a lot of money. It translates into $120,000 to $240,000 per year, before taxes (assuming on average 20 trading days per month). The author mentions how he knows traders who consistently make $2,000 or more per trading day; but he does not hold himself out to be in that category. In fact, he admits to having lost money, and he still has losing days or streaks of losing days, but on average he is consistently profitable. The point I’m trying to make is that becoming a successful trader can be very rewarding, for someone willing to go through the learning curve and acquire the necessary skills and mindset.If the potential rewards of becoming a successful day trader is so great, and since it appears to be very doable, then why isn’t everyone day trading? I believe the author provides the answer in his 11 Rules of Day Trading. “Rule 2: Day trading is not easy. It is a serious business, and you should treat it as such.” If I understand the author correctly, the day traders who are making $500 to $1,000 profit are traders who have taken time to educate themselves and apply the strategies and principles outlined in the book. They have practiced in a simulator for at least 3 months, achieving a favorable ratio of profitable vs non-profitable trades before trading with real money. Then follows several months with “small trades” made with real money, because trading with real money is different from trading in a simulator. So even if you have a talent for day trading, it’s unlikely that you’ll be getting rich quickly.In addition to teaching the general principles of day trading, risk management, money management, several day trading strategies, discipline and trading psychology (very important!) this book also provides a step by step process for people who want to become successful day traders. The author says in the beginning of the book that the book is short on purpose; it allows the reader to understand the basics of day trading and enough information for someone to decide whether they want to pursue day trading as a profession.After reading about halfway through the book, I’ve decided that I would like to continue learning about day trading. Some of the sobering facts outlined in the book almost caused me to put it down. However, based on what I learned from this book, I do believe that becoming a successful day trader is indeed possible. Also, the potential rewards of acquiring the skills of day trading are a great motivation to me. Another reviewer expressed that they really liked the book, but that they had decided not to pursue day trading at this point. I really respect that reviewer, because it shows that the person was willing to read the book and find out what day trading is all about, before making an informed decision. This reviewer then for their own reasons decided not to pursue day trading at this time, but still took time to leave a favorable review of the book. I think that says a lot about a person’s attitude in life and toward learning. In fact, this was one of the reviews that contributed to my purchase decision. As for me, although I am committed to continue my studies of this book and taking the next steps to continue my education, I still don’t know for sure if I will eventually become a day trader and pursue this as a livelihood. After a few months of trading in a simulator, I might reach the same conclusion as the other reviewer who decided it was not for them. However, in my case I feel this is the right time in my life to learn a new set of skills; I find day trading very interesting, and I want to learn more. Not everyone is cut out for day trading, and there are so many factors that come into play. However, I feel I owe it to myself to at least continue to explore and learn more about the subject matter. If I don’t, I will be forever wondering if I made a mistake by not learning more.I’d also like to point out that although I think this book on its own is a great introduction to the subject of day trading, you are getting a lot more than just a book. The author invites you to join his trading community, where you can watch him trade and get trading advice and tips from other traders. You can find the website if you enter the author’s name in Google; the website will have a lot of information about the trading chat room and other day trading education resources. The trading chat room is no longer free, from what I understand all the participants in that community recently collectively decided that there should be a $30/month fee to cover the expenses of the chat/teaching platform. However, it is possible to sit in on several chat session for free by signing up for a 7 day free trial. Personally, I don’t have a problem with this, as I’ve been pitched $5,000 trading “academies” – week long courses that promised me I’d be profitable my first month in trading. Unfortunately, the day trading education industry is infested with vendors preying on people’s hopes and dreams, and many fall for such false promises. I feel that the author of this book is “the real deal.” I must admit that one of the questions I had initially was that if a person is good at day trading and making money with it, why would they teach others? That question was answered after I attended a couple of the author’s trading room chat sessions. It became very clear to me that the reason he’s conducting these training sessions is because he loves trading and he also loves to teach. I know, anybody can say that they love teaching others, but if that statement is actually true, then I believe it will shine through. With Andrew Aziz, it does shine through. In any case, I consider $30/month to participate in the chat room to be a very reasonable fee, and I feel that if I can’t afford that, then perhaps I shouldn’t be day trading at all.If you are joining the author’s trading room, I also recommend that you budget $120/month to cover the cost of trading in a DAS simulator, where you will “paper trade” for at least three months. So all in all, I budgeted $450 for my three month introductory education with this program. I believe that the simulator can be ordered separately from the chat room directly from DAS, but the simplest option is to order it all through the trading community web site. That way everything will be set up for you and you can participate in an on-boarding session where the author teaches you how to use the software. I am mentioning these costs because I think people who are considering joining this path to day trading education should know about the costs up front. No doubt, some people will conclude from my review that the book is just a bait for more expensive courses, and if these thoughts are going through your mind you should be aware that the main cost of this program goes to cover the DAS platform, which is separate from the author’s chat room. I did some quick math based on the number of people in the chat room, and concluded that monetary gain is definitely not his reason for conducting these training sessions.Finally, I will disclose that this is an unsolicited review and I’m not receiving any benefit from leaving it other than the satisfaction of knowing that perhaps I’ve helped another prospective day trader make an informed decision about whether or not to invest in this book. My advice is that if you’re not sure whether this book is for you, get the Kindle version. It’s only $3.75 and you can download and read it immediately. That’s what I did. However, I just purchased the paperback version of the book as well. I know that this is a book that I will be referring to often, and I like to be able to highlight sections and add my own notes. I hope some will find this review helpful, and whoever you are, I wish you the best of luck with your decisions about day trading!

I'd like to take a moment to share a part of my life story and to give you a review of Dr. Andrew Aziz, the books he has written, and the BearBullTraders community and its moderators. It's kind of long and it's more about my own journey, but I hope it gives you some honest and authentic feedback to help you make some decisions about whether you want to get into day trading or not.Going back to 2012-2013, I was supposed to graduate from my university and I only had about 3 classes left to complete. I had good grades but I just couldn't bring myself to finish. A deep fear grew in me: How was a little piece of paper, a diploma, supposed to help me figure out my life and allow me to be successful? Going to college did not help me figure out who I am or what my dreams were; it only took my precious time away from me and left me in suffocating debt and more confused about my life than ever.I started to smoke weed. A lot. Like every day. It became an addiction that helped me escape from my hardships. For anyone who says weed can't be addictive… my answer to that is anything can become an addiction, whether it is a relationship, drinking, substances, video games, or anything else… Why do people get addicted to things? The answer is simple: it's a failure to feel and to escape from life.I ended up getting a job I hated. I wasted years of my life in a job I hated and getting high. It wasn't until late March of 2016 when this all began to change. This is when my dad got into an accident and fell from a high place at a construction site and completely shattered his hip. It took months of being in the hospital and rehabilitation for my dad to be discharged, now being disabled. I remember the first night he came back home and was about to take his shower, my dad looked into the mirror and started crying at the sight of his weak body. This was the second time I've ever seen him cry; the first time was when my grandmother passed away. When I saw this unfold… a hollow, sunken feeling came in my gut. I finally knew that I had hit rock bottom. Just what the hell have I been doing with my life? Why was it so hard to figure out my purpose?This is when I started to read books like "Think and Grow Rich" by Napoleon Hill and "The Intelligent Investor" by Benjamin Graham. I swore to myself that I would do whatever it takes in order to attain financial freedom and to never feel this way again. Interestingly enough, reading all these self-help books really changed my mindset and how I behaved at work. People started to take notice at my work ethic and attitude and I was even offered a supervisor position in my organization that required a Master's degree. I guess you really don't need to graduate college in order to land yourself a decent paying job.But I hated my job and I still couldn't kick my weed addiction. I knew what my goals were but it all seemed unattainable. I continued to dabble in investing and swing trading but never found the success that I wanted. The only real profit I made was from NVDA when the FAANG stocks were all the rage before the hype died out. This got me hooked though. I just had to find a way to make money in the stock market. I began to watch YouTube videos, read books, and tried various trading chatrooms.It wasn't until I read Andrew's first book in early 2019, "How To Day Trade For A Living" where my mindset began to change once more. He wrote that "in day trading, you will be competing with the sharpest minds in the world." Doctors, lawyers, stock operators, professors, what have you… This got me thinking: How was I supposed to compete with such brilliant people if I kept getting high? This gave me the resolve to quit my addiction and to focus on my studies. I no longer dabbled in the stock market, but rather completely immersed myself in it.As Andrew constantly emphasizes in his books and in his chatroom, "a day trading career is a marathon and not a sprint. It's not about making $50,000 by the end of next week. It's about developing a set of skills that will last a lifetime." I've noticed that there are a lot of people who are hesitant about joining a chatroom or buying the necessary computer/tools/books to day trade effectively because it's costly… but isn't going to college costly as well? Whether your dream is to become a doctor, a lawyer, a professional athlete, or anything else you desire… any profession you pursue will take time, effort, and investment. Day trading is no different. Andrew provides you with the information, scanners, education, and guidance to help jumpstart your day trading career.People tend to treat the stock market like gambling and hope to make riches by finding that one perfect stock. They either don't prepare themselves or do nothing at all to acquire the skills needed to become a consistent and profitable trader. When in reality, day trading has to be considered a business and a very intense one at that. It has a very steep and brutal learning curve that you must experience and push through. If day trading were easy, everyone would be doing it and everyone would be a millionaire.I still consider myself a novice, but I see myself growing and progressing each and every day. Being a part of the BearBullTraders community has helped me remarkably. Even if you choose to join another chatroom or trading community, it is vitally important you do so; by learning from other people's experiences and mistakes, you are able to quicken your own learning curve. However, please do your due diligence as most chatrooms are all about giving you alerts and prompting you to buy the next hot stocks, not to educate you. The BearBullTraders community is more about teaching you the skills needed to be an independent trader. Just check out their YouTube channel to see for yourself. Also, be sure to spend some time in a simulator before trading your own money. It's not about making money at first. Your main goal should be to develop your skills and psychology. Money is simply a by-product of you becoming a better trader.Success is not a matter if you can or cannot do something or achieve your goals. If you have the right mindset, a burning desire, and the persistence to see your goals through… you will find that success is only a matter of time. If what I wrote today resonates with you or you find yourself at rock bottom as well… take the chance and read Andrew's books. It's a good starting point for your day trading career and it might just change your life. From one person to another, I wish you all the best in your endeavors. Thank you for taking the time to read."Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." - Napoleon Hill

Excellent resource. I have read many book based on day trading for beginners. He hits all the major points to become successful along with excellent beginning trading strategies. The only reason I did not give this five stars is due to the author’s arrogance in his writing. It will become very evident that he has an ego that needs to be fed. Other than this, great book!