Insight from a Newly Successful Trader
By John Hiltz (with edits by Andrew Aziz)
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About Author
John retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army after 21 years of service. Five years of his career were spent as an instructor at the United States Military Academy, which is where he developed a passion for educating others. While in the Army he also became fascinated with day trading and began to consume any information he could find on the topic. However, on his own he was unable to turn that knowledge into consistent trading profits. The turning points in his trading career were reading Andrew Aziz’s “
How to Day Trade For a Living
” and then joining the Bear Bull Traders community upon his military retirement. With the education provided by the BBT moderators, months of simulated trading, and months of small risk trading, John was able to find consistent profitability within his first year.
John has been married for 20 years and is the father of two teenage boys. In his spare time, he enjoys playing mediocre guitar, mountain biking, and watching his sons play hockey.
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I (John) recently have found consistent profitability in day trading and Andrew asked me to share some insight into my trading journey. However, I only realized this profitability after making all of the common new trader mistakes and then finally adopting the advice of other successful traders. The advice that turned around my trading career was:
- Risk the same amount of money per trade
- Risk a small amount of money per trade until you are consistent
- Use hard stops to exit trades
- Focus on a single strategy until you master it
Table of contents
- How to Day Trade for a Living
- Table of Contents
- Foreword
- Chapter 1: Introduction
- 2020 Hindsight
- Chapter 2: How Day Trading Works
- Day Trading vs. Swing Trading
- Buying Long, Selling Short
- Retail vs. Institutional Traders
- High Frequency Trading (HFT)
- Trade the Best, Leave the Rest
- Chapter 3: Risk and Account Management
- Three-Step Risk Management
- Trading Psychology
- Chapter 4: How to Find Stocks for Trades
- Stocks in Play
- Float and Market Cap
- Pre-Market Gappers
- Real Time Intraday Scans
- Planning the Trade Based on Scanners
- Chapter 5: Tools and Platforms
- What Broker to Use?
- Trade for Proprietary Trading Firms
- Trading Platform
- Real Time Market Data
- Nasdaq Level 2 and Bid-Ask
- Indicators on my Charts
- Buy and Sell Orders
- Hotkeys
- Watchlist and Scanners
- Community of Traders
- Chapter 6: Introduction to Candlesticks
- Price Action and Mass Psychology
- Bullish Candlesticks
- Bearish Candlesticks
- Indecision Candlesticks
- Candlestick Patterns
- Chapter 7: Important Day Trading Strategies
- Trade Management and Position Sizing
- Strategy 1: ABCD Pattern
- Strategy 2: Bull Flag Momentum
- Strategies 3 and 4: Reversal Trading
- Strategy 5: Moving Average Trend Trading
- Strategy 6: VWAP Trading
- Strategy 7: Support or Resistance Trading
- Strategy 8: Red-to-Green Trading
- Strategy 9: Opening Range Breakouts
- Other Trading Strategies
- Develop Your Own Strategy
- Trading Based on the Time of Day
- Chapter 8: Step by Step to a Successful Trade
- Building a Watchlist
- Trading Plan (Entry, Exit, and Stop Loss)
- Execution
- How Did I Do Them?
- Chapter 9: Case Study of a Newly Successful Trader
- Insight from a Newly Successful Trader
- Early Trading Education
- Beginning to Day Trade
- Hitting My Low Point
- Risk the Same Amount of Money Per Trade
- Risk a Small Amount of Money Per Trade Until You Are Consistent
- Use Hard Stops to Exit Trades
- Focus on a Single Strategy Until You Master It
- Listen to Experienced Traders
- Step-by-Step Examination of a Trade
- Conclusion
- Chapter 10: Next Steps for Beginner Traders
- The Seven Essentials for Day Trading
- Do Not Be a Gambler. Be a Trader.
- Plan Your Trading Business
- Journaling Your Trades
- Trading and Climbing
- Final Words
- Andrew’s 10 Rules of Day Trading
- Glossary