In my first blog post  “6 Points” I talked about “Skill, Will, Conditioning, Talent, Tactics, Strategy.”

At the end of it I said “Skill: How does one go about developing a skill for Day Trading?” But I failed to say how.  My intention in this post is to help clear that up, skill only comes from repetition. You can do this a number of ways.  

 First you need access to the markets this is simple enough, anyone can open an account with tdameritrade and download their free platform think or swim. Opening the account is free meaning you don’t have to deposit any money into the account to access the platform.  Now while Think or swim does have a paper trading access on their platform it does have a 10 to 15-minute delay on it. Meaning that the market data that come across the platform will not be up to date.

 To get around this I used the live trading on think or swim and I created a spreadsheet (Which I’ll posted to my blog and you can download and use yourself) and I started tracking my results. This evolved over time as you can see. My trading improved, having live data really helped with the mechanics of executing trades (Going long or Going short). A trader whom I consider a mentor to me said that I should reach out to Das Trader and they will give you access to their platform for $125.00 a month. After doing this for a couple months I was taking more size on my trades but I got tired Das trader due to the coast and the customer service or lack of should I say.   

I found another platform that 1 was cheaper then DAS and 2 has customer service. Their platform is identical to Das trader so I had no issues with learning a new platform. Now I know that paper trading is frowned upon in some circles but you have to practice, you have to get reps in. I’m going to post the link to my blog you can click on it and check them out or you can risk you own money on stocks and hope for the best.  I say develop your skill. 

The Tactical Trader Account tracker