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What Does It Take To Become A Professional Day Trader?

What does it take to become a professional day trader? You probably reached this page because you are considering learning how to day trade. I would like to share some insight as to what it takes as I have been in this industry for well over 10 years.

We have also trained hundreds of traders around the world and have seen the results of what it really takes to become profitable. We are also asking our (now live) Colombian traders what they think is the key to becoming a professional trader.  Our Colombian traders just went live two months ago and have been doing very well.

The video below will give you some insight from both an experienced trader and novice traders:

Click here to view the video on YouTube

We cannot stress enough how important discipline and psychology are in order to see consistent results when learning how to day trade. It isn’t about fancy software systems or indicators. It comes down to controlling your emotions and managing decisions when you are trading.

Discipline

If we aren’t disciplined enough to follow our own plan, then how do we expect to become profitable?  Discipline is one of the most important aspects of becoming a professional day trader. The discipline to stay in a trade when it may fail, the discipline to stay out of a trade, and the discipline to know when to quit.

Sometimes our best position is to sit on our hands.

One must also know his own risk tolerances and personality. We have Master Traders that finish within 10 or 20 minutes of the market open and others that trade the entire day. Instead of trying to mimic and copy someone else’s style we should learn techniques and incorporate them into what we feel comfortable with.

We are always going to make mistakes, take bad trades, and lose some.

But having the discipline of identifying all of those things is what makes us better. Have the discipline to take all of the valid trades that you should be taking according to your strategy (assuming of course that you have a viable strategy).

Have the discipline to ensure that the market is not leading you. Instead tell the market what you want it do to for you.

It takes a lot of work and at the end of the trading day one should be exhausted, because battling the market everyday is no easy task.

Sometimes we get frustrated when the market gets away from us and we can’t take a trade. You know the days that I am talking about. The market runs up ALL DAY and never pulls back for a trade. Then at 11.45am EST the market finally pulls back to give that picture perfect opportunity.

Most of us are not disciplined enough to wait. We aren’t disciplined enough that we start throwing orders left and right only to frustrate ourselves or, even worse, blow out an account. The difference with DTA is that we have all been there. Our CEO and Founder, Marcello Arrambide, took out $25,000 in student loans to start trading and he lost it in a month.  Our Master Trader, Mark, took a leave of absence from his job only to start losing money when he went live.

A lot of money.

These are only two examples we could provide many more.

But if we are disciplined to wait for that moment.  That moment when our rules are met and we can take a high probability opportunity. Only then, will we be able to see consistency over time.

But it all starts with discipline.

Psychology & Preparing Yourself

Mark made a presentation at our annual pro trader’s seminar about preparing yourself for the market.  Ever wonder why when we were in math class at age 14/15 they made us do all of those exercises for homework? Play sports do you? What about the endless repetitions that is done during practice.

When you try to ride a bicycle 99.9% of us fail.

Most of us start with training wheels, because if we don’t we may be badly injured. We still end up falling the first time, but we try over and over again until we finally succeed.

After that first time of not falling we create a new wrinkle in our brain that allows us to remember how to ride a bicycle.

By preparing ourselves for the market the right way we create that new wrinkle in our brain as well.

The only difference between day trading and a bicycle is that we have to train ourselves to ride that bike on a different terrain every day. The markets change and it will never look the same twice. Ever.

It may look similar but it will never be exactly the same. Market behaviors are now more erratic and unexpected than ever. The (then) 85 billion dollars a month that The Fed was pumping into the financial system has created waves not only in the states but all over the world.

We have to subconsciously prepare ourselves for the market so that we don’t “think” about what is happening.

Instead, we react to the market subconsciously.

Exactly like that. Any questions?

Confidence & Believing In Your Trades

When we decided to go on our Graduate Master Trader tour we eventually made to the Hit Man’s house in Nantucket Island.  We wanted to be there when our master traders reached the point where “they’ve made it”.

For Hit Man, otherwise known as Nikolai, he was sick and tired of being sick and tired.

We were there for the moment that he quit his job. His first day it was a profit of roughly 3 points. I still remember when he put in his order and he turned and looked at me and said “I don’t care what happens I know this is going to work.”  I knew at that point that he had the right frame of mind.  He wasn’t going to back to simulation or back to a job ever again. We were going to make sure of that since Nikolai is family now.

It isn’t easy to put our money on the line. We work very hard for the small amount of cash that we earn in the grand scheme of things. Parting with that money is a deep emotional issue.

An issue that we have to battle ourselves.  There are no reinforcements that come to rescue us when we have to look in the mirror and battle our own demons.  It is up to us to turn around and go toe to toe with those issues. If we decide never to confront them we will never be able to succeed.

Nikolai – going from DTA student to DTA master trader and teacher.

If you are seeing positive results on simulation then carry that over into live. There is always an adjustment period after you go live but if you can do it on sim then you can do it live.

We would even go further and tell you to have someone setup your platform so you don’t know whether you are trading sim or live.  We plan on introducing that feature in a new trading platform that we are developing for our in house traders.

Review your trades every day, every week, and every month.  Go back and take a look at all the decisions that you are making and whether a trade is positive or negative and decide whether it was a good decision or not.

We hope that this gave you a bit of insight into what it really takes to become a successful day trader.

40 Comments

  1. Hi Marcello
    Looking to fix and improve myself so my losing trades could be winning one.
    Looking for training help and do not from where and how to start to improve.

    Regards
    Amir Rasul
    6466459559

  2. HI marcelo! My name is ANTONIO alves from Brazil living in New York for 23 years. I did do befor eCommodities trading in Chicago. I really enjoy your videos and I want to open an acct. what’s the firm? Here is the location? And will there be someone to be with me during the trading hours.? Please feel free to contact me on my e mail or skype.

    Looking forward and Thank you Marcelo.

    1. Hey Antonio. We do most of our training online outside of our day trading center in Medellin, Colombia. We are also in the process of opening a center in Brazil. But for right now most of our training is online. You can also contact us via our contact page at https://daytradingacademy.com/contact

  3. Marcello, Reading this felt like you were talking directly to me. I’ve been working, studying and sim trading for about 15 months now and having fantastic profits while simming. It’s just that every time I go live I don’t do well at all. I’ve even thought about having my wife change the sim to live without telling me. Now I’m starting to get a defeated attitude which is making my live trading impossible. I’m taking 2 weeks vacation to clear my mind in hopes I will forget my bad attitude and be able to digest what I’ve studied for 15 months, to comeback and be able to be successful. I just stumbled onto your school and may do a lot of reading and video of your site while on vacation. Your approach makes a lot of sense and is different than most that I’ve seen. Thanks for teaching, Steve

    1. You know it’s funny Steve I actually did that with one trader here in Colombia so that he could get used the feeling of being able to trade everyday. Keeping things simple is the way to go Steve. Good luck on the journey my man. Just remember its not about indicators or software its about understanding market structure and reading the market the right way.

  4. Hi Marcello, I just want to start off by saying you are very inspirational and I feel like your amazing for taking time out of your life to teach people about about day trading around the world. I had never heard of day trading before i saw you on youtube a couple of months ago, and when you described the amazing lifestyle that you had with it, I told myself that day trading was the lifestyle for me as well. The most appealing post of it all is the traveling, I’ve always loved going to new places and experiencing different culture. I’m really looking forward to learning much more from you and i hope you continue to enjoy your travels.

    1. Great to hear from you David and glad that you are willing to learn! Can definitely be a life changer I have been able to live my dreams because of day trading!

  5. Hey Marcello, my wife and I saw you on HGTV purchasing the house in Colombia. You said you wanna help people change their lives through teaching day trading. I always wanted to be an investor whether it’s trading stocks or real estate investing. With your words of wisdom that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Let’s get started!

  6. Hi…ben interested n day trading a long time but could never make it work…did a lot of ken roberts courses ….things have changed a lot sense then my kids have gotten older…so have I…want to learn how to do this…spend some time with my folks while ther still around…I saw u on international house hunters n when u talked abt day trading n setting up a center my gf n I both said thats wher we need to b…is it possible for an old man like me to learn new tricks from eastern wa? ….

    1. Jeff… one of the best traders I have trained started when he was over 60 years old. Age is just a number.

  7. hello there I believe in destiny and glad to have found you online.let me tell you a bit about myself born in NY my mom was born not to far from Medellin.to me its The best city you can live in. Just be bajo perfil i Go there every year stay With a family close relatives of my father.Envigado me The safest place to be I walked home at 3 am from the plaza drunk no worries no robbing of anything wish to learn from you one day I’m trucking right now hopefully can make enough the first 6 months and plan to head out to Colombia middle of summer anxious to start learning from you I have a cousin who recently graduated from eafit have family that live in poblado and grew up in Medellin love the mountains and have some good spots to walk the mountains my friend has a nice avocado tree in his back yard u are welcomed to climb and take as many for salads also maracuya and oranges too thank you john

  8. Hello Marcello,

    I’m just a humble engineer contemplating the posibility to invest in the market to be able to start some business and projects. But I know nothing about finances and stock market. Wouldn’t know even where to start… which program to use… which market to explore…

    I live in Medellín and would like to know if you’re planning on doing any type of comference maybe? Where I can find some info to start with?

    It seems really interesting for me, and been reading about “binary investments”, but it looked like a “I’m desperate for fast and easy money” kind of a ripoff… (not sure, just my humble perception)

    any recommendation?

    Sorry for the long comment, have a nice day.

    Simón

    1. Hey Simon, good to hear from you. We have helped many people become successful even with zero experience. It is actually better if you are brand new or have zero experience. If you have any questions about our program, please contact us at https://daytradingacademy.com/contact so we can get you all the information the you need,

  9. It’s 2:57 am I too am watching HGTV and saw you on house hunters I would love to become a day trader but a novice. I’m a newlywed and brand new father trying to set a path for my 9 mth old son. Money has been tight at the moment but I want to create financial freedom for my family. Very excited.

  10. Hey Marcello! I hope that I can get into this because you live the life I dream of when I get older. I look at my father and my step father who both work very hard and I respect them greatly but they do not live the life that I want to live. Im only 16 years old but with your help within the next 10 years I hope to be an expert trader and be living in a place like Medellin. I am the lowest level of beginer possible and I would love to have you help me obtain finacial freedom.
    Thanks!
    Keith

  11. Totally new to this subject and looking into perspectives to take my finances to a more independent level. No experience and in need of guidance. Suggestions!!????

  12. Hi marcello,

    Is it teue that there is a stop loss hunting in forex trading?

    Appreciate your response

    1. There are stop hunters everywhere Roland… but at the end of the day it is a constant battle between the smart money and everyone else. Smart money are the ones that move markets. I don’t recommend you trade forex however because it is quite a manipulated market.

  13. Hi Marcello, Indeed I must appreciate your effort and service to the community. I want to improve my profit percentage during day trading as most of the time it is one percent and I am not satisfied. Thanks

  14. very impressive presentation, sir, now as someone in Africa,South Africa to be exact how do I attend your practica,s? Do you have offices In South Africa. Thanks

  15. Marcello,

    I feel that learning this system and being good at the system would be important. I have been following you for many months now. I am not sure how long it would take to learn the correct positioning and I find it concerning. I would be pleased to attend the school in Medellin, but I speak very little Spanish. I would be happy to understand when you have available the class and training in Medellin. I did get a call from a very nice representative of your firm from Texas. I am more interested to learn from your teaching center in Medellin. I have an apartment in Provenza and I need to be there to make some changes to it. I would like to schedule for the same time frame if at all possible. I am excited to be able to do this and learn and trade from one of the best traders. I will be very grateful to hear from you and your videos are very much appreciated.

    1. Cy most of our training is done online and even though we do have training in Spanish in our trading center in Colombia we do many events in English since we have so many traders come down. Just contact us and we would be happy to give you more info

  16. Hello, I have read and re-read all the information and emails and am gaining a higher level of trust with the DTA… And it’s been a difficult turn for me especially in light of some of the last courses I been through. Very little concern for the trader, just concern for his credit card number,
    I had Tom call me a few times to answer my questions, and there is a laid back, zero pressure discussion which almost seems surreal
    I will sign up today,.. Looking forward to being another success story!

  17. I have a problem in the connection to the live webners. All the steps I follow but can not go through.Is there a nyone experiencing the same problem?

  18. Hello Marcello!
    I’m looking to make a new start with day trading! I am so tired of the day to day grind of holding down a job that basically sucks the life out of me. My family and I deserve better. I feel that day trading could be the next step to becoming financially free. Day trading is fairly new to me but I am very willing to learn and work hard. Where do I start??

  19. Hi Marcello,

    What equipment will I need to have before I joined the course I.e computer/s?? Would an iMac and a Lenovo laptop get me started??

    Also, I live in Scotland, will I need to quit my job to concentrate on the course full time with being in a different time zone or can it be done along side my current job??

    And will there always be someone I can contact (because of the time difference) more or less instantly if I have questions or a problem with a certain aspect of what I’m being taught??

    Cheers
    Dean Scott

    1. Dean thanks for the comment.
      For internet speed: https://daytradingacademy.com/getting-started-day-trading/what-kind-of-internet-speed-do-i-need-for-day-trading
      For computer: https://daytradingacademy.com/getting-started-day-trading/what-kind-of-computer-do-i-need-for-day-trading

      You can trade the European markets without any issues. We teach traders how to understand the market and have the ability to read the mkt properly. This means that anyone can trade with our strategy in any market in the world; European, Asian, or American. You can definitely do it with your current job Dean. One of our Master Traders, James, is a professional hockey player in Europe and he became a Master Trader without even attending any of our classes since we record all of our classes. There is always a Master Trader to get in touch with Dean 😀

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