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Finding the Perfect Day Trading Strategy

One of the best ways to increase the chances of success with trading is for a trader to try and match their own individual personality with the specific techniques employed in the field.

In layman’s terms, day trading involves the buying and selling of securities on the same day, and traders who are involved in this practice are usually referred to as being active traders or day traders. In the past, day trading was usually reserved for financial institutions, investment companies, banks, and fund managers. However, with the arrival of online day trading, this field of business has by all accounts become available to practically anyone wishing to become involved with day trading.

The Various Strategies Employed

As you can well imagine, there are nowadays a variety of strategies and techniques being used by active traders in order to ensure they can benefit financially. These include:

News playing, Trend following, Rebate trading, and Contrarian investing

Contrarian investing is a strategy which is based on the belief that financial securities which have been rising steadily will at a later stage begin to fall. The opposite view applies to securities which have been steadily falling.

News playing is a technique which relies on buying and selling securities based entirely on news which has been released by the specific company.

Rebate trading is generally a strategy that relies on ECN rebates as the main source of income. Generally speaking, traders who use this strategy will usually purchase large quantities of low priced securities.

Scalping is a technique which involves buying securities and then selling them within minutes, or even seconds. As a result, traders who use this strategy aim to profit from the small price gaps which occur almost immediately after a purchase.

Trend following is the trading techniques, which is the opposite of contrarian investing. This strategy assumes that securities that have steadily risen will continue to rise and falling securities will continue to fall.

Other day trading strategies include short sells and range trading.

Determining What The Best Strategy Is

Interestingly enough, statistics seem to suggest that approximately 80% of traders end up losing their available capital even before they’ve managed to learn about the various strategies. This is exactly why it’s so important to begin slowly, and to only take small risks in the beginning. Likewise, it’s of paramount importance to find the ideal strategy so that a profit can be made. Below are a few tips regarding how one should go about finding the right trading strategy.

Matching strategy with the trader – it is crucial to match a trader’s personality, strengths, and comfort level with a specific strategy. In other words, those who feel uncomfortable taking risks should focus on scalping, news playing, or rebate trading, while those who enjoy taking risks can go ahead and become involved with contrarian investing.

Start Small and Try Things Out – Starting with small investments is a good way for a new day trader to learn the pros and cons of a specific strategy. It is also a low risk of figuring out how the business works.

A day trader may also benefit from using more than one strategy at a time. In example, the trader can invest a majority of the capital using low risk strategies such as scalping and rebate trading. At the same time, a portion of the capital may be used to high risk, high yield strategies like short