Trading Full Time Doesn't Mean Trading All Day

Being a full time day trader means that you day trade as your only source of income, it does not mean that you trade every moment that the markets are open. Some of the most successful day traders are those that only trade for a couple of hours per day. For some, this is because they make their daily profit targets within a couple of hours, and for others, this is because their trading systems only work at certain times of the day. Either way, knowing when to trade is as important as knowing how to trade.

When you are testing a trading system, keep track of how the trading system performs at different times of the day. I recommend dividing the day into the following times, but this should be adjusted to suit your location and any local customs for the market in question (such as the standard two hour lunch in Europe):

• The first two hours of the day - The first two hours that your market is open, or the first two hours of regular trading if your market is open twenty-four hours per day
• The rest of the morning - The remaining hours until lunch time
• Lunch Time - This is often the time of day that has the least trading activity, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it shouldn't be traded
• The first two hours of the afternoon - The first two hours of the afternoon session can be as active as the first two hours of the morning session
• The rest of the afternoon - The remaining hours until your market closes, or until the end of regular trading if your market is open twenty-four hours per day

By keeping track of when your trading system is profitable and when it is not, you may find that a trading system that you thought was useless actually turns out to be very profitable, if it is traded at the right times. With the right trading system, you may find that you only need to trade for one or two hours each day, and that you can then go to the beach, or go shopping, or do anything else that you enjoy.