How Many Hours Day Traders Work - Scenarios Based on Goals, Strategy, and Improvement - Trade That Swing (2024)

As a professional day trader since 2005, I spend 0.5 to 2 hours per day taking day trades. My trades last several minutes each, and I usually take several trades during the trading time. Assume an extra 1 to 2 hours per week of review, preparation, and improvement exercises.

The 2-Hour Day Trading Work Day

1 to 2.5 hours is my typical day trading workday. I’m in Mountain Time (MST), and I day trade the EURUSD from 6 am to 7:30 or 8 am MST (8 to 10 am Eastern Time (EST)). I then may day trade stocks from 7:30 to 8 am (the first half hour after the open) if I am finished up with my forex trading, but more often than I just trade one market or the other each day.

Here’s my typical day:

• I get up a little after 5am, go to the washroom, get a glass of water, feed the fish, and then sit down at my computer.
• I spend about 5 to 10 minutes doing a morning day trading routine to get my mind into a calm neutral state. Some days my mind is clear and ready to go in 5 minutes. On other days the routine may take 10 or 15 minutes if something is nagging at me or distracting me.
  • I mix up this routine, depending on what I feel I need that day to get me in the proper mind frame. I don’t want to just go through the motions; I do whatever I can/need to to get my mind right before trading.
• I open my trading platform, I open my charts (I prefer looking at and making my trades in my brokerage account). I calculate my position size for various stop loss sizes I typically use BEFORE trading, and write them down so I don’t need to spend time calculating position sizes in the moment of a trade.
  
• My only goal while day trading is to follow the trading plan, so my focus is on finding patterns that meet my plan, and avoiding everything else. I talk through each price bar that occurs throughout the day to help with this. I call this “commentating.”
• I call it quits after approximately 2 hours, or whenever there is a natural break. For example, if I have traded for 1 hour and 45 minutes and it doesn’t look like a trade will set up soon, then I stop. If I’m in a trade at the 2 hour mark, I let it play out.
• After my trading session finishes, I look over my chart and add any additional notes I want to remember about the day or how I traded. I review my trades and verify if they are valid or not, or look to see if I missed anything. I sum up my stats for the day and put them on the chart or write them down somewhere else. This usually only takes a few minutes.

Here’s an example:

• That is it. After I finish trading I make breakfast and go golfing or to my trainer. That is my day. Being that I am in mountain time, my workday starts at 6 am and finishes around 830 am. I’m at my trainer by 9 am, and usually on the golf course between 11 am and noon.

• Each week, usually on the weekend, I will go through my charts/trades for the week with fresh eyes. I note trades I missed or trades I took in error. I note common mistakes and brainstorm how I’ll work on improving it (I pick only one mistake to work on at a time) for next week. When starting out, this processing can take hours, because there may be lots to fix and work on. As the trading improves, it may only take 15 minutes.
• I also recommend an hour or more a week focused on the mental game. This could include meditation, or doing identity work which builds up the traits we want in ourself so we aren’t constantly relying on discipline…following our plan just becomes who we are.

Here are some additional notes on day trading, and how to make that trading time the most efficient and productive it can be…

How to Make Day Trading More Efficient

I try to start trading at the same time each day. It doesn’t always happen, but for consistency, I like to trade the same period each day. If I start at 6 am every day and I missed a trade at 5:58 I don’t care, but if I miss a trade at 6:02 because I wasn’t logged in, that is a mistake on my part.

The times we can trade over time may change due to life circ*mstances, but ideally set a time and stick within it until you need to change it. Include the update in your trading plan.

I only day trade for 2 hours or less, so I am focused for that 2 hours. I try not to get distracted, and unless absolutely necessary I don’t get up from my desk. 2 hours go by pretty quickly.

It takes time and practice to maintain focus and discipline for 2 hours (or longer). When a trade is setting up, even being distracted for 1 second can mean a missed or delayed entry which may ruin the trading opportunity.

I work for 2 hours per day trading because in my market (the EURUSD) those two hours have the most action of the entire day.

For day trading stocks, I like trading 9:30 am to 10 am EST, maybe 10:30 (730-8/830 my time). I like trading the big movements right after the open and that is it.

I only day trade one market at a time. I have tried day trading stocks and the EURUSD at the same time. I could do it, but profits didn’t really increase, because typically I am missing something in one market for the chance to trade another. I am allowed to trade one market after the other though. So I may trade forex, stop, and then trade stocks once the stock market opens.

In addition to trading, I also do some review work to help improve my trading.

• During the weekend, I will go through my charts for the week and add up all the profit and losses, win rate, how many trades, missed opportunities, mistakes, etc. The most important part of a review is deciding on what to focus on now so I can trade better in the upcoming week. This usually has to do with focusing on a strength or minimizing a weakness. This is homework for improvement. The review and “homework” may take another couple of hours during the week.
• At the end of the month, I do the same thing again. I add up everything for the month, and again come up with things I need to work on (and what I did well) based on reviewing my entire month. This again takes another hour or so, plus the homework which could be a few minutes each day or a couple of hours each week.

As a day trader, I work 12 hours (if trading 2 hours per day) in a typical week, including trading, reviewing, and trading improvement exercises. If I’m struggling with something, I will put more hours into improvement exercises. If only trading for 30 minutes as day, then I am working about 5 hours per week.

If you are a new day trader, expect the number of hours to be higher, since you will need to spend more time on improvement exercises and learning the ropes. If you don’t spend much time trying to improve, then the path to consistent profits will take longer.

When I started day trading in 2005 I spent about 8 hours a day researching, practicing, trading, reviewing, and brainstorming. So working for 5-12 hours a week as a day trader is the end result of lots of hard work.

My method for day trading the EURUSD is covered in the EURUSD Day Trading Course and includes more than 11 hours of content covering all aspects of successful day trading.

How Many Hours I Worked When at a Proprietary Day Trading Firm

My day trading career started at a proprietary day trading firm. A “prop firm” hires traders and provides them with capital. In exchange, the firm takes a cut of the profits. If you don’t make good profits, you are cut loose. I traded on a prop firm floor for about 7 years and continually got more and more capital to day trade with (into seven figures).

At the firm, we had a lot of leeway, but they preferred if we were at our desks most of the day. Trading at the firm was a very different life from my 0.5 to 2 hours days now.

The stock market opens at 730 am MST (930 EST) but I would often be in the office by 630 am preparing for the day. I would be there till 2 pm MST, but would often leave/eat during the New York lunch hour because of lack of opportunities.

I would sometimes stay after the market close to talk about strategies with other traders or work on ways to improve my trading mistakes.

So in this case, I worked about 7-8 hours per day as a day trader. This included my prep, review, and actual trading time. As a side note: it took 6 months, trading every day, working at it for 7 hours per day, before I was profitable. For that 6 months, I was working nights (7 pm – 2 am) and weekends as a blackjack dealer, and then getting up to trade at 5:30 or 6 am. It was tough, but it was what I had to do to pay rent (right out of university) while I focused on becoming a day trader.

The firm kept stats on our hourly profits. The interesting thing is that while I traded nearly all day with the firm, about 85% of my profits came in the first 2 hours of the day.

Since leaving the firm in 2011, I focus on day trading the first hour of day when trading stocks (mainly the first hour). When I trade forex, any hour or two within the New York and London overlap period is ideal for me.

I have found little advantage in trading all day. That said, that only refers to trading. The more time we put into improving our trading, especially the mental game, the better we tend to perform.

I have a suspicion that the day trading success rate is low partially because people spend way more time trading than they need to, and bleed all their profit away. Or because people think they can jump on their mobile trading app while sitting in a bathroom stall at work and make a few bucks. Neither of these approaches is likely to lead to long-term consistent success.

How Many Hours Day Traders Work

Day traders can work all sorts of hours. Some love working all day. Others squeeze it into an hour or two, or maybe even less. I know traders who only trade the open or close of the stock market, so trading time is only about 15 minutes. Some traders pop in for only a few minutes around a news event.

Ultimately, how many hours you day trade is up to you. For me, 0.5 to 2 hours works well. It means I can get up early and be done “work” when most people are just starting their commute. When I’m done day trading, I go golfing or head to my trainer. Or I may choose to write an article for this site, or I can spend some time looking for stock swing trades (I contain my swing trading to a small amount of time as well). But the option is MINE! And that is a good feeling.

My priority as a trader, and a person, is to have time. My goals are focused on being comfortable and having lots of time for the things I love. That is what I care about. Many people focus on money, but end up sacrificing a lot of time to get it. And that is fine, if that is your goal. I prefer a more balanced approach…some money and LOTS of time.

Design day trading strategies around what you need to create your ideal life, in the least amount of hours possible, and then enjoy the rest of the time doing what you enjoy.

I love day trading. I could do it all day. But for me, there is no point in that. The longer I trade the more my performance drops. I prefer to be efficient.

So the real question isn’t “How many hours do day traders work?”, it is “How many hours do I want to day trade for, and what strategy allows me to do that?”

Interested in day trading stocks? Learn how and when to capitalize on price patterns that occur multiple times per day in stocks. Learn precise patterns to watch for that present a favorable risk/reward opportunityin thePrice Action Stock Day Trading Course.

Additional Resources on Day Trading Efficiently

If you are into day trading stocks, check out the Best Stocks For Day Trading page. It is updated weekly with stocks that consistently move a lot (percentage and dollar terms) each day.

This Scanning article describes how to find stocks making big moves right now.

And if you’re looking for a method, the Day Trading Trending Strategy is a good starting point.

How many hours you spend day trading, and how many trades you take in a day, are heavily affected by the chart timeframe you use. Understand the pros and cons of different chart time frames.

If you are more into forex, watch my recorded day trading sessions to get a feel for what it is like to make a few percent on your account in a couple of hours.

How Much Forex Day Traders Make discusses profit scenarios based on win rate, number of trades, and reward-to-risk.

By Cory Mitchell, CMT

TheEURUSD Day Trading Courseteaches you how to day trade the EURUSD in 2 hours or less a day.This course is specifically designed to give you all the tools and strategies you need to day trade the EURUSD. No BS, just solid methods, strategies, and information

Related