Working out how the markets function can take a while, particularly in uncertain times like these. There’s no knowing when stocks, shares and commodities will be in demand or avoided by the savvier traders. If, however, you do keep up to date with financial news, you’re better prepared than most.
Anyone with an interest in day trading will really need to do their homework. Day trading is where a trader buys and sells a security (currency, stock or commodity) within the space of a day. The objective is to buy at a low price and sell at a higher price; if achieved, each day trade ends in a profit. It sounds simple enough, but help is needed to make it work. Here are some resources to assist with day trading.
Google News
Part of being a successful day trader is keeping up to date with the latest news stories. For this, Google News is your friend. It pulls in news stories from all over the globe, including updates on markets and businesses. You’ll see stories showing that are relevant to your interests too, so if you search for terms like “FTSE”, stories about the FTSE100 will probably appear on the first page.
Stock indices guides
For any day trading on individual markets, guides for stock indices like those from Sharptrader are handy to refer to. They provide potted guides to each of the major global stock markets – DOW Jones, FTSE, DAX, NIKKEI and so on. Using said guides, you can know about which companies make up each market and which ones you need to look out for.
Price calculator
Working out how much each day trade brings in is going to be difficult using nothing more than a handheld calculator or, worse still, your fingers. Price calculators are extremely useful, as they take the guesswork out of this process. All you need to know is the start price and current or finish price for each security and, at the end, you will have an idea of what you stand to make.
Live market data
To get a true idea of how much you stand to make or lose from day trading, what’s better than live market data? The BBC have an easy-to-follow page featuring graphs for all the major securities – markets, currencies and commodities. You can even check stats from individual listed companies too. Using the starting price of a chosen security, you can see how it moves on the spot and pick a point when to close your trade.
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