The following perspective on day trading comes from my many years of experience of active day trading or being the moderator of one of the largest day trading chat rooms on the Internet.

One of the biggest problems I find with inexperienced traders (and even some experienced ones) has nothing to do with the high tech systems or the brokerage they are using.

It has to do with not having a stock trading plan. A good trading plan should go a long way in the direction of solving the problems mentioned above.

Ted Williams was once asked how he hit the baseball so much better then everyone else. He claimed he had no idea and that he just went upward to the plate and swung at the ball. There's only been one Ted Williams and as great as he was at hitting a baseball, I don't hope he might have made a great daytrader with that approach. Most great hitters have an idea what they are going to do every time they step upward to the plate. Players have a requirement to know exactly what they expect every time they enter a deal.

Everyone should begin with a basic security trading plan and use it. As the old saying goes, "Plan your work and work your plan". However, you also have to be ready to be flexible. That has to be part of our planning. And if all else fails, you to learn to survive!" Players that are not able to make adjustments, improvise and survive should experience their own Heartbreak Ridge. That may be one way to hold a start and a bit of experience, and it can be a part of a much bigger overall plan. But it cannot start and end there. You've to learn to deal on ones own so you don't accidentally follow someone off a cliff. You've to know who to follow and who not to follow.

When I was share trading I made a lot of good deals knowing who to follow and who not to follow. Yet, in the long run, I do not believe you can make a living doing that. The biggest problem in following more trading masters is being too far behind the deal because you are "following" and not leading. I imagine each and every financier has to become the very best dealer he can possibly be, on his own. He needs to get there as fast as he can. Following more experienced players can be a means to this end and can help get you started, but it cannot be the end. This takes planning. You have to decide if you want to try to make a career outside of stock trading, or just be a part time player. Once you've decided this you can make different decisions such as how much cash you will like to make at either full time or part time stock trading. Our money goals have to be realistic. They can't just be, "I want to make as much cash as I can". These basic decisions can determine the time and greenbacks you might have to commit. If it is as detailed as I expect it should be, you ought to know how many deals per day and how much return per deal you can have to average. Of course, these things can have to be developed over time and incremented to our plan as you go and as you gain more knowledge.