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How to Day Trade for a Living: A Beginner's Guide to Tools and Tactics, Money Management, Discipline and Trading Psychology

by Andrew Aziz (2016)

Quick summary -- an in-depth PhD-level extended summary (10-30 pages) for this book is coming soon.

How to Day Trade for a Living

Executive Summary

Andrew Aziz provides a straightforward, practical guide to day trading that covers essential tools, risk management, and nine specific trading strategies. Written for beginners, the book is deliberately concise and honest about the difficulty and failure rates in day trading, while providing actionable strategies and a clear learning path for those committed to pursuing it as a profession.

Core Thesis

Day trading is a demanding professional career, not a get-rich-quick scheme, where most participants lose money. Success requires proper education, simulator practice, community support, strict risk management, and mastery of a few proven strategies rather than constant pursuit of new techniques.

Chapter-by-Chapter Summary

  • Chapter 1: Introduction and realistic expectations for day trading
  • Chapter 2: Mechanics of day trading vs. swing trading, long/short selling, retail vs. institutional traders
  • Chapter 3: Three-step risk management and trading psychology
  • Chapter 4: Finding stocks for trades (stocks in play, float, pre-market gappers, scanners)
  • Chapter 5: Tools and platforms (brokers, Level 2, indicators, hotkeys)
  • Chapter 6: Candlestick patterns and price action psychology
  • Chapter 7: Nine trading strategies (ABCD, bull flag, reversals, moving average trend, VWAP, support/resistance, red-to-green, opening range breakout)
  • Chapters 8-9: Step-by-step trade execution and next steps for beginners

Key Concepts

  • Stocks in Play: Focusing only on stocks with catalysts and unusual volume
  • VWAP: Volume Weighted Average Price as the key intraday reference level
  • Risk-to-Reward Ratio: Minimum 2:1 ratio requirement for every trade
  • Simulator Trading: Essential practice period before risking real capital
  • The Learning Curve: Typically 6-8 months before consistent profitability

Practical Applications

  • Specific criteria for identifying tradeable stocks each morning
  • Nine detailed trading strategies with entry, exit, and stop-loss rules
  • Risk management framework limiting daily and per-trade losses
  • Community-based learning approach through trading groups

Critical Assessment

The book is refreshingly honest about day trading's difficulty and realistic about failure rates. The strategies are well-explained and practical. The brevity is both a strength (readability) and weakness (limited depth). The emphasis on community learning through Bear Bull Traders reflects genuine conviction rather than mere marketing.

Conclusion

How to Day Trade for a Living provides an honest, practical starting point for aspiring day traders, emphasizing that sustained profitability comes from discipline, practice, and mastery of proven strategies rather than seeking shortcuts.