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Do you feel left out when your friends, who just tried their luck at crypto trading, go on and on about day trading until your ears start to bleed? Day trading, one of the most popularly applied trading methods in stock and commodities financial markets is now being employed by crypto traders as well. Either you are marveled by the day trading success stories shared by your friends or just freaked out by how some traders lose all their money to day trading.
What is day trading and is it worth investing your time and money in?
Find everything you need to know as a newbie crypto enthusiast in this beginner’s guide to crypto day trading.
What is Day Trading?
Trading is all about selling an asset for a price higher than its cost price. Many factors including environmental and political fluctuations, research and development, mergers, and acquisitions impact the price of an asset in the financial markets. Rather than adding value to the asset and then making a profit from it, you take the shorter route and make a profit from the price fluctuations in the market. Trading methods differ depending on how long you are willing to hold the assets.
In day trading or intraday trading, you enter and exit the market on the same trading day. Day traders keep track of the price fluctuations that happen during a day to make a small profit that adds up to a larger amount over a long period. Although traditional financial markets are only open on business days of the week for a set number of hours, the crypto market is open 24*7. To qualify as a crypto day trader, you confine yourself to a 24-hour time frame.
These two examples will help you understand day trading better.
Sonny learns from the news that the price of ABC coin is going to see a sudden, fleeting hike during the next few hours owing to a Twitter reference made by a Hollywood celebrity. He purchases 100 ABC coins for $10 each at 10:00 AM and sells it for $12 each at 10:20 AM making a $200 profit in just 40 minutes.
Mark has been keeping track of the price charts of crypto coin DEF for a while now. He decides to take his plunge into day trading and buys 200 DEF coins for $6 each. The price goes up to $7 in a few hours. Anticipating further price increase, Mark holds his coins for a few more hours during which the price dips to $6.9 and then $6.8. Mark sells the coins for $6.8 each making a $160 profit.
Crypto Day Trading Strategies
Many trading strategies are applied by different day traders to earn a profit. Let’s take a quick look at each of them.
1. Scalping
In scalping, you exploit small price fluctuations using your technical skills. Rather than focusing on fundamental analysis as these events often pan out over a longer period of time, scalpers develop a deep understanding of the market to make quick decisions.
2. Range trading
You can’t rely on price charts solely when it comes to day trading. In range trading, a careful analysis of the support and resistance a cryptocurrency receives is made to buy low and sell high. Here, you should watch out for factors that go beyond what is revealed by the price charts.
3. High-frequency trading (HFT)
In HFT day trading, you develop trading bots that enter and exit trade positions exploiting price fluctuations within a time frame of milliseconds. Although the bots are automated, a lot of work goes behind the screen like monitoring and changing the algorithms according to market changes.
Things to Know Before You Start Crypto Day Trading
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The cryptocurrency market is highly volatile as most crypto ventures are recently set up and yet to prove their competency. Some become a humongous success overnight pushing the prices to even double or triple while many bite the dust a few weeks into listing. Both the profit and loss you make would be significant.
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Don’t risk more than 1% of your total bankroll. Here, bankroll is the total amount of money you have available to invest. This will save you from losing all your money at once. Although small, your profits can be added to the bankroll to increase your income over time.
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Losses are part of the game. If you believe you incurred losses because of your mistake, learn from it. If external factors were to blame, accept the fate and move on.
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With practice comes (near) perfection. Start small and get yourself acquainted with the highs and lows of the market to improve your skills.
Ready to get started?
Day trading is one of the safest methods recommended in crypto trading, especially for newbies. If you have decided to try your hands at crypto day trading, you need to find a reliable cryptocurrency exchange that is up and running 24 hours and offers you a range of coins to trade.
Bithumb Global is a leading cryptocurrency exchange with more than 1 million registered users. We offer great liquidity and user experience. Since there are 100+ different coins listed on Bithumb Global including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash, you won’t run out of your options to trade. We will be a great place for you to learn the basics of day trading. So get started and make your baby steps into the crypto market.