How Many Hours Do Day Traders Work?

May 4, 2023 Posted by Cory Mitchell, CMT Day Trading Stocks Info, Forex Day Trading Lessons 10 Comments

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 between one and eight trades in that 2-hour period (average is 4 trades). Assume an extra 3 to 4 hours per week of review, preparation, and improvement exercises.

I currently day trade the EURUSD on a 1-minute chart. When I trade this market, I usually trade for about 1.5 hours.

I also day trade stocks. When I’m trading this market, I usually only trade the first 30 minutes after the open.

In this article, I break down various scenarios of how many hours day traders work. I have lived several different lives as a day trader, working both longer and shorter hours.

Fewer hours tend to work best for me since the biggest and quickest moves in a trading day are typically isolated to within a period of a couple of hours.

The 2-Hour Day Trading Work Day

1.5 to 2 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.

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 TradingView charts and making my trades in my brokerage account), and I input my current account balance into my position sizing tool so I can calculate my position size while trading.
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. This usually only takes a few minutes.
I then typically publish my chart on my Twitter profile and on the TradeThatSwing Facebook page.

Here’s an example:

Interesting #daytrading in the $EURUSD today. Flip flopped back and forth as bigger patterns played out. I don’t trade big patterns (bolded) but I do use them for context in trading smaller patterns. Decent day.https://t.co/pNXyXOly9t pic.twitter.com/6tRlwIdh9Z
— Cory Mitchell, CMT (@corymitc) July 12, 2021

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.

Only #daytraded for about 30 mins in the $EURUSD this morning but some nice quick trades.
Some really nice TCs before I started as well (I traded during the vertical lines). pic.twitter.com/x0ln45gFxM
— Cory Mitchell, CMT (@corymitc) April 20, 2023

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.

I only day trade for 2 hours, 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.

My office door is closed so I’m not bothered. 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 volatility 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. I then publish a weekly review (I don’t always have time to post this publicly, but do when I can). The most important section of this review is the bottom section where I talk about what I need to focus on for the upcoming week. This is basically my 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 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 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.

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 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 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.

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. Either of these approaches isn’t 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. Although taking or disposing of the positions may take 15 minutes or so. But still, pretty brief day trading hours! 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, 1.5 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 opportunity in the Price 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

The EURUSD Day Trading Course teaches 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

10 Comments

About Cory Mitchell, CMT

Cory is a professional trader since 2005. In between trading stocks and forex he consults for a number of prominent financial websites and enjoys an active lifestyle. He runs TradeThatSwing and coaches individual clients.

10 Comments

Leave your reply.

Gavin
· Reply

March 15, 2023 at 9:19 AM

Hi Cory, you mentioned you eventually got 7-figure capital to trade for a pop firm. Was/Is it possible to day trade forex with seven figures and 1% risk per trade? With 2-pip SL, you need 500 lots. Would that huge amount of lots cause a slippage?
- Cory Mitchell, CMT
  · Reply
  
  Author
  
  March 15, 2023 at 6:04 PM
  
  Hi Gavin,
  No…I would not trade 7 figures + leverage.
  I did not trade forex at the firm. I traded stocks, and began trading forex on my own.
  
  But leverage can be used to trade a smaller amount which is equivalent to 7 figures.
  
  A $20,000 account with 50x leverage is $1 million, or 10 lots. That is pretty easy to trade.
  
  Every broker is different, because they have agreements with different banks/liquidity providers. SO it will depend on your broker how much you can trade.
  
  On interactive brokers, during the overlap session there is typically 1-3 million on the bid and offer at any given time…about every 1/10th to 2/10th of a pip.
  
  Basically every $1-3 million (10-30 lots) or so you can expect an extra 0.1 to 0.3 pips of slippage (on MARKET ORDERS OR STOP LOSSES). More around news since bid and ask levels tend to be smaller.
  
  With 90-100 lots (that is about a $200K account with 50:1 leverage) you’re looking at a pip of slippage on most market/stop orders. Maybe more if your broker doesn’t have much liquidity. That may be a problem for some traders, maybe not.
  
  Also, keep in mind that price changes very quickly, so a different-than-expected price isn’t always due to order size. The price may have just changed in the split second between deciding to click buy/sell and the order going through.
  
  Since every broker is different, I would work up. With a larger account, start with several standard lots and then gradually increase up to your desired positions assuming the execution of the orders is still acceptable.
  - Gavin
    · Reply
    
    March 16, 2023 at 11:05 PM
    
    Thank you, Cory. Your answer is very helpful.
David Carnicero
· Reply

September 20, 2022 at 7:38 PM

Hi Cory,

I am 21 years old and right now I am an international student in Florida, and I am looking for an internship since I am almost done with my International Business and Business Administration degree. I would love to ask you something.

I have been trying to learn about trading for 7 months now. However, I believe I didn’t put enough time in it yet during these months to be profitable and that I need a lot more to be at that point. I feel like right now looking for an intern, college, a job and some other stuff doesn’t let me go in depth to trading, but there is something that calls me out in this.

As an overall experience, would you recommend to me starting a path in trading in a prop firm after college? When you were there, do you remember how profitable were you monthly in average? In a world where I’ve spent almost 4 years in college feeling like I haven’t really learnt anything, no one shows you that there are other paths than climbing the corporate ladder. This is why I feel a little bit lost about what to do with my life, and I would really to hear any advice from a person that has been in a position that I look for with interest, even though I am aware that I don’t know you and you neither. However, if you could have any piece of advice for a lost student ready to go for the real world and that it’s somehow interested in trading, please let me know.

I would really appreciate your time.

Best,
David Carnicero.
- Cory Mitchell, CMT
  · Reply
  
  Author
  
  September 21, 2022 at 8:01 PM
  
  Hi David,
  
  I was at a physical location Prop Firm. I like the physical location ones, not the online ones (unless they have a physical location and let you trade remotely). With most of the online ones you are pretty much on your own to learn. I think most people are better off just doing it on their own and growing their accounts as opposed to working for these online firms.
  
  So you could trade on your own while doing something else, or if you can find one, seek a physical prop firm as then you will access to more guidance, other traders, risk managers etc, which will definitely help establish good habits.
  
  If you end up outside the US, you can look for Day Trade the World offices. Express your interest here: https://www.daytradetheworld.com/day-trading-jobs/ and they will let you know if there is an office around you. 350 trading offices around the world. If you are in the US, you’ll have to look for physical location firms in your area. Bright Trading may be an option: https://stocktrading.com/
  
  There are other options: corporate life wasn’t for me. If you are interested in trading, but don’t have the cash or time to start, you can write about or make videos about it. Start a blog and interview traders about how they trade. You don’t need to know anything yourself…just ask questions you want to know the answers to. Other people want that information too.
  
  As you learn, you can start trading or simply write and provide a valuable information source. Maybe you choose to do youtube videos, or prefer to write on a blog, or do quick tiktok videos. Up to you. But you can make a living do that too. Once you have some article written, you go to other websites and offer to write for them…maybe a few article for free to get your name out there, but then there are also paid writing assignments. You can freelance for large financial sites writing articles or apply to be an editor, staff writer etc focusing on the financial markets.
  
  Lots of options.
  
  The traders at the firm made a wide range in monthly profit. The minimum was about $3,000 up to $50,000 or a bit more per month. But 96% of traders who came to the firm never made it to profitability.
  
  Hope that helps.
  - David Carnicero
    · Reply
    
    September 22, 2022 at 4:28 PM
    
    Hi Cory,
    
    Thank you so much for all the information you provided me. I will take a closer look at every available option to choose my future career path.
    
    Again, I appreciate your time. I hope everything goes great for you!
    
    Best,
    David Carnicero.
Zane
· Reply

May 23, 2022 at 10:25 PM

Besides the Day Trader annual salary itself and because of the financial career path. Are you more financially inclined to invest more or move money around as a side job therefore adding to your overall salary? If so as a rough estimate, how much more too?
- Cory Mitchell, CMT
  · Reply
  
  Author
  
  May 24, 2022 at 8:27 AM
  
  I invest regularly, but that is buy-and-hold in select ETFs: https://tradethatswing.com/the-100-year-time-tested-method-for-compounding-returns-in-the-stock-market/
  
  I also swing trade stocks (sometimes forex).
  
  The investing takes very little time. Like 5 mins a month to put out a buy order in the ETFs I own to buy more.
  
  The swing trading takes about 1 hour to scan for stocks, and then about 1 hour per week of monitoring. So another couple hours per week.
  
  Writing about these things on this website is what takes up most of my time (aside from golf).
Ethan Coleman
· Reply

February 23, 2022 at 9:24 AM

Hello Sir,
Thank you for the insights and willingness to share your techniques.
I’m going to start slowly, but I know day trading is my future. (Im currently on short-term disability from my job due to a bad wreck, but when I go back to work, I’ll have more capital to trade with due to OT availability.)
I’m willing to invest long days and weeks for long enough to learn and set myself up. Im also 50, so I have short time to be very productive.
Thank you again!
Best,
Ethan Coleman
George Papazov
· Reply

September 14, 2021 at 10:12 AM

Thank you very much for this beautiful article. This is really great and helpful. I appreciate your thoughts and ideas.

How Many Hours Do Day Traders Work?

How Many Hours Do Day Traders Work?

The 2-Hour Day Trading Work Day

How to Make Day Trading More Efficient

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

How Many Hours Day Traders Work

Additional Resources on Day Trading Efficiently

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About Cory Mitchell, CMT

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