As a professional day trader since 2005, I spend 0.5 to 2 hours per day taking day trades. My trades last several minutes on average, and I usually take several trades during the trading time. Assume an extra five hours per week of review, preparation, and improvement exercises (about an hour for each trading day). These hours are more important than the trade time, because without them, losses are more likely to occur while trading.

That’s a 7.5 to 15 hour work week.

I day trade the EURUSD on a 1-minute chart. When I trade this market, I usually trade for about 1-2 hours.

I also day trade stocks. When I’m trading this market, I usually only trade the first 0.5 to 2 hours after the New York 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

Here is a what a typical morning might look like. It will change slightly based on whether I am trading the EURUSD or stocks, or what time I am starting my trading based on the kid’s schedules, but this should provide an idea.

1 to 2.5 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)). Add in at least 10-15 minutes for a pre-trade routine each day, and another 30-45 minutes for trade review, journaling, and improvement exercises.

If I am day trading stocks, that’s typically from 7:30 to 8 am, and potentially as late as 9:30 if there is good action. Once again, add time for a pre-trade routine prior to trading and and trade review/journaling sometime later in the day.

If you have limited time, don’t sacrifice on the preparation, trade review, and journaling. If you only have an hour per day, don’t spend the whole hour trading. Spend 30 mins on the other important stuff, and only 30 mins on trading. 30 mins of trading well is way better than hour of unprepared and frustrated trading.

Here’s my typical day when I am trading early (push everything back slightly if I am starting when the US market opens):

• I get up a little after 5am, go to the washroom, get a glass of water, make the kid’s breakfast, 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 charts. I calculate my position size for various stop loss sizes I typically use BEFORE trading, and write them down so I don’t need to spend time calculating position sizes in the moment of a trade. I check the economic calendar for high impact events that may impact my trades (I will step aside for those). I then open my trading platform.
  
• 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 1-2 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. If there is nothing happening after 30 mins, I call it a day after 30 mins.
  
  
• 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 note what I did well and what I want to build on. What I did poorly and need to improve on. What my mind frame was like and how that affected my trading. I will then journal about it to solidify what I want to keep and erode what I don’t.
  
  This can occur anytime during the day. It doesn’t need to be right after I finish trading.

Here’s an example:

• That is it. After I finish trading I make breakfast and go golfing or to the gym or for a run. That is my trading day. Being that I am in mountain time, my workday starts at 6 am and finishes around 845 am. I’m often at the gym by 9 to 10 am, and usually on the golf course between 11 am and noon. If I am trading stocks, I start a bit later and sometimes finish a bit later.

• Each week, usually on the weekend, I will go through my charts/trades for the week with fresh eyes. I note trades I missed or trades I took in error. I note common mistakes and brainstorm how I’ll work on improving it (I pick only one mistake to work on at a time) for next week. When starting out, this processing can take hours, because there may be lots to fix and work on. As the trading improves, it may only take 15 minutes.
  
  
• I also recommend an hour or more a week focused on the mental game. This could include meditation, or doing identity work which builds up the traits we want in ourself so we aren’t constantly relying on discipline…following our plan just becomes who we are.

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.

The times we can trade may change over time due to life circumstances, but ideally set a time and stick within it until you need to change it. Include the update in your trading plan.

I only day trade for 2 hours or less, 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 goes by pretty quickly.

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 up to11:30 if there is lots of action (730-8/930 my time). I like trading the big movements right after the open and that is it. Once things slow down I am done.

As a day trader, I work up to 15 hours per week (if trading 2 hours per day; I usually trade less), including trading, reviewing, and trading improvement exercises. If I’m struggling with something, I will put more hours into improvement exercises. If only trading for 30 minutes as day, then I am working about 7.5 hours per week including all the preparation and 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.

When I started day trading in 2005 I spent about 8 hours a day researching, practicing, trading, reviewing, and brainstorming. So working for 5-12 hours a week as a day trader is the end result of lots of hard work.

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 trading now which is only a couple of hours.

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 7-8 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 a few 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. That said, that only refers to trading. The more time we put into improving our trading, especially the mental game, the better we tend to perform.

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. Neither of these approaches is 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, so trading time is only about 15 minutes. 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, 0.5 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 for a workout. 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 trading Purpose is 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 purpose. 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. And check out How to Day Trade Trade the EURUSD if you are interested in forex day trading.

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.

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