A better question to ask would be, what does “learn to day trade” actually mean? Knowing how to trade is kind of a conceptual thing. You can’t say you “know” how to trade, before you take some essential steps of learning process into consideration. Knowing the basics of day trading and understanding the language of experienced traders when they speak to you is the first step. Learning basic day trading techniques and vocabulary might not seem important at first, but this is the first step and the first stage of becoming a successful day trader. Even though this stage can be completed quite fast, it still doesn’t mean you know what day trading is or how it is done in practice.

So, how much time do beginners need before they learn how to trade? Again, remember that there are many levels and stages of knowledge, as mentioned above. Can some actually learn to day trade in a week? To some extent, they can. As already described, learning the basics can be done really quickly, but they won’t be able to make money day trading in the long run for sure. It doesn’t mean that one should not learn the basics, or even start applying them in practice. You should just note, that it is impossible to skip this first step. For some beginners, this step could even be completed in a week.

The second thing to be aware of is that the time needed for the learning process depends a lot on the individuals that want to learn how to day trade for a living. Some people might take a lot longer (maybe even up to half a year) to even learn the basics and how to place orders. Other traders might pick things up rather quickly, speeding up the learning process. Generally speaking, beginners can learn how to day trade for a living in a period of time lasting from a few weeks to several months.

Examples of traders who traders for long time

After Most of the knowledge in day trading comes from actual trading experience. The most successful day traders, like Meir Barak and Scott Malatesta have several years of experience in actual day trading. Do they know how to day trade? Obviously, yes. You can check videos of their success stories, or watch them trade on Youtube.

Having said that, it is also important to mention, that even such successful traders as Meir and Scott still make many mistakes like anyone else. Even their success rate is not 100%. Nevertheless, Experienced traders never make mistakes like most of the beginners, who blow their account.

Wrap it up

To sum up, we can say that average individuals start day trading within about three month if they are dedicated enough and spend a lot of time applying their knowledge and using the day trading strategies they are taught on a simulator or demo accounts. Certain individuals might be able to learn rather fast, maybe in a week, but they will still need to continue learning.

You can always improve your skills, work on your psychology, learn new strategies and tips on how to day trade for living. A great source for that is Tradenet. You can find access to free materials, such as Tradenet blog, Tradenet wiki Youtube channel, free stock reviews for US and EU markets and a lot more. Besides that, Tradenet offers another Youtube channel that includes live day trading videos. Here you can watch successful day traders, like Meir Barack and Scott Malatesta trading, giving tips and recommendations. This is an important part of becoming a successful day trader, as traders need to watch others trade to become better.