Why only 1% per day?

Hopefully you have read a few of my posts before, or watched a couple of the YouTube videos. If so, then you know that I look to make 1% per day. Once that happens, I am finished for the day. Quite often I will finish even if I make slightly less than this.

I get asked ALL the time why I don’t trade for longer. Things like:

‘Why do you only look for 1% per day?’

‘If you’re a good trader then why don’t you want to make more money each day?’

‘You say you often finish in the morning. Why not take another couple of trades and make even more money before finishing?’

Yes, I could trade for longer. I could spend all day in front of the charts and take all of the setups that align with my trading plan. I would undoubtedly make more money and the account would swell faster.

But WHY would I want to do that? I came from working jobs where I often had to work 10 hour shifts, and oftentimes even longer. I detested the reality of spending the majority of my life at work, earning money in order to live.

Now trading is slightly different. I absolutely LOVE trading. It is my passion as well as my job. But at the end of the day, it is still a job. I am sitting in front of a computer, looking at and analysing charts. It is work and work is not life.

So if I can make my 1% quickly, the computer gets shut down and I’m finished for the day. I don’t then need to do something exciting. I may just go out with my dog or I may head to a café with a good book. But my working day is over.

Below are the results from today. I was finished by 9am. The slight loss in one of the trades was a hedged position that I cancelled when the trade setup confirmed. I made £645. That is enough for the day. I don’t need to make more. I build my account steadily. Even after having an average week last week (£570 profit) I still follow my rules.

A lot of traders don’t do that. They spend every minute they can with the charts. They want huge profits and they want to be making millions in their first year. More work. More struggles. That’s how it’s done!

And then do they achieve it? No. More than likely they blow accounts. They have swinging wins and plummeting losses. It’s an emotional rollercoaster of stress and heartache.

Trading should NOT be like that, in my humble opinion. Let the officer workers stress and the gamblers lose their money. As a trader you should work smart, never hard.

When I did spend full days with the charts – often from the 8am UK open until the American markets closed at 9pm UK time – I would end up making mistakes. If I was down for the day I would want to find trades rather than let them come to me. It didn’t work for me.

So now I look for 1% and that is enough. It builds my account very nicely - as well as the best traders out there! But I do it in such a way that I spend as little time as possible in front of the charts. My ideal days are the ones where I’m finished by 8:10am. I am the lazy trader.

I hope you have a great trading week!