Day Trading & Intraday Execution
Learn how to prepare, plan, execute and review intraday trades with written rules, realistic cost calculations and strict risk limits. The course builds practical skills for informed decisions; it does not promise profits.
Self-study course Self-study course: written lessons, videos and downloadable materials for independent learning. There is no supervision, assessment, individual feedback or tutoring. Self-check quizzes are evaluated automatically in your browser — we do not see your results.
All 13 lessons free
Before you start
- Trading basics: order types, candlestick charts, support and resistance
- Risk basics: position sizing, stop-losses and R-multiples
- Comfort with percentages and simple formulas
What you will be able to do
- Calculate yearly trading costs, cost in R and the break-even win rate of an intraday strategy
- Select intraday instruments using spread-to-range ratio, contract granularity and notional exposure
- Prepare a pre-market level map, gap analysis and written if-then game plan
- Calculate VWAP and the opening range and plan breakout, pullback and mean-reversion setups with complete rules
- Apply daily loss limits, position limits and execution rules during a session
- Measure intraday performance after costs and review a complete day-trading routine
Lessons in this course
What Day Trading Really Involves: Time, Costs and Realistic Expectations
Understand what day trading demands in hours, costs and skill, and calculate how trading costs raise the win rate you need just to break even.
Choosing Markets and Instruments for Intraday Trading
Compare instruments for day trading by spread-to-range ratio, contract granularity, trading hours and leverage, and size a position in index futures and CFDs.
Pre-Market Preparation: Levels, News and a Game Plan
Build a level map, measure gaps in ATR units and relative volume, check the session's news times, and write if-then scenarios before the open.
Intraday Chart Timeframes and Session Structure
Choose a practical pair of intraday timeframes, divide the session into phases, and measure a volatility profile to adapt stops and size to the time of day.
VWAP and the Opening Range
Calculate VWAP bar by bar, define the opening range and its width in ATR, and plan a rule-based opening range breakout with stop, target and size.
Momentum and Pullback Setups Intraday
Recognise intraday trend conditions, grade a pullback by depth and volume, and plan an entry with trigger, stop, partial exit, time stop and costs.
Mean Reversion Intraday: When Ranges Dominate
Identify range-day conditions, use VWAP standard-deviation bands to plan fades back to VWAP, and calculate the break-even win rate of a mean-reversion setup after costs.
Execution: order types, spreads and slippage during the day
Choose intraday orders that control the price you pay, and measure how spreads and slippage change your real risk in R.
Intraday risk rules: daily loss limits and position limits
Build a complete set of intraday limits in R and euros, including daily, weekly and give-back limits and caps on size and open risk.
Trading the news intraday: spikes and spreads
Understand the phases of a news release, measure how spreads and slippage change, and choose between standing aside and a rules-based second-move entry.
Measuring intraday performance after costs
Separate gross and net results, express costs in R, and calculate the break-even win rate and other day-trading-specific statistics.
Fatigue, overtrading and focus during the session
Define overtrading in measurable terms, structure the session into trading windows and breaks, and calculate what unplanned trades cost.
A complete day-trading routine on paper
Combine preparation, execution, limits, news rules and review into one written routine and rehearse a full hypothetical session on paper.
Swing Trading Strategies
After this course, continue with "Swing Trading Strategies" to learn how to plan and manage trades held over several days, including overnight and gap risk.
View course outline