If you happen to find yourself in the middle of a trading slump, take these day trading stock tips to help you turn it around in a short period of time. If you happen to trade the short-term markets (scalping, day trading, or short-term swing trading) using charts and technical analysis entry points, make the time investment at the end of the trading day to print out charts of your trades on two time frames. For example, if you trade fictional stock "ABCDE and lost 50 cents on a day trade, print out charts on two time frames such as the 5-minute chart and the 30-minute chart. Swing traders can print out the daily and weekly charts for the symbol being traded.
On the chart you will write your entry and exit points along with the reasons why you entered and exited. Assuming you have a written trading business plan, or some other form of written entry and exit rules (you do have those, right?!?), then make sure that you followed your rules. If not, you know where to start making the corrections.
If you have followed your rules for several trades and several days, yet the trades are not working out in your favor, take a few days away from the markets to clear your mind; and you might consider getting out of all of your short-term positions if you decide to take this "forced vacation." Once you have a clear mind, choose a new strategy or universe of symbols and begin the back-testing/paper trading phase again. By printing out the charts of your non-winning trades, you will have a visual record of what you saw at the time of your trades. Chances are that you will notice a recurring pattern that might be the basis of a new strategy, even if it is just a slight variation off your previous one. By printing out both time frames you increase the odds of finding out what went wrong and how to improve in the future.
Always reduce the share/contract size when starting out with a new strategy; and commit to improving in the other three major areas of online trading: psychology, money management, and better understanding trading software & technology. The process of printing out charts during a trading slump is an old day trading stock tip; and hopefully it will help you get back on track.