# How to Start Day Trading From Scratch With a Simple Step by Step Plan How to start day trading from scratch: pick one market, learn candlesticks, backtest 100 setups, trade a demo account, then risk 1% per trade. Source: https://item-6759.shop/how-to-start-day/ · based on the channel [Jooviers Gems](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYcMY5CPgjwtkBGj21341Vg) · Video: [Easiest Way To Start Day Trading From Scratch (Exactly What I Did)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KblOEu56dM) · 2026-10-15 ![How to Start Day Trading From Scratch With a Simple Step by Step Plan](https://item-6759.shop/how-to-start-day/how-to-start-day.webp) ## Key takeaways - Day trading means opening and closing positions inside the same session, so you never hold overnight gap risk. - The practical minimum to start is a small account or a funded prop firm account, a broker with low fees, and a trading journal. - Beginners should master one market and one setup instead of jumping between futures, forex and stocks. - A candlestick shows four prices — open, high, low and close — and their relationship is the first thing to read on a chart. - Risk per trade should stay near 1% of the account, so a losing streak cannot wipe out the balance. Day trading from scratch means choosing one market, learning to read a candlestick chart, backtesting a single setup until it is boring, then trading that setup on a demo account before risking real money. The fastest path is not a secret indicator — it is a written plan, a small position size and a journal that records every trade. In the video «Easiest Way To Start Day Trading From Scratch (Exactly What I Did)» from the channel Jooviers Gems, the host walks through that same beginner sequence, and viewers who want his full trade list can join his Inner Circle through [the Gemify Inner Circle page](https://www.getgemify.com/innercircleo?el=youtube_organic). ## What day trading actually is and what it is not Day trading is the practice of entering and exiting positions within the same trading session, so no position is carried overnight. That single rule separates it from swing trading and long-term investing, and it removes the risk of waking up to a gap against your position. What day trading is not: - It is not a passive income stream. It is an active skill that takes months of screen time. - It is not gambling with a random entry. A setup with defined entry, stop and target is the whole point. - It is not limited to stocks. Futures, forex and crypto all offer intraday movement, and many beginners start with futures because of low capital requirements. Markets move because buyers and sellers disagree on price. Your job as a day trader is to find repeatable moments where one side is clearly in control, take a small position, and exit according to a rule you wrote down before the session started. ## The beginner toolkit: broker, platform, journal Before the first trade you need three things working: a broker that executes your orders, a charting platform you can read, and a journal that stores your data. Skipping the journal is the most common beginner mistake, because without records you cannot tell whether a strategy works or whether you just got lucky. 1. Broker or funded account. A retail forex or futures broker works, and a prop firm account is an alternative path: you pay an evaluation fee, prove you can trade a rule set, and trade the firm's capital. The video's description points to The Edge Funder as the funding route the host uses. 2. Charting platform. Most platforms offer the same core tools — candlestick charts, moving averages, volume and a replay mode for backtesting. 3. Trading journal. A dedicated journal such as Wagmi Trader, referenced in the video description, lets you log screenshots, entry reason, result and emotion for each trade. Start on a demo account. The goal of demo is not to make fake money; it is to prove you can follow your own rules for 50 to 100 trades without improvising. ## Reading a candlestick chart in five minutes A candlestick packs four prices into one shape: the open, the high, the low and the close. The body is the distance between open and close, and the thin lines above and below — the wicks — show how far price travelled before it was rejected. How to read the basics: - A long green body means buyers pushed price up and held it into the close of that candle. - A long red body means sellers controlled the period. - A long lower wick means price dropped and was bought back up, which often signals demand. - A long upper wick means price rallied and was sold off, which often signals supply. Structure matters more than any single candle. Higher highs and higher lows describe an uptrend; lower highs and lower lows describe a downtrend. Most beginner strategies simply wait for price to pull back inside a trend and then look for a candle that confirms the trend is continuing. ## The step by step plan to start from zero This is the sequence a complete beginner can follow without any prior experience, and it mirrors the approach in the Jooviers Gems breakdown. 1. Pick one market. Futures such as the micro S&P 500 or micro Nasdaq contracts, or a major forex pair like EUR/USD. One market, one chart. 2. Pick one setup. Examples: a pullback to a moving average in a trend, or a break of the previous session's high. Write the exact conditions for entry. 3. Define risk before entry. Decide the stop loss distance and the position size so that a loss costs no more than 1% of the account. 4. Backtest at least 100 setups. Use bar replay and scroll back through old sessions. Record win rate, average win and average loss. 5. Trade demo for 30 days. Same setup, same size rules, no exceptions. 6. Go live small. Start with the minimum size the broker allows, and only increase when the journal shows consistency. 7. Review weekly. Count rule breaks separately from losing trades — a losing trade that followed the plan is not a failure. Risk of 1% per trade means ten consecutive losses cost roughly 10% of the account, which is survivable. Risking 10% per trade means ten losses end the account, and losing streaks of ten happen to every strategy eventually. ## Common beginner mistakes and how to avoid them Most blown accounts fail for behavioural reasons, not analytical ones, and the viewer comments under the video show the same pattern: people learn the mechanics quickly and then struggle with patience. - Overtrading. Taking five setups when only one matched the plan. Fix: a daily maximum of two or three trades. - Revenge trading. Doubling size after a loss to win it back. Fix: a hard stop for the day after two losses. - Switching strategies too early. Abandoning a setup after three losses. Fix: judge a strategy only after 50 to 100 recorded trades. - Comparing yourself to social media results. Screenshots of huge wins rarely show the losing months. Fix: track your own equity curve only. - No journal. Without data you repeat the same error for months. Fix: log every trade the moment it closes. A realistic expectation for a new trader is break-even after several months of consistent practice, with profitability coming later. Treating the first year as paid education, not income, keeps the pressure off and the decisions clean. ## Where funded accounts and prop firms fit A funded account lets you trade a firm's capital after passing an evaluation, which solves the problem of starting with a very small personal balance. The trade-off is a rule set: daily loss limits, a maximum overall drawdown and sometimes a minimum number of trading days. Before paying any evaluation fee, check three things: the drawdown rules, whether the profit target is realistic for your strategy, and how payouts are handled. A funded account does not make a weak strategy profitable — it only gives a proven strategy more buying power. Traders who pass evaluations usually do it with the same single setup they already traded on demo for months. ## Useful links from the video - [Gemify Inner Circle — all of the host's trades](https://www.getgemify.com/innercircleo?el=youtube_organic) - [The Edge Funder — instant funding to trade with](https://www.theedgefunder.com/) - [The Edge Funder Discord community](https://discord.gg/WpJXHKK7f2) - [Joovier on Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/joovier_) - [Recommended forex broker HeroFX](https://herofx.co/joovier/) ## Bottom line Starting day trading from scratch is a process, not a purchase: choose one market, learn the candlestick chart, write one setup with clear entry, stop and target, backtest it 100 times, then prove it on demo before risking real capital. Keep risk near 1% per trade, journal everything, and judge your progress on rule-following rather than on any single day's profit or loss. The Jooviers Gems breakdown is a useful starting map because it shows the mechanics and the reality of losing trades side by side. If you want to see the host's actual trades and continue the education, the next step is the [Gemify Inner Circle](https://www.getgemify.com/innercircleo?el=youtube_organic). ## Questions & answers **How much money do I need to start day trading?** You can start on a demo account with zero capital, and many brokers allow live futures or forex accounts with a few hundred dollars. The practical constraint is position sizing: with a small balance, 1% risk per trade means very small positions, which is fine for learning. A funded prop firm account is the alternative route if you want more buying power without a large personal deposit. **How long does it take to become profitable as a day trader?** Most beginners need six to twelve months of consistent screen time, backtesting and journaling before results stabilize. The first months are usually spent on one setup and on breaking bad habits like overtrading and revenge trading. Judging progress by rule-following rather than by daily profit makes that period far less frustrating. **Should I trade futures, forex or stocks as a beginner?** Pick one market and stay with it long enough to learn its rhythm. Futures are popular with small accounts because micro contracts require little margin, while forex offers high liquidity and long sessions. Stocks add variables such as earnings dates and pre-market gaps, which is more to manage at the start. **Do I need a prop firm to start day trading?** No, a funded account is optional and only useful once you have a setup that already works on demo. Prop firms provide capital in exchange for an evaluation fee and strict rules on daily loss and drawdown. Passing an evaluation does not fix a weak strategy, so prove the plan first and buy the evaluation second.