Daily Trading Tips to Help You Master Intraday Market Moves

Intraday trading is fast, thrilling, and potentially profitable—but only for those who know how to handle its pace. Every day, thousands of traders enter the markets with high hopes, but only a small percentage make it consistently. The difference isn’t luck or insider knowledge; it’s process, mindset, and daily discipline.

If you want to improve your intraday results, you must sharpen your habits. These daily trading tips are designed specifically for intraday traders looking to master the rhythm of the market and build consistency through smart decision-making.

1. Wake Up Early and Prepare Before Market Hours

The market opens at 9:15 AM, but your trading day should start much earlier. Ideally, wake up by 7:00 AM and begin your preparation:

• Check global markets (Dow Jones, NASDAQ, Nikkei, etc.)

• Read financial news for any events that might affect the Indian market

• Scan for stocks in the news—results, announcements, upgrades, downgrades

• Note FII/DII activity and sectoral rotations

An informed trader is a prepared trader. The more you understand the context, the better you can anticipate intraday movements.

2. Choose 3 to 5 Stocks for the Day

New traders often make the mistake of watching too many stocks. This leads to confusion and missed opportunities.

Narrow your watchlist to 3 to 5 high-potential stocks. Pick stocks with:

• High volume and liquidity

• Strong news triggers or pre-market gap ups/downs

• Clean technical patterns like flags, wedges, or breakouts

Focusing on fewer scripts allows for sharper execution and better risk control.

3. Mark Key Levels Before the Bell Rings

Before 9:15 AM, open your charts and draw out:

• Support and resistance levels from the previous day

• Opening range from the first 15 minutes

• Previous day’s high and low

• Intraday pivot points

These levels serve as guides throughout the day. Trades taken around these levels often carry more conviction.

4. Avoid Trading in the First 15 Minutes

The initial 15–20 minutes after the market opens are usually the most volatile. Price action is erratic due to overnight orders, emotional buying/selling, and initial reactions to news.

Unless you’re an expert scalper, it’s better to wait for the market to settle. Observe how your shortlisted stocks behave and only trade when a clear setup forms.

5. Follow the Trend—Don’t Fight It

This is one of the most timeless daily trading tips: trade with the trend. If a stock is clearly showing bullish momentum, don’t short it out of fear of a correction. Similarly, avoid catching falling knives in a downtrend.

Use moving averages or trendlines to confirm the direction. Let the market show you where it wants to go—then ride that direction with discipline.

6. Use Tight Stop Losses and Position Sizing

Intraday trading is all about managing risk on a trade-to-trade basis. For every trade:

• Use a stop loss based on structure, not just random points

• Don’t risk more than 1–2% of your capital on any single trade

• Calculate position size using the distance between entry and stop loss

For example, if your stop loss is ₹5 away, and you want to risk ₹500, your position size should be 100 shares.

7. Avoid Midday Slumps

Between 11:30 AM and 2:00 PM, the market often consolidates. Volatility dries up and price action becomes choppy. Unless a strong trend is developing, avoid placing trades during this period.

Use this time to:

• Review your morning trades

• Watch how your shortlisted stocks are reacting to broader index moves

• Mentally reset for potential trades post 2:15 PM

8. Don’t Turn Intraday Trades into Positional Trades

This is a mistake many traders make. You enter a trade expecting to close it by 3:15 PM. But the trade goes against you, and instead of exiting, you decide to carry it overnight, hoping it reverses.

This decision usually comes from emotion—not logic.

If your plan was to trade intraday, stick to it. Take the loss, review the setup, and move on. Never change your time horizon mid-trade.

9. Exit Trades with a Plan

Just like entries, exits must be defined:

• Use pre-set target levels based on resistance or Fibonacci

• Trail your stop loss once the price moves in your favor

• Don’t get greedy—lock profits when your target is hit

Consistently banking small gains is better than holding on and losing paper profits.

10. Review Every Trade Before the Day Ends

After the market closes:

• Review your trades: Did they align with your strategy?

• Note what went well and where you hesitated

• Identify emotional trades and understand why you made them

• Log your stats: Win rate, average loss, average profit

This 15-minute activity will do more for your trading development than any technical indicator.

Final Thoughts

Intraday trading rewards preparation, patience, and precision. These daily trading tips won’t turn you into a millionaire overnight, but they will make you sharper, calmer, and more consistent day by day.

Don’t aim for perfection. Aim to follow your rules 90% of the time. When you do that, profits take care of themselves. Trading is a performance activity—and like any performance, it's your habits that define your results.

Stick to your process, trade your plan, and review your actions daily. That’s how real traders grow.