How To Day Trade: The Plain Truth
By: Ross Cameron
This is a great “What to expect when you get into day trading” kind of book. It’s a pretty short and concise, but realistic, guide to beginning a day trading journey. The book starts out with a short biography of Ross Cameron’s background, and then he journeys through his early trading days. Ross breaks down all the important topics that new traders need to learn about. He also does go into his strategy and the exact criteria for how he trades.
I was a member in Ross Cameron’s Warrior Trading community awhile ago, and learned as much as I could from the community. It’s not a style that I trade but I do believe that if breakout and momentum trading is what you want to learn, then Warrior Trading is the best place to learn that strategy.
Ross Cameron’s Day Trading Strategy Book
I did the audiobook of The Plain Truth, which is read by the author, Ross Cameron. It’s a short book that I was able to listen to in just a few hikes around my property with headphones on.
Ross not only goes over his trading strategy, but also describes the emotional and mental side of his trading. He explains the risks in day trading along with his own risk/reward goals. You’ll also learn the exact equipment and tools (hardware and software) he uses to trade.
Ross Cameron’s Trading Guardrails
One important part of this book is the trading guardrails that Ross lays out that helps him stay profitable.
“I created a set of guardrails based on my experience and urgent need to turn my trading results around. That concept was so important to my survival and success in this business that throughout this book I want to describe those guardrails. Following them does not guarantee success, but I’m highly confident that if you learn about them, you’ll have a valuable set of principles that may be useful to consider as you manage your own risk.”
Each of these guardrails is covered extensively in the book, but here’s a quick summary of what they are:
Warrior Trading Momentum Strategy
I’ve casually followed Ross on youtube for quite a few years so I knew his trading strategy before reading the book. But he does a nice job breaking it down in this book also. Here’s his a few things he has listed as basic criteria for Ross’s momentum trading:
- Low float - under 20m
- High relative volume
- No nearby resistance
- Breakout level
- 10% or more up on the day minimum
- With a strong catalyst
- “Most obvious stock on the day”
“I’m not interested in stocks that might move, are “primed” to move, or are “significantly undervalued.” I only focus on stocks that are already moving.”
To manage risk, Cameron emphasizes setting tight stop-loss orders and maintaining a 2:1 profit-loss ratio. This means if he risks $0.20 per share, he aims to make at least $0.40.
Trader Rehab
“Trader Rehab” is what Ross describes as his place to check himself into mentally when he’s on a red streak or a series of red days. This is a time when he likes to temporarily adjust his risk and size down.
- Set a maximum share size with the broker.
- Reduce maximum daily loss to about half or a quarter of regular max daily loss.
- In extreme cases, limit to one trade a day for a few days.
“By far the biggest determinants of your day trading success are elements in your head: your knowledge, discipline, attitude, and ability to control your emotions.”
My Take on How To Day Trade, by Ross Cameron
Although I think Ross spends too much time highlighting his own successes and journey, that may be necessary in a book like this for the reader to really understand who is giving them advice. I do think this book is going on my Best Day Trading Books for Beginners list. The topics are very easy to understand for someone new to trading. It’s also very short and easy to read. I would recommend this to any traders, even more advanced traders, to just get a little refresher on the basics.
If you enjoyed this book summary of How To Day Trade: The Plain Truth, then I would highly recommend checking out my review and summary of Trade The Trader by Quint Tatro. This one of my all-time favorite day trading books.
