Day trading is high risk. Most people who try it lose money. Everything here is education, not advice. Read the risks

Willman Trade

Tools

Decide the risk before the trade decides it for you.

The calculator and the checklist are part of the method behind the upcoming Willman Trade scanners. They run in your browser: no account, no orders, nothing stored.

Tool 01

Risk calculator

Size comes from the distance to the stop, not from how sure you feel. Try it with numbers you actually have.

Works for long and short: we use the distance between entry and stop. Rounding is always down. Nothing here sends an order or leaves your browser. This is arithmetic, not advice.

Calculated size

925

shares, rounded down

Risk in dollars
$250
Distance to stop
0.27
Position value
$4,459
Share of account
8.9%

Tool 02

Pre-market checklist

Three names is enough. If you cannot answer every question for a name, it does not stay on the list.

  1. 1What is the catalyst, and is it new to the market today?
  2. 2Where are the premarket high and low?
  3. 3How wide is the spread in cents — and in dollars on my size?
  4. 4Where exactly is the idea wrong? That is the stop.
  5. 5What is my risk in dollars on this trade, and on the whole day?
  6. 6How many attempts do I allow myself on this name?
  7. All six answered? Then it is a candidate — not a trade. The trigger still has to come.
A notebook with a hand-drawn candlestick sketch

Tool 03

Chart language

  • Price and volume. A leg without volume is a line. Volume without price follow-through is often distribution.
  • VWAP. The day's volume-weighted average. Reclaiming it can be an idea. Merely touching it is not a setup.
  • High of day. A level a lot of people see. The first break counts. The second is a new decision, not a discount.