Andrew Aziz

About Andrew Aziz

Andrew Aziz is a full-time day trader, bestselling author, and engineer with a PhD. He has been actively day trading the US stock market for over 12 years and is best known for his book How to Day Trade for a Living, one of the most popular trading books in the world. He is also a strong advocate of part-time trading and treating trading like a real business.

He trades US stocks, both the shares and the options of liquid names, as a day trader and scalper. His whole approach is built on a clear "trade book," his name for a complete system that combines the right tools, a tested strategy, and the right psychology. Outside of trading he is a passionate mountaineer who summited Mount Everest in 2023.

From Engineer in Iran to Full-Time Trader

Andrew grew up in Iran and moved to Canada to earn a PhD in chemical engineering. He worked as an engineer for a few years, but after being laid off he started experimenting with the markets. Like many people, he had beginner's luck on a penny stock early on, then quickly lost money and realized trading was far harder than it looked.

So he treated it the way he had treated his PhD: as an unknown problem to research, test, and solve. Living on the West Coast, where the US market opens at 6:30 in the morning, he traded for the first couple of hours and then went to his job. He is honest that he needed that income, and he kept his corporate job until 2019, long after his trading was already going well. He even wrote his first short book simply to document what he was learning, because the guide he wanted did not exist. That booklet grew, edition after edition, into a bestseller, and the community that formed around it held him accountable and made him a better trader.

How Andrew Trades

Andrew is a day trader and scalper in the US stock market, and most of his trades last only two or three minutes.

• He trades only the first two hours after the open (roughly 9:30 to 11:00 a.m. Eastern), where the volatility is, and never takes a trade after 11.
• He is a pure technical trader and does not use fundamentals. His key indicator is VWAP, supported by moving averages, Level 2, and chart patterns.
• He runs three "trade books": opening range breakouts and engulfing patterns (momentum), plus a 9:20 reversal (counter-trend).
• He looks for stocks that gap up or down with strong volume and trade near VWAP before the open, then enters on the break of the first candle with his stop at VWAP.
• His rules keep him consistent: small share size, a daily profit target and a daily max loss, only adding to winning trades and never to losers, and moving his stop to breakeven after taking partials.

The $2 Million Lesson

Andrew is open about his biggest mistake. He lost about 2 million dollars on a single position from using excessive leverage, which wiped out roughly two years of profit. What started as a day trade turned into a four-month battle: he kept adding as it fell, refused to accept the loss, had chances to get out at breakeven, and finally sold near the bottom. He admits he cried that day, and his brother and business partner talked him through it and stopped him from doing anything reckless to win it back.

The lesson he points to is simple and one he had always preached to others: leverage is a double-edged sword, you have to accept losses early, and the market will humble anyone. He says he is grateful it happened earlier in his life rather than near retirement, and he has since made much of it back by sticking to his rules.

Beyond the Charts

Andrew believes trading should give you freedom, not chain you to a screen, which is why he limits his hours and warns against overtrading. He is also building TradingTerminal.com, an education, simulator, and replay platform for new traders, and he brings his engineer's mindset to improving it every day.

Away from the markets, he is a serious mountaineer and runner who summited Everest in 2023, and a passionate traveler. He is candid that mountaineering, like trading, humbles you and teaches you to stay in the present, and that having people who hold you accountable, in trading and in life, is one of the biggest keys to his success.

Learn From Andrew Aziz on Chart Academy

Andrew Aziz recorded a free masterclass for Chart Academy where he teaches the exact day trading system he has used for over a decade, built around the opening range breakout. He breaks a complete trade book into its three parts: how to select the right stock, how to identify the setup, and how to execute it.

You will learn how to choose stocks that gap with volume and sit near VWAP, how to read VWAP, moving averages, Level 2, and candlesticks for confirmation, and exactly how to handle entries, stops, and profit targets. He also covers scaling into winners, taking partials, moving your stop to breakeven, and journaling to improve your system over time, all with real trade examples on names like Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and NIO.

Andrew's full masterclass is available now on Chart Academy. Watch it free here.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Andrew Aziz?

Andrew Aziz is a full-time day trader, bestselling author, and engineer with a PhD. He has actively day traded the US stock market for over 12 years and wrote How to Day Trade for a Living, one of the most popular trading books in the world. He also summited Mount Everest in 2023.

What markets does Andrew Aziz trade?

Andrew Aziz day trades the US stock market, trading both shares and the options of liquid stocks. He is a day trader and scalper, and most of his trades last only a few minutes.

What is Andrew Aziz's trading strategy?

Andrew is a technical, momentum-focused day trader. He mainly trades opening range breakouts, along with engulfing patterns and a 9:20 reversal setup. He only trades the first two hours after the open, uses VWAP as his key indicator with Level 2 and chart patterns, enters on the break of the first candle, and follows strict rules on size, daily limits, and risk.

What can I learn from Andrew Aziz on Chart Academy?

On Chart Academy, Andrew Aziz teaches his complete day trading system built around the opening range breakout. You will learn how to select the right stocks, identify high-quality setups using VWAP and Level 2, execute entries, stops, and targets, scale in and out of trades, and journal to keep improving, all with real trade examples on names like Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Nvidia, and NIO. His full masterclass is available now on Chart Academy, free to watch.

What is Chart Academy?

Chart Academy is a free, all-in-one trading education platform designed to help traders learn real, practical skills from world-class traders. It offers in-depth masterclasses taught by real traders across stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, and trading psychology. In addition to educational content, Chart Academy includes personalized learning paths, downloadable resources, and access to exclusive tools and rewards, all in one place. There are no subscriptions, no paywalls, and no credit card required. The goal is to make high-quality trading education accessible, practical, and easy to follow for traders of all levels.