0700 - 10.00 Up and turn on PC. Check previous night's closes, do my analysis and put in any orders that are required. At any time I'm usually running a trial of a new system or method alongside my real money accounts, so will spend whatever time necessary to check up on those. Maybe do a bit of general admin and check on here while waiting for LIFFE commodity markets to open if I have any trades to place there.
10.00 - 11.30 Go for a bike ride, or walk if the weather's bad. As JTrader says you need to make effort to keep fit as otherwise you get no daily exercise.
11.30 - 13.30 A couple of hours for other stuff, maybe work on backtesting new ideas, methods, etc.
13.30 - 17.00 Keep an eye on US economic releases and market openings while doing other stuff, either unrelated to trading, or more back-testing, thinking, reading, etc. Finish for family tea.
19.15 - Quick check of US commodity market closings while kids in bath.
Bedtime - Quick check of positions before lights out.
Repeat ad-infinitum.
Obviously this is position trading - very different to someone who has to watch the charts permanently for day-trading opportunities - have tried that and found it enormously difficult to stay interested / focused even with alarms set, etc. Also the hours I do and the way I work is based around the particular markets I trade and their hours.
Things to watch when making the move:
Exercise is really important, otherwise the temptation is to walk from your bedroom to your home-office, sit down for 12 hours, and basically lose the use of your legs. At least going to work involves some kind of walk at either end....
Trading is a pretty lonely profession and you need to make sure you keep in touch with other people to avoid becoming reclusive! Again, work brings an automatic social life, even if it's just a chat round the coffee machine and a quick beer after work. You have to plan your social life a bit more carefully to make sure it happens, because you don't just bump into people on a daily basis.
Discipline - set hours for a trading day and stick to them. I found initially that the temptation was to work for 24 hours a day, but you have to remind yourself that it's not necessary or very productive. Having kids helps, because their tea-time is a good time to stop. Even if I'm in the middle of an interesting bit of research, it'll be put aside for the next day, not picked up again afterwards.
Do something to get your head out of the desk and the house and remind yourself that you're part of a community. Volunteer to sit on the board of a local charity, become a school governor, etc. Not only do you feel you're giving something back, but working as part of a team you get to use the social and teamwork skills you don't use when trading.
