Your Trading Day.

[Pat494]

There are another couple of very valid and quite hard to avoid pitfalls.
1. Over analysing the position. By that I mean having a number of pet indicators and some say up and some say down. The hard part is that those that got it right last time may well not be the ones to get it right this time. Analysis paralysis can set in.
2. If you are gong to use real time data flow, and if you are not used to it ,it is quite easy to sit there bamboozled by the steady data tick eg 1 minute tick. One feels one can't just get up and walk away from an open position, especially if it is going wrong, to think about it. There isn't time !!
Both points largely governed by your own psychological make-up though !!
The great advantage of EOD is that there is time. I analyse the US markets in the morning UK time and the European and Asian ones at 6pm. If you want more action then have some more indices
good luck

 

[dwaddell]

Hi,

The Arcade question is easy for us up here in sunny Scotland, to my knowledge, there aint any...mabye I'll start my own...

Dave

 

[beebop]

Hi,

The Arcade question is easy for us up here in sunny Scotland, to my knowledge, there aint any...mabye I'll start my own...

Dave

Not entirely sure quite what an arcade is....but if you ever want a cup or tea and a chat, I stay just over the hill from you!

 

[dwaddell]

Not entirely sure quite what an arcade is....but if you ever want a cup or tea and a chat, I stay just over the hill from you!

Hi beebop,

A Trading Arcade is a 'trading office' where you can rent a trading desk alongside other traders, either backed by your own cash or on a split with the firm.

I've sent you a Private Message.

Dave

 

[bluetipex]

Yes. The one thing I dislike about trading from home is its an extremely lonely pursuit. Luckily about 6 months ago I "met" a trading buddy online and we speak on skype/msn nearly all day, every working day. We've never even met or know what each other look like!!!! Weird eh!!!

I speak to him more then my girlfriend, and I'm sure he speaks to me more than his wife of 20 years!!! and as I said, we've never met!

We both trade from home, and we constantly help each other, and more often than not take exactly the same trades. We discuss, in real time, what we're thinking about the charts we're looking at, and about the next potential trade we may enter. If we both concur it gives us both extra confidence to enter the trade, I suppose. He uses Pro realtime, I use ESignal. We both also have CMC charts available.

I get up around 7.30am and turn on my laptops etc. I check Forex.com and Mypivots.com for the day's news releases, and reset a few things on my charts. I trade the Dax futures from 8.00am, and will trade the 1.30 news in the Dax if appropriate.

At around 2.15pm I switch everything over to the Dow, and watch the YM but trade the Dow cash index as its a smaller spread in my spreadbetting accounts. I have 3 accounts. If the set up is a high probability one, then I take it in all three, otherwise I just take it in the smallest one, if its a bit suspect. But generally, I won't take it at all if I'm not 100% sure.

I like to take a break at 5pm until 6-6.30pm, then I watch the YM again. I don't really like trading the evening session, but I will take a trade if a really obvious set up appears, otherwise I just watch. My girlfriend comes home and as my laptops are in the kitchen area she often distracts me as she's making my dinner. She complains that I don't talk to her, and she's absolutely right!

When I trade the YM I also have the NQ, ES, and ER charts up also to check confluence. Again, if they're all doing the same thing then that gives me extra confidence in the direction. However, if ER going in opposite direction to YM that won't necessarily stop me from entering a YM trade. Sometimes YM leads, sometimes it follows.

After 9pm when the US market closes I spend time reviewing my day, either on my own or with my trading buddy, sometimes until after 10pm! So, it can be a long day, and I'd dearly love to change to a style which DID NOT require so much screen time. I've already started to search for set ups on a 60 min chart, but they only occur a few times a week.

On the other hand, I appreciate that to be successful, one has to put in many many hours, days, months and years of effort. Success requires more than minimal effort IMHO.

I've been watching these charts now, all day, every day, for about 3 years, and I'd like to think I have an idea of their "character" by now.

My biggest weakness is I do absolutely no exercise whatsoever. I know this is a big mistake. Even if I go to the local shop for a pint of milk I take the car!

The only advice I would offer is to try and find a way to possibly reduce or overcome the solitude of trading from home, unless you have an introverted character and don't mind the solitude.

Perhaps we could start up some Skype groups, each group for those trading the same or similar instruments. The latest version of Skype has a feature called "Unyte" which enables application sharing, and the abitily to "see" each others desktops in real time, all for free.

Good Luck in your endeavour!

 

[beebop]

Yes. The one thing I dislike about trading from home is its an extremely lonely pursuit. Luckily about 6 months ago I "met" a trading buddy online and we speak on skype/msn nearly all day, every working day. We've never even met or know what each other look like!!!! Weird eh!!!

I speak to him more then my girlfriend, and I'm sure he speaks to me more than his wife of 20 years!!! and as I said, we've never met!

I've got a good friend in Calgary and we "met" via a forum and it's exactly the same, never met, get on great!

My OH often teases me that she will be a he and actually not live in Calgary and be into dodgy things!

I do think exercise is the key but it's quite hard to programme into a day. Must try harder!

 

[nkruger]

Good Luck in your endeavour!

What's YM ?

 

[robq]

What's YM ?

mini-sized Dow ($5) Futures (YM)

 

[nkruger]

mini-sized Dow ($5) Futures (YM)

Thank you Robq, Yes, I remember reading about them now.

NK