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What does your normal trading day look like?

  • #1
  • First Post: Jun 21, 2017 9:14am Jun 21, 2017 9:14am
Hey Guys,
As a part time trader, I am working on the psychology part in my trading and as it is very well known that it is the vital part of trading, I just wanted to know how your trading day looks like.
How do you prepare yourself before you start trading?
Is there a routine you follow before you start trading like going for a walk, exercise, cup of coffee, watch news etc ... it can be anything?
Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day?
At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific session, etc etc)?
Do you take a complete break of weekend from trading or do analysis and plans for the coming week or a mix of both?

Any other tips or tricks which might be helpful are heartly welcome.

Cheers
  • #2
  • Jun 21, 2017 11:22am Jun 21, 2017 11:22am
Quoting solecrusader
Hey Guys, As a part time trader, I am working on the psychology part in my trading and as it is very well known that it is the vital part of trading, I just wanted to know how your trading day looks like. How do you prepare yourself before you start trading? Is there a routine you follow before you start trading like going for a walk, exercise, cup of coffee, watch news etc ... it can be anything? Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day? At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific...
Yes, preparation and the right timing to trade are 50% for success.

According to my plan, at the weekend (Sunday at the end of the day) I pick the best pair for the week.
And at the end of each day I try to analyze the best pair for the next day.
I also try to see what are the most important news that will come out for the day and week.

The rest is to put the plan in action.

EDIT: I forgot, but I always start after the coffee (FF open)
The funniest, is that nobody takes me seriously.
  • #3
  • Jun 21, 2017 2:07pm Jun 21, 2017 2:07pm
Quoting solecrusader
How do you prepare yourself before you start trading?
Well the first thing I do when I wake up is that I open my chart and then I put some indicator to analyze the trend where is it going to go. Is there any entry to be made that day. If there is, before I enter I have my own checklist/trading rules just to be safe. If the chart follow all the checklist then I will enter the market.

Quoting solecrusader
Is there a routine you follow before you start trading like going for a walk, exercise, cup of coffee, watch news
but if it isn't or there is a late entry like maybe I could enter the market on afternoon. I usually go to my backyard farm taking care of my baby chicks and vegetables. After that, I have my breakfast, watch youtube, read a book for 15 minutes a day or backtesting.

Quoting solecrusader
Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day
Yes, I often record my daily pips win on that day or my loss on that day.

Quoting solecrusader
At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific session, etc etc)
Depends sometimes 6 hours, 9hours etc. If my luck is good I just enter and then in few minutes I just TP which would make my day and of course that kind of things to happen is quite rare. I always follow my daily target pips. I never take more pips than my daily pips because I afraid of reversal and lots of stuff. Reaching my daily pips is more important than being greedy.

Quoting solecrusader
Do you take a complete break of weekend from trading or do analysis and plans for the coming week or a mix of both
Yes. I never touch my chart on the weekend. It is the only fun time I had like going out with friend or jogging etc.
  • #4
  • Jun 21, 2017 2:24pm Jun 21, 2017 2:24pm
Quoting solecrusader
Hey Guys, As a part time trader, I am working on the psychology part in my trading and as it is very well known that it is the vital part of trading, I just wanted to know how your trading day looks like. How do you prepare yourself before you start trading? Is there a routine you follow before you start trading like going for a walk, exercise, cup of coffee, watch news etc ... it can be anything? Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day? At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific...
i start the "day" off in the middle of the graveyard shift, about 5 minutes prior to trading session. I have my alarm set to frankfurt open and usually i'm somewhat disoriented as I open my laptop and trading station. Do about 5 minute prep (position sizing, marking lines, and place orders, set order alarms). Then technically i'm done at that point and i should be going back to bed (i live in the US)

But i end up wasting time watching youtube, go on FF to post useless shit, go to other less family oriented "sites" and bust nuts all over myself, and sometimes eat junk food..

about 1-2 hours of that shit, i go back to sleep...

then i wake up for work either happy cause my target is hit, or pissed off cause now i gotta spend some time at work to manage trades/open losses..

trade journal? nope, i use TE like a real man
weekend work? sometimes about 1 hour..if i really have a bad week, i'll spend couple of hours looking back at out how i fucked up real bad
  • #5
  • Jun 21, 2017 5:08pm Jun 21, 2017 5:08pm
Quoting hilmy83
{quote} i start the "day" off in the middle of the graveyard shift, about 5 minutes prior to trading session. I have my alarm set to frankfurt open and usually i'm somewhat disoriented as I open my laptop and trading station. Do about 5 minute prep (position sizing, marking lines, and place orders, set order alarms). Then technically i'm done at that point and i should be going back to bed (i live in the US) But i end up wasting time watching youtube, go on FF to post useless shit, go to other less family oriented "sites" and bust nuts all over...
lol. This is me exactly. I'm usually up around 3:30 am, same deal go to work at 8 either done and happy or battling all day from my phone. Have to take pre workout (cause I'm so fucking tired) to hit the gym at 7 pm and lift heavy so I can get up and do it all over again. Weekends I sleep and relax the entire time as my normal week takes its toll.
  • #6
  • Jun 21, 2017 6:07pm Jun 21, 2017 6:07pm
I never start my day with a certain routine.
I don't think a certain routine or exercise gives you an edge, your system can give you an edge, yoga or anything like that isn't going to change it.
Hard rules within a system are hard rules, nothing can change them.

That basically sums it up for me. I have set some rules which are successful for me, it doesn't matter how i start my day, the rules will always be the same.
  • #7
  • Jun 21, 2017 11:39pm Jun 21, 2017 11:39pm
Quoting pipmaster77
{quote} lol. This is me exactly. I'm usually up around 3:30 am, same deal go to work at 8 either done and happy or battling all day from my phone. Have to take pre workout (cause I'm so fucking tired) to hit the gym at 7 pm and lift heavy so I can get up and do it all over again. Weekends I sleep and relax the entire time as my normal week takes its toll.
we are trading spirit partners
  • #8
  • Jun 21, 2017 11:51pm Jun 21, 2017 11:51pm
Identifying the trend
finding entry points to go along the trend.
enter and exit safely

SIMPLY YET SCARY ( PSYCH ) takes over
Frank Fadi
  • #9
  • Jun 22, 2017 1:07am Jun 22, 2017 1:07am
Quoting solecrusader
Hey Guys, As a part time trader, I am working on the psychology part in my trading and as it is very well known that it is the vital part of trading, I just wanted to know how your trading day looks like. How do you prepare yourself before you start trading? Is there a routine you follow before you start trading like going for a walk, exercise, cup of coffee, watch news etc ... it can be anything? Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day? At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific...
read my profile bio on my background, am lazy to type it. or my thread to get a sense of it https://www.forexfactory.com/showthread.php?t=583549

my day is as routine as it'll ever get. it's mundane, but boring is good as it provides a sense of security. market can be erratic at times and so having a boring mundane routine allows you the buffer to deal with the market when it goes on a bitch fit.

most importantly, credit goes to my wife and any full time trader's spouse. as im sure they are carrying most of our portion of our duties, at least during the weekdays.

I usually wake at 4am (gmt8)

wash up etc, am at my desk by 5am( NZ open)

spend bout 2 hour to determine areas of interest on charts/go thru upcoming economic data and their possible implications/update on news and events that happened whilst i was asleep that could have residule effects when asian session is in full swing.

send the wife to work and grab breakfast at 8am

am home by latest 9am

9am is where asia is in full swing. and thats where i am at the desk for good till the end of my preset work day, 11pm

as most of the time, the market is reletively boring, in between my preset hours i'll be either doing some household chores/taking care of the baby/do some cardio. key is that im a stone's throw away from my desk. and i can react as and when i need to..

one does not need a fancy 4/6 monitor setup. i know it looks cool. but trust me, you'll end up streaming netflix or youtube on one of the screen. save the money get a treadmill desk instead.

most important advice i can give anyone, do not neglect the people around you during your off time on the weekends. do not be out with friends and family, but your mind still stuck in the market, worrying/analyzing/pondering if monday's open will affect your positions or how to improve your strategy etc... These people have given you the luxury of space and tolerance throut the weekdays. the leaast you can do is to repay it during the weekends by giving them your fullest attention.

Regards
Daniel
  • #10
  • Jun 22, 2017 9:57am Jun 22, 2017 9:57am
Quoting solecrusader
How do you prepare yourself before you start trading?
First of all I don't trade every day. I trade on very long time frames so I only look at the charts at most a few times a week and might only place a trade once a month.

But to answer your question.

When I trade I only trade during the european session. The reason has to do with the fact that european news is much more global in nature than US news so if you want to know what's going on globally, watch Bloomberg during the european news cycle.

Anyway, I start the day watching the news for a few hours to make sure nothing dramatic has happened.

Take a shower and contemplate what I heard during the news.

Then onto the charts to run my system. Pretty much that's it.
  • #11
  • Edited Jul 1, 2017 1:23am Jun 30, 2017 11:16pm | Edited Jul 1, 2017 1:23am
PRE TRADING:

I start my trading day around 8:00 p.m. (NY time), when Tokyo starts.

First I check FF Calendar. And set alarm for important news in my cell phone.

Then I read ForexLive, to know what is happening in the market.

Before I start trading, I do a short tratak, a Yoga exercise to improve focus, here is a simplified version:
http://www.lifehack.org/516621/this-one-minute-life-hack-will-make-you-everything-better-than-before

PLACING ORDERS

I analyze a chart, and place pending order for this instrument.

Then I do a short breath counting meditation (you may goggle it to know about the technique). Normally I count just form 1 to 10, but sometime I will continue counting back from 10 to 1, to get better result.

After the short meditation, I review the pending order I placed, to make sure it was correct.

Then I check the chart for the next instrument, and place pending order, then meditate and review the order placed, then analyze next chart and place order, and so on.

After 5 or 6 pending orders, I go to the window or balcony, and look at distant places to relax and rest my eye for at least 20 seconds. This is the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain. See: https://lifehacker.com/5591835/reduce-computer-caused-eye-strain-with-the-20-20-20-rule

Then I return to my desk. Do another tratak, and continue placing pending orders.

Normally I review 21 instruments. It takes about 2 hours.

AFTER TRADING:

LOOKING AT GOOD TRADERS

I check MyFxBook, Darwinex, and TE of some traders I admire and want to model.

One of them is hilmy83 of FF: https://www.forexfactory.com/hilmy83#acct.18-tab.list

I look at his TE, and tell myself something like "If he is doing this, I can do it too".

Another one I just knew today is bithedz: https://www.forexfactory.com/bithedz#acct.83-tab.report

ACTIVITIES REVIEW

After turn off my PC, I review my trading activities in meditation pose: sit still and close my eyes, then review my trading activities of the day in backward way: starting from the moment I turned off my PC, and going back to the moment I turned on my PC in the morning.

BREATHING AND AFFIRMATION BEFORE SLEEPING

After going to the bed, I do 10 abdominal breathing, then scan every parts of my body to relax the muscles.

Then I repeat an affirmation to condition my mind. Currently I use this affirmation: "I am making ten percent per month in forex".

ORDERS MANAGEMENT

Next morning (NY time), after breakfast, I check the pending orders that are not activated. I may cancel or modify an order, or leave it without change.

This normally takes only 20 minutes.

Then I close the platform. And I am free to do anything I want.

OPEN TRADES MANAGEMENTE

20 minutes before an important new release (my cell phone will activate the alarm), I will check related pairs to manage the positions.

At 3:00 p.m. (NY time), I review all of the orders, to see what I did well or did wrong, and how should I improve next time.

At 4:30 p.m., I close the losing position if it is near the SL, because after 5:00 p.m. when NY closes, there will be spread spike (widening, up to 20 pips or more for some pairs), the position might be stopped out even it is still several pips away from the SL now.

TRADING RECORDS

Around 5:00 p.m., I get the acc statement of the day, and copy it to a spreadsheet.

Then I update the data of my Performance Records spreadsheet.

EXERCISE AND COLD SHOWER

After 5:00 p.m. I go for walking, jogging or biking in a park nearby.

Some days I will do also body weight exercise.

Then I take a cold shower. It is said to stimulate the mind, increase the alertness, improve the motivation and the mood (may fight depression, which affects a trader when having serious drawdown). One reason is because the cold water increases the dopamine, you may google it with keywords like "cold shower depression dopamine".

After the cold shower, I have dinner. Then start my trading at 8:00 p.m.

WEEKEND ACTIVITIES

I try not to use my PC or think about trading during the weekend.

Sometimes I go to swim in a pool or beach with my family or friends, because I like the dopamine benefits of the cold water. I do it more when having losing streak.

When I am depressed due to losing streak, I do more jogging in the afternoon, or do some HIIT, take more cold showers every day, and then go to beach on weekend.
  • #12
  • Jul 2, 2017 11:08pm Jul 2, 2017 11:08pm
I have things that I like in the morning. Meditation, eating breakfast etc...
Goes to the gym 4-5 times a week. Not because I must, but because I like it. Every day at 5pm at work, I place my trades (my strategy only focus on exits) takes normally 10min yo manage my trades and that's pretty much it.
After every month I keep a diary of my trading decisions. Have I kept my trades long enough or cut them short etc.

I haven't written my tasks down during the day, but it has been very natural for me to keep that rhythm. For me, having a very fixed and hard fast rules didn't work, but perhaps for others.

Meditation/mindfulness and 8 hours sleep was the big thing for me that made my trading work. In terms of getting new ideas strategies, but also executing my orders and dealing with drawdowns.

Happy trading
  • #13
  • Jul 3, 2017 2:19am Jul 3, 2017 2:19am
Hi, everyone!
I am also very new to the market so my experience is based mainly on the advices of my fiancé who is actually quite good at it.
He's given me some of the best advices, like not to trade when I'm tired or angry or just not in the mood. I try to be persistent and follow my trading plan(well, his trading plan =) ). I usually wake up early, have breakfast, shower and then I open my platform and see how my trades are going if I have any positions that I kept overnight. I try to spare at least two-three hours 3-4 days a week to trading. I also try not to trade everyday. I know actually from my fiancée that it's better for Forex to trade before 16:00 as the market is getting exhausted at around that time. So I always try to enter a position around my lunch break after I have found an interesting entry level. I keep on checking my positons at 15:00 while at work and then at around 18:00 at home. Depending on the SWAP I might keep or not a position open overnight but usually I close them while they are still profitable.
During the weekends, I relax and don't really think about work and trading. I close all my positions on Friday, latest so I have some free time. =)
  • #14
  • Jul 3, 2017 5:35pm Jul 3, 2017 5:35pm
Weekend: News sentiment

Monday to Friday
9am News sentiment, Levels etc
9:30am. Team discussion of bias
10am. Trade Asia (done by 1/2pm usually)
3:30pm. Team Discusion of bias
4pm. Trade London

usually day is done around 7. But of course if in a great position and it keeps giving then up til whenever. Pass mark is 2:1 but most days are 5-10:1 gain.
  • #15
  • Edited 1:54pm Jul 6, 2017 7:09am | Edited 1:54pm
Quoting WolGod
Weekend: News sentiment Monday to Friday 9am News sentiment, Levels etc 9:30am. Team discussion of bias 10am. Trade Asia (done by 1/2pm usually) 3:30pm. Team Discusion of bias 4pm. Trade London usually day is done around 7. But of course if in a great position and it keeps giving then up til whenever. Pass mark is 2:1 but most days are 5-10:1 gain.
wait:

you lost any discussion here, is your team this stupid then you, then its clown show,. if they are smarter then you , you are useless and they laugh about you, because you have mistakes in any sentence and need always corrected and have near zero market knowledge.

funny puny god, its always funny when you entertain with your liar image.

and by the way! you tradeded some month ago with 1000 usd, got no wins in this time, you destroyed your accounts before and lost only money. why you have a team, you pay this team from your 1000 usd? you look really as a clown? or have you found together with peo0ple like yourself, dreaming big and in reality only lost, but speaking like they are the kings? i dont think, you find many of your bad knowledge and your extrem bad performance to have this bad team together.
why always all what you say is wrong or looked faked and cheated? why you always look like a troll/ poser who dont know even the basics in trading. maybe you should work on your charakter and dont pose until you know at least basics, so not all laugh about you always.
  • #16
  • Jul 6, 2017 3:34pm Jul 6, 2017 3:34pm
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  • #17
  • Jul 10, 2017 3:38pm Jul 10, 2017 3:38pm
Typical trading day:

I trade the London and US sessions, Tokyo only with few exceptions even though i did it too with 1000s of hours in my trading career.

I watch % changes of all major currencies against the US Dollar and watch at a second screen PnL changes of some currencies which act as "stocks". It moves
not too slow and not too volatile, that's the point why i've set it to 0.15 lot. (see pic below)
Each "stock" can move 120-150 EUR per week.

So by just watching at all these raw numbers (no charts) i get a very good idea of the bias and momentum in the market.
I either trade smaller positions with the bias (or not at all) and bet much heavier sizes with real momentum.
Simply, i trade against sucker pockets when bigger moves occur.

The daily loss limit is set to -0.5%
I don't hold positions over the weekend or overnight, i'm usually always flat at the end of the day.

On sunday evening i get prepared for the comming week for news, events, holidays, announcements, other impacts a.s.o

And when i have time, i visit FF for some good laughs. Whatever else i do, is my business.
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  • #18
  • Jul 11, 2017 12:29am Jul 11, 2017 12:29am
I trade part-time and I am a swing trader. My main preparation comes on the weekend when I analyze the markets, screen pairs on my watch list and select a few that seem amenable for trading with my system. I also use the weekend to draw potential turning points on the pairs I intend trading in the week ahead. Week days are mainly to check how price action behaves around my levels. The real trading takes less than 2 hours per day.

Trade safe and prosper.

KP
Do your homework, follow the footprints of smart money
  • #19
  • Edited 1:00am Jul 11, 2017 12:33am | Edited 1:00am
How do you prepare yourself before you start trading?
I am usually awake by 12:30 AM. When I finally turn on my computer I read a list of 60 personal affirmations written on top of photos that reinforce each one. I cycle them with a slide show and read them out loud to myself. I also have them programmed into an mp3 masked behind the sounds of birds singing that I play sometimes while trading or sleeping. Then I open my news software and get a feel for what to expect. I intraday trade London and NY currencies, so my first signal is usually against a higher time frame because it often means the Asian whipsaw is over. After that, I start pickpocketing everyone and whatever happens, I adjust.

Do you guys maintain like a trade journal of the trades done in a day?
I track my weekly number of wins, number of losses, total profit, total loss, average profit, and average loss. My strategy is based on volume of trades taken, so I found that tracking weekly stats, rather than daily stats, keeps me in the zone of accumulating trades and less about accumulating money. My strategy is process-oriented since I cannot control how much money the market will give me. I can only control my reaction to its movement.

At what time do you exit the trading day( profit/loss percentage, pips, specific session, etc etc)?
I normally end my day during or just after NY lunch, 12:00 PM, unless there is a Fed speech scheduled and the market was flat while waiting for it. I like to make a minimum of 50 pips a day, which on any normal day is easy. If it doesn't happen, and it is not a bank holiday, and the Fed plans to make a speech, then I have to stay up and get my pips afterward. On bank holidays that affect my pairs, I don't bother trading. I also never trade NFP Friday. For these reasons, while I target 50 pips a day, I only target 200 pips a week.

Do you take a complete break of weekend from trading or do analysis and plans for the coming week or a mix of both?
I will review at least the past 2 weeks at some point during the weekend. To prevent memory bias, and to test my signals, I black out my charts and then draw vertical lines at the points where my indicators show signals. Then I put the candles back on the chart and compare the lines to the pattern and look for any inconsistencies in either the math, or my decisions. I also review all losses to see if I could have done anything to prevent them. On long weekends I still play around with 1M charts and look for ways to create an EA, but so far, no luck
You cannot be extraordinary by being normal
  • #20
  • Aug 11, 2017 8:50am Aug 11, 2017 8:50am
Well, I have a trading plan that I sincerely follow in my live trading sessions! Right now, my monthly target is around 20%, so in average my daily trading target is 1%, so when I get my target than I stop trading and start my learning session!
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