As my first month of working full time (August) has breezed through, I wanted to share with everybody what were the measures I have taken to adapt to the situation and make the best of it. Basically I get to work earlier than everybody, and leave a bit later. This lets me have a longer break, which I take earlier so am able to be in the first 2 hours of the market open.
You will be surprised that I have actually found the whole experience very positive, and here is why:
1. More focused on the best setups
- Focusing on less and becoming an expert on certain stock patterns can be very beneficial especially for a beginners. Sykes has his earning winners and shorting pump and dumps, Grittani has his OTCs and overextended charts, we all gotta find our niche in the trading world.
- Having less time to trade, has made me more picky on what I will trade the next day. Since I only have two hours to trade, I need to keep my eye on the price and trade only the best setups.
2. Always having a plan in advance
- Less time, means you must not and cannot afford to "wing it", having a plan is essential, and that is why I have a plan going in to the trading day.
- The plan needs to have both a good and bad case scenario.
- This has helped me be more active in taking positions, and less skittish since I am more prepared.
3. Staying Away from the "One Time Mentality"
- More details to come on the next blog post on this, but basically this to me means not entering a trade, because think maybe this one time will work, or this one time will come out of it OK.
- If you are entering a trade like that, you are probably in for the wrong reasons, and you should not be in the trade.
4. Focused on the most volatile time of the market
- I only have two hours to trade, so I decided to pick the first 2 hours of market time. This lets me be in for the most volatile time in the market, and at least gives me a chance on having a few plays.
5. Nail and Bail attitude
- Since I have to be out in 2 hours, I have become more conservative, and it has helped me from bad situations, or watching profits disappear for being too patient.
- Being more conservative on closing the positions.
7. Not overwhelmed by so many plays
- When was in front of the trading screen all day, sometimes was trying to look at way too many plays, and was getting overwhelmed.
- Now I am finding myself focusing on less.
8. Not as many distractions
- Do not have the time to be focused on noise or other factors that might distract myself from trading, since I know I need to be on top of my game for that period of time.
9. More financial security
- For a trader who is just starting, having the financial certainty that I will be able to pay the bills for now takes a lot of pressure to perform. This lets me focusing on learning, and paying my fair share of market tuition to learn, while still being able to survive.
It took me a while to get over that feeling of having to make trade before the clock runs out...
@ Palmer Do you try to be flat when the clock runs out? Or do you keep some and monitor them with mobile applications?
If I am in a position that is running and I have to get back to the office I monitor with the TOS trading app..I will put in a trailing stop order if the position is moving well and just let it run or manually adjust the stop.
Ok thanks for sharing!!
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