Trading causes much more introspection than one would think.   It’s you vs you.  Some would argue its you vs the market.  The market doesn’t care about you, nor is it even aware you are here.   Does that equate to a battle?   For each person this internal battle can occur on a multitude of levels.  One for myself that I have been recently looking at, is when I show up, timing.

 

For about as long as I can remember I have not been afraid to create a crowd, an audience or group of people so to speak.  Now to put that into context, I’ll try to explain.  I have never been really good at public speaking but whom is right?  I have never been really comfortable stepping in front of a crowd or into  group of people, even for a conversation.  However I have never been afraid to stand out in the open, do my thing and before I know it there is an audience.  Be it from telling a story, making a joke, dancing, or speaking my mind.  Shoot I use to make a game of lets see how many people we can gather (by looking through random isle bins at the store).  I am usually  early 30 minutes + for an appointment, rather than 15 like many.  As to me 15 minutes early is late.   

 

So how does this all relate to trading?  It’s about finding what works for me.  So I look for the #2 ramp up, look for what sets them up.  Don’t worry so much about dang I was early on that ticker, and later it went supernova, had a multiday move.  Take the piece of the move I am comfortable with.  Maybe go back for seconds or thirds.  Then walk away.  The trigger that I have been seeing some rather consistent success with over the past year has been a momentum trigger, applied in various charts patterns.  Which I feel is great, for me.  Now that I have identified this for myself.  Time for me to work on only executing when I see this, not chasing or ‘testing” so many other set ups.  

 

Timing in and out of a trade is not the only lesson either.  Just as important is the time of day.  Last winter I had some consistent success trading in extended hours.  I would apply the fgd concept to after hours movers.  I would watch them wait till last hour or less of the extended session and jump into a swing trade. Risky, heck yes.  At the time I was trading with a broker that allowed me to also trade at 4 am est.  I live in cst so I would wake 2:45/50 get ready for 3 am and sell at the open.  Just like a fgdotc.  But extended hours.  I was not able to sustain this schedule for too long as it was killer on my sleep.  And one point my day job had me working 8am-930pm for 7 days, in the middle of working 11 days straight.  My mind was mush.  It was a feakin’ tough experience.  I tried that strategy again later but was not as successful.  This summer for a bit pre market trading seemed to have the most follow through on trades, then mid day.  Why? I have no definite answer to.  I just know there have been brief timing trends in various parts of the day.  Brief trends meaning market open and the 2 pm “power hour” still by far have the most liquidity.  

 

Ride the momentum that works for you when it’s there.  Are you an early bird or a night owl?  Are you good sleeping 4 hours at a time, twice a day.  Do you need 10-12 hours sleep?  Juggle a 40 hr+ job, school, and a family?  Were you laid off from your job and inbetween with some time on your hands?  Or perhaps part of the great resignation and have a cushin with a bit of time to see what you can do?  What timing works for you?  Intraday trading, swing trading?  Listed, otc's, options, forex, crypto, nft's?  Maybe its pokemon, trading cards, vintage cloths, or rustic decorations?  Capitalize on the edge you see.  That’s why we are all here right.  To financially capitalize, for what ever your why is.