How do you prepare for the trading day?

Quote from NihabaAshi:

Wannabe,

Thanks for more information...my next question is this to fill in the rest of the gap...

You sure are being quiet about your trading while seeking answers to your trading. :cool:

What market are your trading...stocks, Eminis, Forex, Options...what?

Just in case your trading the Eminis...

Keep it simple...

Know what time of day the key economic reports are released including FED stuff and when Greenspan is giving one of his so-called unimportant speeches.

Reveiw your favorite strategies every morning prior to 0830am est...

Always have a contingency plan...for example that correlates with stats in your trading...

For example...maybe your stats shows your profitable in the morning but give back those profits in the afternoon.

You'll be surprise how many traders don't see the obvious solution and figure it out after they've blown out their trading account...

Don't trade the afternoons :cool:

Maybe your stats shows your losing in the morning but hit your groove by the afternoon and finish the day profitable...

This should tell that trader to reduce his/her size in the morning and then go back to normal size in the afternoon.

Knowing the above will be a competitive edge to maximize profits and minimize losses.

Also, get access to Breaking World News as it occurs...CNBC tv is not adequate enough for this.

I've been long at least a dozen times and exited trades at breakeven or a tiny loss after getting wind of a bomb threat or terrorist activity prior to the market dropping several points or more after 911.

Thus, any trader that tells you to ignore the news...either don't know what they are talking about or are just making a blanket statement.

In addition, review your favorite strategies again during the trading day...set aside 30mins for this.

Do something relaxing away from the markets besides just lunch...completely get away...

Go for a brief walk...go into another room and listen to music, take a nap on the patio or front porch and get some fresh air...do anything that takes you away from the market.

For example...during the summer...3x times per week...I play Boogle with my spouse outside on either the front porch or back patio...during market hours as part of my lunch time routine.

At end of the trading day...I usually stop trading at 3:30pm est and spend from 3:30pm till 4:15pm est updating my personal trading notes with commentary and printing out charts of each trade...

By 5pm est...I've printed out charts of the entire trading day for review at a later day if needed.

With all that's said above...I still think your being unclear...

If your looking for what will tip you off to a good trade as an intraday position trader...

Search the Technical Analysis forum for strategies along with reading dbphoenix journal thread on Price and Volume to give yourself a strong basic understanding of supply and demand during the intraday.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=29005

It would be helpful for you to explain exactly what your currently doing (pre-market, during the trading day, post-market) so that others can add in their 2 cents.

Good luck.

NihabaAshi
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Thanks a bunch for the reply NihabaAshi.

I trade Nasdaq (primarily) a bit of NYSE, ETF's. What I'm looking to do now is trade the stocks that are in play for whatever day (today TASR). What I find myself doing is just sitting down behind my PC and going at it. I am aware of any economic reports/earnings coming out, but still feel VERY unprepared as far as decision making goes. I feel I need more than just my feelings (which have worked pretty well for the last two years) to be guiding my trading decisions.

What, specifically, would some of you advise? Once again I thank everyone for their time!
 
Quote from WannabeTrader27:

I have been a scalper (which has lead me to believe that no amount of preparation will be beneficial) but am currently switching to become an intra day positional trader. Since position trading is relatively new to me, what should I be looking for pre market, market hours and post market?

Thanks for the replies.
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Just curious. What made you decide to move into position trading? Is there fewer opportunities in scalping these days? How long have you been practicing position trading?

I'm also a scalper and have written out a position trading plan, but I always find myself going back to scalping.
 
Quote from WannabeTrader27:

I've heard a lot of people say that trading is hard work. I'm relatively new to the industry but from my two years of trading experience I would have to agree.

I was wondering what makes trading hard work. Is it the preparation before the market opens? If so what type of preparation do you traders undertake? Is it the research involved after the market closes?

I just feel that I'm missing something. A piece to my own personal trading puzzle if you will. I guess I'm just looking to get better at what I do.

Any input/opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers!
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=====================
Wannabetrader;
[a]Prepare & paperWORK for years , month , quarter, day by reading about 72 hours a week average, especialy DIA,SPY, QQQ related , & ,occasional derivatives.

And especially many, many many time frames longer than intraday.

Realize ''Don Bright '' trading has some huge scalper earners & millionaires;

but agree 100% ''you are missing something''& may want to study medium & longer term moves-compare % that with intraday
% . I did that & really eye opening.


[z]Difficulty also arises when , yes scalping maybe most thrilling;


:cool: but prefering thrills to a well researched, diversified written trading plan & profits.




The plans of the diligent tend only to advantage-Solomon trader king.
 
Quote from WannabeTrader27:

I also find that my stops are completely random. How do you guys determine how much you're willing to lose before admitting your wrong?
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From your posts it seems that more than your stops are random. Your entire trading approach is random, and so long as it is you won't get ahead. You need to systematize your approach, and for that you will need backtesting capabilities and time-in-the-markets. Undoubedtly there are experienced traders who can jump into a stock, or into the market, based on news, and pull out a few points intraday. But that is definitely not a path that new traders should take.
 
Quote from lindq:

From your posts it seems that more than your stops are random. Your entire trading approach is random, and so long as it is you won't get ahead. You need to systematize your approach, and for that you will need backtesting capabilities and time-in-the-markets. Undoubedtly there are experienced traders who can jump into a stock, or into the market, based on news, and pull out a few points intraday. But that is definitely not a path that new traders should take.
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lindq your posts are always very insightful and I wanted to tell you it's truly a pleasure to read them..... excellent advise.

:)
 
Quote from Samson77:

lindq your posts are always very insightful and I wanted to tell you it's truly a pleasure to read them..... excellent advise.

:)
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Gracias. I've made most of the mistakes that a trader can make over the years, and I simply try to keep people out of the snake pits.
 
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