Quote from Trader5287:
Good posts. I trade em all. ZN definetly the most liquid. SPI - Aussie starts at 7:48 PM for its day session. I'm in it for 30 seconds/minute if things go my way and try to keep the trade under an hour if I can. You will see that SPI starts to move a little as YM opens up after 9. Hang Seng I think of as an absolutely delightful shootout of liars and thieves taking place at warp speed. Bids and asks can just fly all over the place with no trades taking place and then whammo you have a 1,000 or 4,000 or the opposite in seconds and if you're an American it is just impossible to really believe you divide by 8. No feel for DAX/ESTOX50/BUND which I just started. I also use the overnight to set up my days. Two things I like are CNBC ASIA/EUROPE and, of all places, CNNfn has a place in its site on US stocks trading in Frankfurt that has been invaluable to me for years.
I'm a news junkie and sleepless type so I enjoy it. Helps to know your bod and have a defined time frame though. I fell asleep short 4 SPI in the 3080s which I will have to attend to Sunday night in a huge gap up no doubt! Make sure you know your trading platform at night, when it resets and whether orders are embedded/cancelled etc...Just some random thoughts..
Geo.
Hey Trader5287!
I tend to trade the US markets during my local night and the US pre-open as well as the Aussie SPI during my local afternoon.
I generally sleep between 6-7am to ~11/12am my time, if I sleep at all.
Quite often I don't have regular sleeping patterns, although I know I should. However, more important than a fixed sleeping time is a fixed amount of sleep. Less than 5 hours simply doesn't work. I catnap to compensate.
Often I, just like you, fall asleep during a trade - But tend to set alert triggers on the significant levels and already have a physical stop & trail-stop in place with my broker (I use FT -
www.futures-trader.net).
That way, if the alert trigger doesn't wake me, I just get stopped out with a smaller gain or just a small loss.
I know this doesn't sound like a very productive trading regimen, but if you manage to trade the markets 24/7 like this, it can be quite lucrative.
Also, you'd be surprised how much more fun "day trading" can be if you just put up a trade, set your stops and go for a nap until your target is met. It's like "fast-forward" or a timemachine LOL
This just applies for more action-oriented traders like me, anyway. Most of the time, I'm too impatient (and risk averse) to day-trade, so I scalp (futures). When you're scalping, you tend to stay awake (caffeine accelerates heartrate, but scalping does, too)
Winston Churchill, for example, never slept a full night. He was known to work all day and night, while having between 5 and 8 half-hour 'cat-naps' per day. He said he was always refreshed and at the peak of his productivity. He also never exercised.
After all, he was successful in his endeavours to kick the squareheads' asses (pardon to my ancestors) etc, so he is to be respected. Since he rarely left his bedroom, it is said about him that "He ruled an empire from his bed"...
Anyway, just thought I'd note that here.
By the way, my day here in Western Australia is EST+12h.
Please read some interesting details on this earlier thread regarding this:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20103&highlight=globex+glories
Yours Sincerely,
~The Scientist
