how not to look at trading screens

A

allstarmoney

hi there-

i have a problem insofar as i don't need to watch the trading screens throughout the day (as i generally trade only every few weeks or so), but for some reason, i keep checking the balance screen every ten minutes or so throughout the trading day. i am not sure if this is out of fear or boredom or what. but i am wondering if anyone has any advice or experience in this regard? it seems like i'm not really effectively using my time since, giving my trading approach, i don't need to watch the markets throughout the day. thanks very much in advance.
 
I had the same problem when I was younger. I tried something and I have been doing it ever since. Now I only check the market 3 times a day. At 9am, noon and 5 minutes to closing.

Most brokers have watchlists where you can enter your stock and put the price you paid for it. When I feel I am looking too close at the bottom line I remove all prices and just keep the share amounts in the watchlist. Since the net always says 0, it would take me a great deal of time to know where I stand at any given time.
 
Quote from HolyGrail:

I had the same problem when I was younger. I tried something and I have been doing it ever since. Now I only check the market 3 times a day. At 9am, noon and 5 minutes to closing.
More...

going a bit off topic here, but I'm very curious about your style.
Are you a daytrader? Do you just check 3 times a day? How often do you check and how often do you actively trade?

Thanks
 
Quote from andread:

going a bit off topic here, but I'm very curious about your style.
Are you a daytrader? Do you just check 3 times a day? How often do you check and how often do you actively trade?

Thanks
More...
I have been thinking about daytrading, but my business demands just won't allow it at this time. I am a swing and position trader. There are days when I will make five or six trades and sometimes I go weeks or months without making one trade. It basically depends on what the overall market is doing and how well my stocks are doing. If I am long I will hold a stock as long as it stays in its 2% regression channel.

I never set hard stops, but I do set up alerts that will email me if my stock reaches my mental stop. Obviously if I get a bunch of emails I will be looking at the market more than 3 times a day, but normally it is only 3 times.
 
So if you set alerts for mental stops and not setting hard stops this must mean you fudge with using stops.

Why not just set a hard stop and be done with it? The only answer to that question must be that you are not always honoring the mental stops.

Bad habit.
 
Quote from bighog:

So if you set alerts for mental stops and not setting hard stops this must mean you fudge with using stops.

Why not just set a hard stop and be done with it? The only answer to that question must be that you are not always honoring the mental stops.

Bad habit.
More...

I always honor my stops. I don't place hard stops because they have a tendency of being taken out. I have been in this discussion before and people think I'm paranoid, but I'm sorry I am NOT going to give a market maker more information than he needs to know.
 
alerts are perfect, dont necessarly mean they gotta be triggered at the exact stop price. forgive pighog, hes mildly retarded and big phat girlpants.
 
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