Quote from newwurldmn:
I have the same problem as well. Staring at the screen is unproductive.
I was going to start a new thread about that.
I have made multiple mistakes that cost me thousands of dollars of missed profits in past 2-4 weeks, simply by watching the screen all day and allowing price swings and prices to influence me to change my thoughts and decision on entries and exits. Trading on price alone and/or simply on P/L does not work for me. If I had been in a coma for most of the past month, I would be up a significant amount over my "real-time" decisions made by watching most ticks on my positions.
I'll give you an example from today. Since 1996 I have traded ESRX. But I stopped trading 5 1/2 years ago. Decided to dabble and got back in in June. This week I accumulated a position in ESRX. But by watching it's price action yesterday (when it sold off in front of earnings - which I knew would not be a big deal since they had pre-announced), closed out Nov 37.50c. Further I bought January puts and only spread 1/2 of the November against. Sure enough if I had done nothing I would have cleaned up today when the stock popped 4+ I made something but by watching the g-damn stock all week, it somehow played with my mind and influenced me to "worry' about whether it would fill the gap around 36. The calls went from 3.50 to 6.50+. But I got out of 1/2 of them, after watching the damn screens all day yesterday.
When I made my decision to enter ESRX long, it was based on accumulated intuition and experience, without emotion after examining the chart and fundamentals. Thus it was probably my best decision. The decision to close some longs was based on emotions influenced by watching the screens all day.
Back in 1994 I met a woman who had traded on the CBOT; she was very knowledgeable about trading and the markets. She advised me not to watch the screen or the markets constantly. She said it would influence my earlier decisions and planning that were formulated at a time when my/your analytical and decision-making skills were/are best (maybe in the evening or morning). At said time I likely applied my best intuition, ideas and experience planning out a move.
She suggested keeping target levels/alerts and checking in periodically to monitor. That might be every 15-30 minutes or even at open and end of day, depending on your paradigm, and time-frame.
I am trying to make that part of my plan. Today I went out to lunch and set alerts, and orders. Sure enough it worked out. Stopped me from pulling the trigger too soon or a buy or sell. I am a discretionary guy and do not day trade much other than when I see a good opportunity to trade around a core position in one of the 4-7 equities that I trade at any one time.
