Now Trading all day, what to do during lunch?

I would suggest using an automated trader so that you don't have to leave during lunch. What are you going to do if a crash happens while you're at lunch? Even if you are sitting right at the computer, an individual person can't respond quick enough if they want to maximize their profits.
 
Quote from Josette:

What are you going to do if a crash happens while you're at lunch?
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I agree, frankly I don't quite understand not trading during lunch.

I like to sit and watch every single tick, get a much better 'feel' for the market and also not to miss any opportunities. I mean 9AM - 4PM is only 7 hours. Making a living by pushing buttons is not bad....

In my other job, I had to be at work for about eight hours, come home and check email/respond to issues in the evenings for at least an hour. be on call at night and on weekends.
 
Quote from FirstDegree:

Don't get into the habit of having a trading rule that you aren't going to trade during your predefined lunch hour market times, seeing one of your setups during the lunch hour that worked, and then breaking your rule to trade during the lunch hour because you saw a setup that worked.
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Oh come on, that turned out to be one of my best trades last week :D
 
Quote from charto911:

I have finally made the transition to full time day trader as I was just trading until 11:30. Now that I am trading all day and my style is semi scalping day trader where I look to take out 14-28 cents on stocks like LVS and BP.

So what I wanted to know is should I be taking a step back during lunch time so I dont get chopped up and if so what time to what. Do the big prop traders take off for lunch or do they sit all day?
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Don't worry what everyone else is doing, there is no "this is the right way, that's the right way" having said that I'm not criticising you for asking the question, I wondered about this as well.

lunch can be good or bad, is it a trending day? consolidation day? one thing worth looking at is tracking your trading over a period of time, you may find that there are times (pre market, first hour, last hour) when your setup's work better than others, this gives you your answer.
I personally, trade equity index futures, I trade the first hour, and then stop, after that I find my concentration is shot and I start to make mistakes, so I have decided its not worth continuing, Do I worry that others think I'm a part timer? Nope I turn off my computer, go and pay the bills, and enjoy my life.

good luck m8, and congratulations on joining us professional full timers :)
 
Lunch is a very delicate subject.
It is also a good time to take advantage of the reduced volatility in strong/weak stocks and position for the afternoon with reduced risk.....how many times does the market make a high/low at 10.30-11.30 lunch comes around, volume drops stocks retrace a bit usually with the market pulling back/bouncing or simply pausing.....

Great time of the day to get a head start on a few fade trades as well....especially in the type of market we have now when we quite often trade from high to low and the other way around....


The biggest issue especially for new traders during lunch is chasing moves on low volume and throwing money out of the window buying the high tick and selling the low tick - been there done that....

I guess use lunch for what it's worth, but not being glued to the screen for 7 hours straight is also a pretty good way to stay focused in the afternoons...
 
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