"The 4 hour Workweek" and trading

carrer · Sep 22, 2016

I swing trade and yes, I work much lesser than 4 hours a week (on decision making and placing orders).
I however spend more than 4 hours a week learning and studying (books/forums/etc).

bln · Sep 23, 2016

comagnum said:
There are plenty of swing traders that do very well while spending no more than 4 hours per week - of which most of the 4 hours of work are done when the market is closed. Less is more!

Agree with this as a end-of-day swing trader. Spend only a few hours per month, yet rake in 40-50% annually.

Gezunt · Sep 23, 2016

The best way to apply the lessons of the four hour work week to trading is to AUTOMATE. In fact, either automate or WASTE your life learning nothing by staring at charts in a hyponotic state and become jack hershey then die.

MKTrader · Sep 23, 2016

Gezunt said:
The best way to apply the lessons of the four hour work week to trading is to AUTOMATE. In fact, either automate or WASTE your life learning nothing by staring at charts in a hyponotic state and become jack hershey then die.

Yeah, that's my point. And that it's better in some cases to pay for things (software, education) or outsource than spend countless hours trying to get everything for "free" on forums, Youtube, etc. But most people (including traders) never value their time in dollars per hour. That's why you see people wait an hour at a fast food drive-through to get a "free" $1.99 sandwich.

Gezunt · Sep 23, 2016

MKTrader said:
Yeah, that's my point. And that it's better in some cases to pay for things (software, education) or outsource than spend countless hours trying to get everything for "free" on forums, Youtube, etc. But most people (including traders) never value their time in dollars per hour. That's why you see people wait an hour at a fast food drive-through to get a "free" $1.99 sandwich.

Great point but one needs to understand that most of the forum participants are ne'erdowells, freegans, the chronically unemployed, broken down strugglers, and dreamers-- they don't have the money to do it correctly and trading looks like easy money. SO they continue to waste their lives searching for free stuff. really sad

copyplus · Sep 23, 2016

Gezunt said:
In fact, either automate or WASTE your life learning nothing by staring at charts in a hyponotic state and become jack hershey then die.

Gotta give it you, that was hilarious... LOL!

Daal · Sep 23, 2016

As a day trader I try to apply the paretto principle by only sticking around in important days where I'm likely to see the 20% of the trades that make 80% of the profit. But I got tell you, its hard. Once you are staring at the screen and seeing opportunities to make money, its hard to leave to do something else. You know you will lose potential profits if you do.

Its a lot easier to not get involved at all in the first place. Its like the people that are trying to stop smoking, if you smoke one or two, it becomes a lot easier to rationalize smoking more. but if you stop completetly, then there is no excuse to do it

dealmaker · Sep 23, 2016

Daal said:
As a day trader I try to apply the paretto principle by only sticking around in important days where I'm likely to see the 20% of the trades that make 80% of the profit. But I got tell you, its hard. Once you are staring at the screen and seeing opportunities to make money, its hard to leave to do something else. You know you will lose potential profits if you do.

Its a lot easier to not get involved at all in the first place. Its like the people that are trying to stop smoking, if you smoke one or two, it becomes a lot easier to rationalize smoking more. but if you stop completetly, then there is no excuse to do it

“Money is made by sitting, not trading.”
-Jesse Lauriston Livermore

Apophenia · Sep 24, 2016

Daal said:
As a day trader I try to apply the paretto principle by only sticking around in important days where I'm likely to see the 20% of the trades that make 80% of the profit. But I got tell you, its hard. Once you are staring at the screen and seeing opportunities to make money, its hard to leave to do something else. You know you will lose potential profits if you do.

Its a lot easier to not get involved at all in the first place. Its like the people that are trying to stop smoking, if you smoke one or two, it becomes a lot easier to rationalize smoking more. but if you stop completetly, then there is no excuse to do it

One good heuristic is the overnight range. So you check just before open, then step back or not. Another key information is the open in itself, if not enough volume / volatility then step back ... Guess it's a good proxy for intraday volatility. In addition to the economic calendar.

sle · Sep 25, 2016

Gezunt said:
The best way to apply the lessons of the four hour work week to trading is to AUTOMATE. In fact, either automate or WASTE your life learning nothing by staring at charts in a hyponotic state and become jack hershey then die.

If you would have said "systematize" I'd wholeheartedly agree. You really gain nothing by automating everything, you just become a slave to your coding and the process maintenance instead. Lots of people with an IT background fall into this trap.

If automation gains you an edge, sure, go ahead and automate. If you are not gaining any alpha or reducing your work load, keep doing it manually. Most of traders/PMs time should be spend on creating or improving his alpha.