Convenient base when I was travelling every week, just stayed on like so many do. 16 years now. All this talk of sleep and food has made me hungry. Eggs and toast coming up!
I'm in US, I've shifted to trading at night, it suits me well, catch the Asia and Europe markets. Since forever, it's easier to stay up later than to wake up at the same time in the morning; waking up earlier, headache, fog, nausea, end-of-the-world feeling, it's like a hangover even though no drinking the night before. Forget Halloween -- Daylight Savings Day in Spring (move clock forward 1 hour) is the day of horror for me. I try to wake up at noon but unfortunately it's creeping towards 12:30 now. Morning activity, then I'm ready for the day by 3:30 pm, still 1 and half hours of normal business time to take care of stuff like doctor's appt's, customer service, bank, etc; they usually leave messages at 10:00 am or so; if I'm lucky everything can be done through email or the website so no need to actually go somewhere or talk to someone. I don't miss social life. I used to do such years ago, but one day honestly realized I did not enjoy it very much. I only hung out with friends because society programs one to think that's what you're supposed to do. Everybody has their own level in this regard, but very few have the insight or introspection to figure out what their individual level is. I'm fully awake and hit peak productivity by midnight, then, try to go to bed by 2:00 am, but it's creeping towards 2:30 - 3:00 now. I wish I had more then 2 hours of "full-on mood" and didn't have to try to sleep immediately afterwards. I think I would be well suited to a deep space mission, where there is no day-night difference, or I could reprogram the clocks.
I switch my schedule back and forth from night to day depending upon market conditions. For the last week or so I was night trading Forex only. I'm back to a normal sleep schedule as of yesterday as US market action is picking back up enough to make daytrading US markets worthwhile again.
I start my trading day around 2am and have adjusted my trade style to not require me to monitor the market continuously. After setting up some trades I go back to bed and usually find that I'm back up again in 30 to 45 minutes, repeating the cycle until around 7am when I'm up for good. Trading slows down a lot for me around mid-morning. Definately hard but it works for me. I use to work from home and am now retired which makes it all maneageable.
That a tough one. I do once in a while join the early euro trade but I'm so tired for the US market open. Great moves if you really have patience.
I read your reply and reckoned you would disagree. Maybe you`re an outlier? I do suppose that if you have it down like clockwork consistently, it is a different matter, as long as you`re exposed to sunlight. The article I linked to was only one among many and I do believe science have found that there are certain processes that happen in the body only if you sleep during a certain time window (prior to midnight by a wide margin). Circadian cycles, internal processes and the release of certain hormones are very real, but I suppose one could change one`s biological clock.
For some fifteen years I traded both night and days while sleeping during the late afternoon till 23:30, I got so tired of it, I hired people to stay up evenings/nights so I didn't have to. If messes up everything, one's disposition, relationships, outlook on life, but it is generally the best trading around, at least for me. You can't really do volume in currency futures so you have to go to Forex for size, but the German markets can handle just about anything. Crude Oil offers nice trends but you have to be able to accept what you can get but it is not as jagged as it is in Day session. I don't trade the U.S. Indexes at all during the night session, moves are very short for me and risk is often all over the place cause it doesn't take much to hit stops cause of the lite volume. Just have to be very aware of the reports that come out at night, and be out of the market before they come out, the slippage can be staggering.