Research and reading news. Set alerts for multiple markets and learn to trade them if u have too much spare time. I find that I don't have time to monitor all
pfff depends. Usually, I would've already read 4 different news sites before the session, so CNBC in the background is enough just in case Trump says anything. I always have some sort of program backtesting my strats and theories in the background, so there's even more waiting. I look over my trading so far during the day, look for both good and bad things I've done(very important). Now that doesn't take much for me to do, maybe an hour. By then I'll either have my stop hit or the setup has horribly changed so I cancel the stop. I usually skip lunch, that session is basically a black hole for my money with the current strategies we're trading. We're supposed to only trade US equities, but we can get FX enabled on our accounts if we ask our manager. So yeah, during lunch i'd either be playing miniclip, watching a pirated movie, or trade forex. Bear in mind that you get very good at multitasking if you trade at prop, so it's not like I'm zoning out while I'm waiting for my stops or for the lunchtime trade to finish. P.s. oddly enough, some of my best trades happened when I was bored to shit during lunch and turned to forex for a cathartic trading experience.
News, Elitetrader, stocktwits, market-related Twitter stuff. Always on the hunt for catalysts - one big news item can lead to a move big enough to cover my weekly nut.
Boring is beautiful. More boring the better it gets. When all the rats run to one side of the boat, the boring codgers shuffle the other way. Ps: I'm considering building a fpv drone quadcopter in my spare time, can do this sort of thing, much better life than married to a keyboard inside stuffy house.
It is boring. waiting. for day trading setups, or just waiting for things to play out. it can sometimes feel like watching a Six hour sporting event, or movie,...it's Excruciating long to watch and wait for. That's one of the Great things that you will be tested on psychologically when doing this. Doing this requires a really centered person. Investing, or swing trading, or earnings plays...are completely different. You just have to check up on them periodically, or wait for the instant catalyst/result to act on. You almost have to be kind of psychotically calm and patient to do day trading. To answer your question though...I listen to or watch documentaries, in an attempt to calm me. I download them from Youtube.