how should developing traders allocate their time?

I think I've been spending way too much time listening to noise or trying to find the next trade ideas, and not enough time sitting down and figuring out what I'm doing wrong, what my sticking points are, studying my setups, etc. What have you guys found to be good allocations of time dedicated to journaling, reviewing trades, doing deep dives on setups, finding next trades, watching podcasts, etc?

 

Narrowing down to one single strategy.

 

Screen time - watching price movement until it starts to talk to me.

 

Pickup one approach in technical analysis. Identify just one or two setups that seem to be working. Work on them. Trade them. Improve them and do not deviate.

While you choose the technical analysis approaches be careful of issues line lagging indicators etc. Understand consequences before you choose. Identify stop loss and follow risk management. Read all these things before you build your trading strategy.

 

Developing a trading plan.

 

What timeframe charts do you like to trade?
How much time per week are you willing to single-mindedly devote to your trading business?

 

mostly looking at daily/weekly time frames, and using intraday charts like 1h/15m for entries/management. I focus on breakouts (or breakdowns) after consolidation, and like to anticipate them for better r/r.

But I've been frequently finding myself trading outside of that strategy, not following the plan, and not being patient, trading based on what "I think" it'll do next. Clearly, I need to spend more time to get my psyche straight, identify my triggers, and learn to sit on my ass when the conditions aren't favorable for my setup. I'm just trying to get some feedback on how much time should be allocated towards these type of things. 2-3 hours/day?

 

Daily/ weekly you don't have to spend that much time once you have a process.
Nightly scan looking for set-ups
A little time in the morning to see if you have to open a position. Set it and forget it.
Go hit a golf ball or something.

 

You got no problem, relax - have a homebrew.
Do you have some form of stats spreadsheet and keep an organized collection of screenshots of your setups / Triggers?

 

That's what I need to do better at. I've been lazy about it, or at least haven't developed the right habits..