What are things you can do to prepare yourself to trade after waking up?

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by jinxu, Jul 21, 2010.

  1. I tried that once, but I just couldn't finish it. It just wasn't in me. Is there an abbreviated audio version? Maybe something sublimnal for when I'm asleep?
     
    #21     Jul 21, 2010
  2. Picaso

    Picaso

    My number one rule and the one that's helped me the most with my discipline, sticking to the rest of the rules, etc. is simply:

    <b>Absolutely no trading before I've been awake for two hours.</b>

    I'll have breakfast, prepare lunch in advance, read the news, go over some charts, re-read my trading plan, etc. But the most important part is simply allowing myself to fully wake the fuck up. I'm a slow riser, I know. :p
     
    #22     Jul 21, 2010
  3. I always grab a cold drink and splash my face with cool water.
     
    #23     Jul 21, 2010
  4. Wakeup with discipline, 2 hrs before market open. Prepare for volatility events @ 8:30 AM. Set your trading levels and possible trades @ open by 9 AM as well as position sizing. Wait for your levels to get hit and don't trade in no man's land.

    Plan the trade and trade the plan, this is a business.
     
    #24     Jul 21, 2010
  5. joneog

    joneog

    1) Get more sleep
    2)Coffee
    3)Pick up a smoking habit(preferably cigarettes, not crack)
    4)Do some exercise
    5)Create a rule that you wont trade before a certain time(for me I'll only trade half size before 9:45 est)
    6)When you sit down force yourself to remember some of the bad trades you made first thing in the morning
    7)If you have separate systems/platforms for charting and execution just turn on the charting platform
     
    #25     Jul 21, 2010
  6. lol I know right. I trade the market on MY own terms, not the markets :p . Waking up at 830 just aint my thing, but I guess going to bed at 2am most nights doesn't really help either.
     
    #26     Jul 21, 2010
  7. I have ten commandments on two tablets.

    I drop one on each foot and I'm raring to go.
     
    #27     Jul 21, 2010
  8. So true.

    1) Try to wake up. Look at clock, determine I still have some time left to trade, go back to sleep.

    2) Turn on computer, get blue monster drink and bottle of water.

    3) Check what the wankers are doing, and if I want to fade them or not.

    4) Look at my charts, see if I get a setup.

    5) If I get a setup be willing to accept the win or the loss and turn on automation.

    6) Stop looking at the charts while the trade is on, go do something else, and let automation do its business.

     
    #28     Jul 21, 2010
  9. How many hours of sleep do you get? You really need to get more sleep if you wake up consistently groggy.....meaning hit the sack earlier.

    I love to stay up late but realized early on when I started trading a few yrs ago that at least 7 hrs of sleep is needed to reset your mind. Also, when i wake up, I make it a habit of reading all the premarket news... marketwatch online, cnbc or bloomberg and political news. Then, I look at the charts for the market(s) I trade in(in my case ES, GBP/USD, and EUR/USD.

    In otherwards, you need to wake up fresh and do preparatory things to get your mind into "processing" mode before jumping into a trade, or else the market is going to hand your ass to you, like you already said it has bcuz of your impatience.
     
    #29     Jul 22, 2010
  10. What about west coast? Bed At 9 , up at 4 kinda sucks...
     
    #30     Jul 22, 2010