Hi everyone Iam a relatively new to trading. Lost a few dollers just messing around trading part time. Now I want to get serious. I believe success starts with hard work. Whether i make money or lose money in the end, I wanna be able to say i gave it all i got. My main problem is I have no idea how much effort to dedicate to trading. I am going to be trading only stocks and and gonna be mainly swing trading. Iam hoping some of the successfull traders here can tell me How much time they dedicate each day to trading. And specifically What They do each day. Iam trying to make a schedule and have no idea where to start. Can you guys please post what your typical schedule is each day. Thanks
No replies yet. Has this been discussed before? or is this just a stupid question. I tried searching, but no luk
That's a weird question. Are you currently any good? If yes, you'll know how much time you need to devote to trading. If no, you have to work at it everyday and on the weekends until you can say yes.
say round about twice as much time as you need to put in to play a musical instrument. I was a really hot guitarist - practiced 8 hrs a day for years. Depends on how good you want to be. Simple.
Iam not good at all. actually i really suck. I lost money every year for the last 3 years. I was putting part time effort, few hours a day looking at charts and reading a few books. I was mostly swing trading. Iam willing to do what ever it takes to be successful. I guess i can put in 10 - 12 hr days. But I dont know what to do with that time. I was hoping some of the successful people would talk about how much time they dedicate to trading, and what exactly is their routine once they get up in the morning. I didnt think it was that wierd. Is there a better way to phrase this?
Iâd like to know more specifics. Swing trading stocks works so whatâs going wrong with your technique - might just need tweaked. Are you trading daily of interday swings? My daily routine wonât help you as much as better entries and exits.
Well I guess I made all the typical rookie mistakes first couple of years. I take profits too early when the stocks going up. Hold on to losers too long and try to convince myself it will go back up. I was watching realtime quotes for few months, becuz lots of people here are daytraders, and that really messed me up. The intraday swings would get me out of good stocks. I feel im improving each year with entries and exits. I have read books about psychology, money management, but its been tough to apply all that Ive read. I think thats mostly because i didnt spend enough time with doing trading related stuff. I had a full time job and came home and try to play with my kids and spend time with wife. Losing money never bothered me. I just considered it part of learning. But i dont want to keep losing money every year. Iam trying to get everything organized so when i wake up I know exactly what to do. Right now I have lots of time to dedicate to learning about trading, but I have no idea how to use that time. Right now iam trying to read as many books about trading and economy as i can. I know i need to do lot more than that.
Ok dead serious here, look at every trade you made in the last 3 years and count up the trades that fall into the following categories: How many trades made 5% or more? How many trades made 0-5%? How many trades LOST 0-5%? How many trades LOST 5% or more? Post the answers here and you might just discover something you didn't realize.
Ok sounds like youâre fairly happy with your entries and exits? If thatâs the case then you understanding of market structure is screwing you up, and/or youâre breaking your rules. Gut sense is you donât understand the direction of the market and youâre second-guessing yourself and rule breaking. Iâm hoping you have proper rules and thatâs whatâs Maverickz is digging at â have you got a useless method or are you useless at trading your method! Iâm going to suggest something that no else is probably going to suggest, but Iâm doing it on the basis you have working entries/exits but need to know when to hang in there for a good run and when you are trading against the trend. Get Brian Millardâs books and see if that appeals to you. If so get his software. Brian is an absolute genius and his software does a fantastic job at giving a visual direction and prediction to the market. Itâs based on Hurst cycles. Not for everyone but in 20 yrs itâs the best I have seen. Take a look at http://www.qudospubs.co.uk/QHome.htm
Spend the next 6 months developing a systemic approach. Get WealthLab, TradeStation or a number of other systemic trading platforms and get to work. Since its been three years and discretionary trading HAS NOT been working its time to start down the other path. Each entry and exit needs to be thought-out well in advance using a refined and tested process. Its clear you don't have a methodogly and you will continue to lose until you develop one. Pyschology and money management come after you've developed a profitable approach. Mike