How much time in the week does trading account for?

[Cartman]

Wake at 6:30 - 7 in front of screens 10 min later with first coffee and breaky
Check news, US, commodities Blah Blah Blah.
7:30 review yesterdays crap trading and make notes of what mistakes I will not do today, note that they are sadly the same as the ones I wrote out 3 days ago.
8:00 work out SPI, HSI & K200 levels and "guesses" for the day ahead and further out.
9:00 2nd or 3rd coffee. more news and ASF, emails and sports news.
9:40 4th or 5th Coffee. Set up ipod playlist. Glance at things to work on todays list.
9:50 watch SPI open
9:51 throw first order into the market.
9:51:12 scratch it.
9:51:22 reverse last trade.
9:51:42 Scratch AGAIN and re-enter first trade 6 points worst off than first entry. roll eyes.
9:52:08 take 4 ticks.
9:53 watch trade I just closed run another 16 ticks.
9:53:08 call in the dog
9:54 change ipod playlist cus its ****ting me.
9:55 place a limit order to sell @ the high
9:56 Swear at the Boyz for not filling it.
9:57 watch it run 16 tick away from my pathetic limit order.
9:57 Call the dog again
9:58 get stopped out instantly on next trade.
9:58:10 notice i'm flat on 4 trades less a heap of brokerage - wonder why the dog will not come past the door entrance.
10:00 throw full size order into the flick higher on the up open.
10:00:20 wish i didn't do that.
10:00:22 move stop up a tick
10:00:36 get stopped out. notice the dogs gone back outside.
10:01 re-enter same trade
10:01:20 wish i didn't do that.
10:02 glad i did
10:03 close out half, trail stop rest
10:04 half stopped out for 6 ticks profit instead of the 12 I had on first half exit.
10:04:02 wish i didn't do that.
10:05 first K200 trade
10:06 wish i didn't do that.
and on and on

4:30 move out into the real world and live a little:band:alcohol:artyman::car::brille:

vote that for the funniest post this week --- lol ---


ps that dog is costing you money !!!

 

[Sean K]

7:30 review yesterdays crap trading and make notes of what mistakes I will not do today, note that they are sadly the same as the ones I wrote out 3 days ago.

I'm sure you'll never make those mistakes again!

 

[Nero64]

I used to trade atleast 30 hours a week + study the markets another 20 -30 hours. I would trade mainly indicies and Forex.

I work in IT/Telco and deal with customers etc. Speaking to them after losing 6K is never fun. Also speaking to them trying to troubleshoot and solve there problem is not easy when you have two open positions in the 200 cash and forex. Plus people and managers coming up to you asking you questions and you're trying to read candlestick patterns from six differnet markets and two - three different brokers (Hello why is my computer running so slow). I could pull about 150Mb of data from IG during the day.

Now I just trade equities and stare at the commsec watchlist now and then. More simple and I can do the job they actually pay me to do I still study books and work on strategies plus this forum is awesome. Probably spend 25 hours.

Now it's more about investing in myself/career instead of the markets, but I won't stop trading as I like it.

 

[ivant]

I like your posts ivant, but this part is wrong.

"The floor" is dead.

haha how so? there are still floor traders. cme in particular

 

[Trembling Hand]

haha how so? there are still floor traders. cme in particular

Nope more contracts are traded in the electronic versions than the same ones with trading pits. They are dead, its just that they haven't taken out the skeletons yet.

 

[sleepy]

Hey TH,

Have you always done your review of each days trades the following morning before market open ... or is that something yourve discovered works best for you over time?

And do you review each trade or just a selection?

sleepy

 

[Trembling Hand]

Hey TH,

Have you always done your review of each days trades the following morning before market open ... or is that something yourve discovered works best for you over time?

And do you review each trade or just a selection?

sleepy

Always on going, before, during and after.

 

[MRC & Co]

Nope more contracts are traded in the electronic versions than the same ones with trading pits. They are dead, its just that they haven't taken out the skeletons yet.

Yep.

What he said.

 

[tech/a]

Always on going, before, during and after.

Interesting T/H.

I used to do this but dont any more.
Stopped when I realised that a P/E is what I'm aiming at and that the fact is I'll get it wrong.
The reason often is a variety of things that just mean the analysis didnt work out and the addition or subtraction of a myrid of things wont insulate me from being wrong or more right in the next trade. Wether that be the entry/exit/placement of stop or Trailing stop/positon sizing/pyramiding or how I read a chart.
Each trade is going to be completely different in how it performs and it will do so regardless of my input.
I'll rarely get it perfect and if I do it will be more to do with luck than good judgement.

 

[ivant]

Yep.

What he said.

Bahaha i liked that. No I totally understand that there are more electronic contracts. but dont you think they still have the edge because they are there and surrounded by traders? in addition there are still brokerage reps there

 

[MRC & Co]

Bahaha i liked that. No I totally understand that there are more electronic contracts. but dont you think they still have the edge because they are there and surrounded by traders? in addition there are still brokerage reps there

Na, correct me if I'm wrong, but the basis of the edge floor traders held, was due to speed of execution (we now have execution in miliseconds online), for this reason, the BIGGEST traders used to stand on the floor and you could see when certain ones were trapped and trying to cover and try get in before them. Or see (hear) when they were creating momentum.

Most of the biggest market players now do so online, and with instant execution, the pits hold no more value as advantages mentioned above no longer stand.

It's one reason I now doubt traditional pivots, such as P, R1, S1 etc, ex floor traders I know don't even use these anymore, perhaps they aren't as relevent as previously, considering the shift from the power these guys actually held before. Still important of course, but maybe not as precise.......? Unsure, haven't been in the game long enough myself.

Tech, I agree, I find it VERY HARD to analyse my own trading, trade by trade, as conditions are constantly changing and unfolding while I am in a trade. I always think of what I could have done better, areas I could improve etc, but to classify each trade for me, is impossible! I've tried hard many times, but for the life of me, I just can't work it out unfortunately.

 

[tech/a]

I just can't work it out unfortunately.

Dont think you have to.

 

[nunthewiser]

I review each and every trade .good and bad............... helps me with various points

each to there own

 

[ivant]

Na, correct me if I'm wrong, but the basis of the edge floor traders held, was due to speed of execution (we now have execution in miliseconds online), for this reason, the BIGGEST traders used to stand on the floor and you could see when certain ones were trapped and trying to cover and try get in before them. Or see (hear) when they were creating momentum.

Most of the biggest market players now do so online, and with instant execution, the pits hold no more value as advantages mentioned above no longer stand.

It's one reason I now doubt traditional pivots, such as P, R1, S1 etc, ex floor traders I know don't even use these anymore, perhaps they aren't as relevent as previously, considering the shift from the power these guys actually held before. Still important of course, but maybe not as precise.......? Unsure, haven't been in the game long enough myself.

Tech, I agree, I find it VERY HARD to analyse my own trading, trade by trade, as conditions are constantly changing and unfolding while I am in a trade. I always think of what I could have done better, areas I could improve etc, but to classify each trade for me, is impossible! I've tried hard many times, but for the life of me, I just can't work it out unfortunately.

yea you have a valid point. i guess the only thing is that you know who is coming into the market. the noise generated on the floor can still tell you how likely it is that they are about to break a particular level. i think the biggest limitation of floor trading though is simply that you cant trade more than one market. id do it for the experience though. ps i think weekly pivots are actually rather handy i dont rely on them but i have them on my charts

 

[Trembling Hand]

Interesting T/H.

I used to do this but dont any more.
Stopped when I realised that a P/E is what I'm aiming at and that the fact is I'll get it wrong.
The reason often is a variety of things that just mean the analysis didnt work out and the addition or subtraction of a myrid of things wont insulate me from being wrong or more right in the next trade. Wether that be the entry/exit/placement of stop or Trailing stop/positon sizing/pyramiding or how I read a chart.
Each trade is going to be completely different in how it performs and it will do so regardless of my input.
I'll rarely get it perfect and if I do it will be more to do with luck than good judgement.

Tech so you run your construction business with out any review of previous jobs? costs? future market conditions? new opening? performance of different segments of your biz? Need for more capital? effect use of capital. future problems when they are small rather than major headaches? blah blah blah?

 

[MRC & Co]

the noise generated on the floor can still tell you how likely it is that they are about to break a particular level.

Not so sure pit noise would make any difference anymore, despite some books (Mastering the Trade) pointing in that direction.

Perhaps for the odd (very odd) instrument that has some decent volume done through the pits still (crude on the NYMEX perhaps?).

Other than that, you see what's going through the DOM anyways, if a big guy is in there and wants to hit, you see him.

 

[ivant]

Not so sure pit noise would make any difference anymore, despite some books (Mastering the Trade) pointing in that direction.

Perhaps for the odd (very odd) instrument that has some decent volume done through the pits still (crude on the NYMEX perhaps?).

Other than that, you see what's going through the DOM anyways, if a big guy is in there and wants to hit, you see him.

lol yea i guess you are right. i lose

 

[white_goodman]

Trading, maby 4 hours a week...

forum reading maby 25 hours a week

book reading 20 hours a week...

When im not at work or at uni i have my charts up and consult them 5mins before and 10mins after the 4hr bar closes.... so i only trade when im awake to see a 4hr bar close or sometimes i set my alarm if i think something may be setting up for the US session..

 

[jono1887]

9:00-8:05am - Wake Up, Check how the US market was during the night
9:20-9:50am - Sit on bus on the way to uni reading news from bloomberg on iphone, determine which way market will move during the day
10:00am - Walk into first lecture while watching opening on iphone
10:00-12-00pm - Place some orders.
12.00pm - Realize lecture just finished and just learnt absolutely nothing in the last 2 hours about, except how the market is going...
12:00-4:10pm - Same thing for other lectures, tutorials ect ect...
4:00-5:00pm - Catch bus home and read end of day reports, news ect

*yes, i planned my uni timetable to match market opening times :
though i think my time would be better spent at home on a proper computer setup where i can make trades faster and have multiple monitors.

 

[Mr J]

9:30am-4pm, glance at the screen occasionally. After noon I might go out for an hour here or there. I'd say it's a bit like a security job taking a glance at the monitors every now and then. I'll usually read or watch something if the market isn't at a point of interest, otherwise it'd be like watching grass grow.