Trading whilst travelling - does anyone do it?

I am leaving next friday to europe for 3 weeks. I will be positioned for 2 of those weeks in Holland.

Normally I would savour the holiday and not even think about trading whilst I'm gone. However as I am trading on the likelihood that this market is going to go higher for a little while more I really don't want to close my positions before I go, and worse- not open anymore positions.

So my question....Does anyone trade while they travel? If so, how have you found it?

Also, for those that did trade whilst they travelled, how did you get internet access. I'm an EOD trader so I need constant internet, but will need a connection at some point during the day to upload the days data.

Cheers,

Sammy

Re: Trading whilst traveling- does anyone do it?

G'Day,

I don't know if you would call it travelling, (palm cove but away from home nevertheless) i just packed my laptop and used the resort's wireless hotspot.
I had some light options positions on and just spent an hour in the morning on it so not to upset my other half.

Something i would never consider again, i'd rather plan ahead and close all my options positions prior to going away for longer than a week, especially if i were to go overseas.

Re: Trading whilst traveling- does anyone do it?

I trade from my iphone when I'm away from home.... but I wouldnt recommend trading whist on a holiday, esp one in Europe!!... just close all your positions and enjoy the trip

I trade whilst travelling on my laptop, but only my long term EOD system. All my other systems are shut down.

I have a spreadsheet which I use to calculate Australian market hours in local time given a time difference so I know when to access the market/data, and just compromise around these times to fit with the holiday.

I try and do as little as possible whilst away, as it isn't overly pleasant being tethered to the market. 30 minutes 5 times a week is usually sufficient.

You have to be actively aware of where internet access is available whilst travelling, usually at the accommodation, and I always check this beforehand.

MichaelD said:

I trade whilst travelling on my laptop, but only my long term EOD system. All my other systems are shut down.

I have a spreadsheet which I use to calculate Australian market hours in local time given a time difference so I know when to access the market/data, and just compromise around these times to fit with the holiday.

I try and do as little as possible whilst away, as it isn't overly pleasant being tethered to the market. 30 minutes 5 times a week is usually sufficient.

You have to be actively aware of where internet access is available whilst travelling, usually at the accommodation, and I always check this beforehand.

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Hi Michael

Some really good tips here, the spread sheet idea particularly. As I said earlier, normally I would close all positions and just enjoy myself, but I want to ride this move for as long as it lasts. I will be with family for the majority of time, so at least this should provide me with some down time. God help me if I goto spain however

God no.

Im on Holidays.
The market aint going anywhere.

if your opinion is that the market is going to go higher why don't you just set a stop loss and a take profit the day before you leave and let it work itself out?


if anything dramatic changes while you are away i'm sure you'll hear about it in the news and if you really must change your orders then you can do so at a secure terminal if you can find one.

i wouldn't go over with the intention of actively trading your folio though.... you are on the otherside of the world on HOLIDAY for crying out loud....
how many chances are you going to get to go to europe!?

I was champagne backpacking throughout 2005 and was trading on a regular basis. I don't have my spreadsheets with me at present but it was in the area of 200 trades for the year. I was mostly dividend stripping and was purchasing data from Rozella ( a resident trader here).
I was using a Dell X50v PDa with a VGA screen and Windows mobile operating system so I had full access to Microsoft Office. I kept my spreadsheet on there and also had a backup 20gb MP3 player to copy files and keep backup.

It would be so much easier now with Google Docs to keep all your spreadsheets. I mainly used free wireless with the PDA or just a net cafe. I'd spend about an 90 minutes a day keeping up to date with general announcements and setting trades. Once a month or on a rainy day I'd spend 8 hours or so in net cafe doing solid reserach and planning my next months trades.
I "employed" my retired father to bank cheques and fill out dividend paperwork and the like. He charged like a malley bull after seeing the amount and quantites of cheques he was banking for me .. I never did Buy Rozella a nice bottle of wine for the data, either.

Trading in SE Asia and India was the hardest to trade as I was never up for start of trade on the ASX. I wandered through Asia, Est and West Europe, Africa and both Americas. Italy of all places was the hardest to trade due to the strict rulings of internet connections there.

20005 was a great trading year and I'm reasonably confident I could have thrown darts at a list of shares and still did reasonably well, So I was a bit lax at times with my due dilligence. If I was going to be out of range for a week or so on a dive boat or the like, I'd close out all marginal trades. Just have a plan and like all methods, set aside time and minimise for unseen risk.

I'm out of the county on a semi regular basis these days and still hold the odd trade. I do like to keep up with watch list, if only for 15 minutesa a day. I did have a 6 figure loss on ZFX in late 2007. I thought I had closed out a position and went wandering for 7 weeks or so. I didn't look at a computer the whole time. I came back home and went to made a trade and noted I still held ZFX and it had dropped like a stone. That's one lesson I learnt the hard way.


Cheers,

Largesse said:

if your opinion is that the market is going to go higher why don't you just set a stop loss and a take profit the day before you leave and let it work itself out?

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That is another option. It would feel weird however to have an open position in the market not being monitored. Also I was hoping to add new positions during this time.

I think my problem is the fear of missing out. Moves such as the one we have the past month dont come all that often and I figure for an hour or so a day it would be nice to continue to make myself available to this move.

I will give it a go for a week and see how it goes. If it takes too much time I can always close my positions then.

Sanquer

Thanks for putting so much detail in that post! Sounds like you were pretty well prepared to trade on your travels. Was it reassuring to still be earning money whilst you were away?

Trading in Asia must have been hell. Asia is the one place I always travel without an itinerary as nothing ever goes to plan.

sammy84 said:

That is another option. It would feel weird however to have an open position in the market not being monitored. Also I was hoping to add new positions during this time.

I think my problem is the fear of missing out. Moves such as the one we have the past month dont come all that often and I figure for an hour or so a day it would be nice to continue to make myself available to this move.

I will give it a go for a week and see how it goes. If it takes too much time I can always close my positions then.

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you can always set conditional orders if you are worried about missing out....

rising buy etc

to be honest, you can prob do it quite easily, that is travelling and limited trading, i just don't know why you'd bother when you have so much else you could be doing while you are away? its just money after all?
and in real dollar terms, are you really going to miss out on THAT much if you miss a few % move in the market?

Yeh i wouldnt trade while i travelled, too many other things to do.

As a side note, if you are travelling soon sammy make sure you check out this link. Has a thread on the same topic

sammy84 said:

Sanquer

Thanks for putting so much detail in that post! Sounds like you were pretty well prepared to trade on your travels. Was it reassuring to still be earning money whilst you were away?

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G'day Sammy, 2005 was like my second attempt at a gap year. I'd already travelled exensively when younger and had made some good coin in the previous 2 years through property. The trading was good in the sense it gave me some structure to my day. The money was good. Through Asia and India I like to stay in places with "soul". That means I end up crusty. It was nothing to Spend 20000 baht a night for a week for a nice suite in Bangkok when I got back from bumming on Koh Chang in a shanty on the beach, bathing in the local stream for 2 weeks.
It's a funy site wandering up to the front desk at the Hotel Danielli in Vencie dressed in Columbia quick dry clothes, a pair of Kito sandles on your feet and a beaten up 40 litre pack on your back asking for a suite for a week LOL

Trading in Asia must have been hell. Asia is the one place I always travel without an itinerary as nothing ever goes to plan.

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Only hell in the fact that I like to sleep till midday over there because I love the street restaurants at night. I like your style of travel. I do the same thing. That is my idea of travel, not having a plan. Let it flow. This differs from a holiday where there should be structure. I would never have seen or done half the things I have experienced if I had booked in advance.

Anyways, you got me started and I'm now way off track, sorry.

Set a stop loss and an exit price sell order. Simple. You either get stopped out, or your order gets filled at the price you want.

Aussiest said:

Set a stop loss and an exit price sell order. Simple. You either get stopped out, or your order gets filled at the price you want.

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The problem is when you want to put on new positions or pyramid. My system tends not to have a very long hold time, so I would be looking to place some trades whilst I'm gone.

Well i just got back from as well deserved 10 full days in Thailand and i traded Nick's Power Setups through the whole trip. I would check the markets in the morning and just before dinner, download the EOD data and update the trades as per Nick's instructions. It was easy and took no more than 90 minutes per day and i had free WiFi access at the resort. If i had not done this i would have missed out on a nice rise in the markets.

If it suits you to trade and you have access to an inet connection then go for it.

I should add that i think my success over this period was also partly due to not over trading, as i sometimes do when i'm at home.

Cheers,


CanOz

the other benefit is to buy an EEEPC for $600. It does all you need and can give you acces. Much eaier thyan a PDA.


cheers,

umm the markets will be here when you get back................

enjoy ya holidays



also uses sms alerts and 3g wireless laptop for when alerts tells me to get to a screen on more passive holdings

I never trade or log onto ASF while travelling.

kennas said:

I never trade or log onto ASF while travelling.

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yes, just like we believe u dont ever touch tequila or have not been itching to get some more good lookin CSG stock today.

do they still sell u off bit by bit if u end up in a mexican hospital, or was that just the old days....