|
Home / Finance / Currency Trading
10 Tips for Preparing for a Profitable Trading Day
By:Mo Christiensen
Every great athlete, musician and professional where the stakes are high, knows that warm up and preparation can make a big difference to performance. Here are 10 tips -trading advice for preparing for your best trading day.
Mental Prep
1. Harness the power of intention
As you become more and more focused as a trader and as you learn to clear your emotions the power of your intention will become stronger and stronger. Begin the day by setting the intention that you will be successful, that you will be profitable, and that you will be safe. If possible visualize it, or feel that it will happen.
If any feelings or thoughts come up contrary to that intention (e.g. I lost yesterday perhaps I'll lose today) go straight to the next point and clear that thought/feeling.
2. Clear limiting thoughts and emotions
Did anything happen yesterday or on previous trading days that is bothering you? Anything happening in your personal life that may be affecting your state of mind? Any recurring thoughts or feelings that come up during the trading day?
Read my blog post about emotional clearing - learn Core Transformation and clear that crapola out. And for any of you hardcore guys out there that are thinking this might be a bit touchy feely, I suggest you look at this in purely financial terms. Learning these techniques will help you get the success you want. And nobody needs to know!
3. Brain power
Make sure that you have exercised and eaten properly so that your mind is clear and fresh. Have the right snacks at hand so that you can keep your blood sugar balanced, so that you mind stays fresh and optimally focused.
Timing
4. Know when you are going to trade
You may say "How do I know when I am going to trade ahead of time?". In response I'd say, "if your trading system doesn't tell you when you are going to be trading ahead of time, then you are missing out on a huge advantage". As you'll see from the various blog posts I've written on cycle trading, I am convinced that time is as important a factor in determining entries as price. This is why I use a combination of cycles and harmonics in addition to regular technical analysis to determine entries.
Adopting this trading methodology was the single biggest contributing factor for me in becoming a consistently profitable trader, because I can calmly prepare for the times that I am going to trade and I can relax my focus during the times when I know I should be on the sidelines.
Practical Details
5. Are there any economic numbers being released today?
Know exactly what time they are and watch out if you are trading around these times as there may be some dramatic fluctuations in price movement. Unless your strategy specifically includes trading these numbers, many traders prefer to sit on the sidelines until the numbers shake themselves out.
6. Any significant business or world news today that may affect the markets?
Days when companies release earnings or when there are other significant events, make the market jumpy. You need to be forewarned so that you can decide either to sit out, or to be extra vigilant.
7. What happened in the markets overnight?
Same idea as point 4.
Discipline
8. Review your discipline committments
If you are someone that has problem over-trading or pulling the trigger, or if you have challenges following your system, make a list of discipline committments. List out those things that you commit to in terms trading discipline. e.g. I will only take trades on signals that my system gives me. Go through them before the trading day begins and refresh your resolution.
I had a lot of trouble with over trading in the early days. As I got absorbed in the market action it was like becoming hypnotized, my discipline went out the window. I actually had to set an alarm clock to go off and every 30 mins I would re-read my discipline committments to force myself to snap out of it, and refocus on following my trading rules.
9. Review you trades from yesterday and your trading journal
Reviewing you trades from yesterday is a great way to refine your skills and learn more about your strengths and weaknesses. If you had a day where you were able to execute your trades flawlessly based on your system (whether or not they ended up being profitable) you can consolidate the confidence that brings. If you had a day that left an emotional mark because of losses or mistakes you can go back to point 2 and clear them.
If you found that you were unable to execute your trades effectively its another opportunity to revisit your trading rules, your discipline committments, and refresh your intention that today you will trade your system.
Opening
10. Give thanks
Give thanks to your self, and to whatever power of the universe that you respect for the opportunity to trade - which is nothing more than an opportunity to master yourself.
The state of gratitude is a great inner state to approach the day. It buoys your optimism and invites to you the circumstances for success.
As the French say "Bon courage" - and have a safe and profitable day!
Digg
del.icio.us
Blink
Stumble
Spurl
Reddit
Netscape
Furl
Article keywords: day trading, trading advice, 10 tips
Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com
Mo Christiensen is one of the editors of the successful tradingadviceblog.com. The site specializes in high quality trading advice and profitable trading systems for new and struggling traders. Read the article in context at http://tradingadviceblog.com/intro/10-tips-for-preparing-for-a-profitable-trading-day/
|
|
| Top Currency Trading Articles |
- 1). How To Spot Forex Fraud By : Willie Reynolds
As the popularity of Forex increases so do the number of scam artists attempting to cash in on the Forex gravy train. Since Forex involves trading money internationally, often over the Internet, a whole new breed of scams have come about. Ironically many of these scam artists are finding their marks through newspaper, television or other print media advertisements.
|
|
|
|
|
- 4). Why Forex is a great trade By : Mark Slattery
The Forex market seems to be one of the hottest markets right now.
Let’s take a look why
It takes small amount of capital to get going and you get leverage with it.
This is important because a lot of people entering the market are looking for ways to make money and not just to invest their spare cash.
Leverage means that you can use other people’s money to make your investment bigger.
|
- 5). Electronic Currency Exchange: Trading Digots for a profitable living By : Armand Mont
First of all, if you're just finding out about electronic currency exchange trading, then probably you're still asking "what in the world does this electronic currency business is", and most importantly, "how do I make money from it?"
Well, you are reading this at the right time, because electronic currency exchange is a business that is expanding and offering new ways to profit from it.
|
|
|
- 7). How Useful Are Charting Indicators? By : Erik Teh
Many Forex Traders have computerized charting software to help make trading decisions. There are many excellent indicators that can assist a trader- such as MACD, Relative Strength Index and Moving Average Lines, just to name a few.
Using indicators alone can reduce the probability of trading success. Why? Because the Forex market is driven by human emotion and charting software is a computerized program.
|
- 8). A Look Back At Forex Trading - 4/18/06 By : Eddie Yakubovich
Cable final broke through the super resistance at 1.7600 yesterday. Even though we had a losing trade last night, I have to say I am glad to see that tight range behind us. Maybe now we will see a few prolonged and definable trends.
|
|
|
- 10). Understanding What Influences Forex Prices By : Internet Wealth Mentor
This article will explain some of the differences between Technical Analysis and Fundamentals and explain a bit about each type of trading. Excerpts are taken from the best-selling book ‘Market Wizards’ where Jack Schwager interviews Ed Seykota and Bruce Kovner.
Ed is a trend trader (uses technical analysis) and also relies on hunches from 20 years of experience.
|
| New Currency Trading Articles |
|
|
- 2). What Is Forex Or The Forex Market? By : Ali Jamalan
The forex market is the largest financial market in the world, trading currencies against each other. This market has the potential for investment and trading for profit having great earning scopes in the trade. Access to this market has become commonplace for any individual who’d want to participate in contrast to the olden days when only large bank buildings could trade in the market.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
- 6). Why Should You Trade Forex Market? By : Nofie Iman
Simply said, there are no other trading instrument comes even closely to forex market when it comes to liquidity, 24hr market environment and last but not the least, profit potential. Forex (currency) market is the largest (most liquid) financial market in the world, with an average daily volume of more than US$ 1.5 trillion, which is more than all of the global equity markets combined.
|
|
|
|
|
- 9). Word Cloud Sites Rock the Web! By : Cynthia Macy
If you have a business website that is for trading forex, commodities, stocks or options, etc., then you might be interested in a new advertising method that will send massive new traffic to your business sites and get you tons of valuable one-way back links to improve your page rank, all hands-free!
|
- 10). Introduction to the Forex Trading By : Nofie Iman
As you might know, the foreign exchange market is the largest financial market in the world. There are over $1.2 trillion changing hands every single day. Compare that to the $25 billion a day trading volume at the New York Stock Exchange. In fact, it is three times larger than all of the US Equity and Treasury markets combined together.
|
|
|
