Monitor, Watch, Learn, and Trade Some More

Question:

When asked how to become a successful trader the one common answer among experienced traders is "hard work, do your homework, read charts etc. My question is once you have analyzed charts, entered your positions, and set your stops what else is there to do except have some faith and wait for your exit?

........ from MJF

Answer:

Hi MJF,

You are pretty much correct. If you have all your trades in and all your stops are set, you can walk away and come back after the market closes to see how you did. In fact, if one wants to remove most of the emotion from trading, this is one way to do it.

As well, if you trade this way, you remove all possibility of “tinkering” with your trade to the point of making a mistake >>> Trader IDM pls take note of this ....

The flip side is that there is much to learn from monitoring your trade as it moves throughout the day. Monitoring your trade teaches you about the markets, how the markets move on certain news, how the sectors perform in certain conditions, and, most importantly, what the outlook is for the markets the next day.

As well, monitoring your trade and the markets might very well produce some new trade possibilities for you.

I wish I had something more insightful to tell you, but the truth is that once you have done the work, all that is left is to reap the results of your work, whatever that might be.

Trade in the day; invest in your life …..

Regards,

ZL