So to get some perspective on a trading lifestyle I decided to share my daily routine and basically share what an average day is like for a trader.
First of all i would like to thank you first for taking your time in reading this blog post and I hope that it sheds some light into a few habits which i have picked up over the last couple of years and a brief look into my day.
Trading is a virus and if you catch it, it consumes you and becomes one of the biggest mental games you will ever play. You have to loose to learn, and you have to learn in order not to lose. I caught this virus and i knew immediately this was for me.
To cut a long story short after a couple of blown out accounts and plenty of huge gains only to give it all back to the market i finally started keeping a journal and decided to stick to a strategy and figure out how it all works for real. The beginning is a tricky but i might add that these early stages are probably the easiest, you are care free and take risks, you don’t ever feel like you going to loose, your whole psychology is actually correct but learning, loosing and gaining experience hinder this gift you possess.
I suppose its human nature a winning streak right off the bat is great but you don’t learn a thing and as markets go if you hit a trending market you feel unbeatable. A losing streak hampers your confidence and you begin second guessing everything, you chop and change your charting and use every indicator in the Tradingview library just to be disappointed when you not winning even though you watched every Youtube video on the indicators you are using and the educator promised you mega gains.
The market doesn’t care about you or anyone and you need to carve out a strategy that works for you learn about Risk Management and apply it over and over until you are confident taking any trade and are unfased by the outcome. Until you have a routine and a game plan you will be tossed around in the never ending trading space from Paid groups to paid indicators to large chat rooms. The fomo you will feel when the price is pumping is something you will learn to control as well as the fear you feel when Bitcoin take s a huge dump on your position.
Anyways enough of this i can’t hold your hand and take you through every little thing there is to know however i can give you some advice
1. Be patient
2. Get a journal, Digital or the good old fashioned way
3. Learn Excel
4. Get a routine
Back to main theme of this blog entry, my Routine has changed a great deal since the baby came along and since i don’t sit in front of the PC all day staring at charts, but it basically starts the same way and ends the same way every day
After getting up i get the morning coffee out of the way, Coffee is important to me and i like brewing it the Lebanese way, i like a strong 100% arrabica this goes down best with a ciggie, a really shitty habit i need to get rid of but i mean have you ever tried.
Whilst sipping on the coffee i browse through Twitter go to accounts for me in no particular order are Inversebrah, Stardust and Wasserpest for all trends and whats happening in the crypto space for setups i check out Maine, Loomdart and The Chonky One, i like to compare sentiment from these guys and there are always a few shit posts that give me an excuse to dig a bit further into a story. For general Market outlooks and really interesting news i check Nomad and DjThistle.
I spend about an hour checking out setups just before London Open as for me its the most volatile period and i get a few nice scalps setups on my favourite exchanges, I load the orders up with stops and TPs set and smash a Greek Yogurt with some Muesli. I don’t sit around and watch the charts I am confident in my set ups and Dont mind losing as all trades i take are setup with their respective position sizing and risk is always acceptable.
I do dabble a bit in Forex but basically as a hedge to my local Currency which is becoming a major shitcoin at the moment.
The rest of the day i spend at the cafe, this takes my mind off the markets and i deal with real life problems, The Shop has become my new Baby and i love spending time there making sure that my investment there pays off, but its really like a very addictive computer game, i get better at it every day and surprise surprise i keep a journal there as well. Journaling is a hobby for me now going through loads of info to make sure the next result is positive.
I get home early during the weeks and check what happened with regards to my trades, sometimes i am also not phased and just chill with the fam or make dinner my passion for food is YUGE and i love trying out new recipes. Most of my intraday trades are scalps and small gains daily are what im after however the longer term trades are the big winners. In order to swing trade successfully i recommend not logging into those accounts and basically adjust stops once a week, rather stay away and consume yourself with Life and anything else because closing out a winner early is probably a worse feeling than loosing a scalp every day for a month.
Take up a few hobbies as well these create even more time away from the PC so that you learn to not second guess yourself. Online poker is a bad idea…
Each night i spend about 2 hours checking for setups but very rarely put on a trade until the next morning,I also update my journals into an excel spread sheet and see if i can tweek anything with regards to my setups on a weekly basis, if we ranging i read, listen to music and create playlists or just chat with the wife who is my rock just BTW.
I defos recommend trying out a demo account on an exchange first so you familiarise yourself with the order types etc and blow a few of those first, just remember your headspace is completely different when putting on a real trade.
Hope you take away something from this and enjoyed a break from the charts
You can catch me on Youtube
