It’s no secret that good habits are important for most aspects of life. Those with good dental hygiene habits have fewer cavities. People with steady exercise or healthy food habits tend to suffer from fewer illnesses. The same is true when it comes to Forex trading: traders with good trading habits will tend to have longer, more profitable trading careers.
Good Forex trading habits aren’t simply born – they are developed over years, often with the expense of losses along the way. Developing good trading habits requires a conscious decision to work towards the goal and to put in the time and energy it takes to build the right habits. Think about the professionals you know or have met in the past – doctors, lawyers, athletes, accountants and pilots, among others. All of them have spent many hours building the skills and habits necessary to become proficient at their craft. The same is true for currency traders.
Trading Routine
THE IMPORTANCE OF DAILY FOREX TRADING HABITSMake no mistakes – without healthy trading habits on a daily (or somewhat regular) basis, you will not be profitable in the long term. Good trading habits differ from your trading plan. Trading habits are what will give you the fortitude to implement your trading plan. Solid trading habits include eating well, getting enough sleep, keeping meticulous notes about your trading failures and successes and sticking to the plan even when your inner voice may be telling you to abandon it.
A solid trading routine will likely include identification of key support and resistance levels at the start of each week and regular monitoring of the markets to chart the daily trends of your favorite pairs. A routine will include checking the markets at the same time/s each day to ensure accuracy and to watch as trends develop or crash. Most traders check the markets at the very least on the open and the close. They set up the trades that meet their strategy’s criteria, or walk away if no opportunity presents itself.
In the routine outlined above, notice that the trader does not spend hours at his computer analyzing potential entry and exit points. He (or she) makes a strategy and monitors it at consistent times throughout the day without obsessing about potential opportunities that have been missed or that could be created with a bit of force.
If you’re trying to build a successful Forex trading routine, make sure to build one that meets your specific lifestyle and to not get stuck ‘overthinking’ things.
ARE YOU AN “END OF DAY” TRADER? SHOULD YOU BE ONE?Some professional traders believe that end of day trading will help create a Forex trading routine that will be successful without taking up too much time. This sounds ideal, in theory, because becoming a full-time trader should be more flexible than having a day job, shouldn’t it?
End of day traders essentially only use strategies that can be implemented at the end of a day, so that they are not tied to their computers all day long. This may sound like a very excellent opportunity to make money in only a few minutes a day, but trader beware – this type of trading routine can be very risky and can cause you to miss some good opportunities, or exits if the markets turn suddenly. End of day trading can be implemented with the right stop losses and entry setups, but it is one of the most difficult Forex trading routines to master, and it isn’t necessarily ideal for everyone, but it may be suitable for you depending on your lifestyle.
THE BENEFITS OF ROUTINESIf you’ve been living a routine-free life until now, the concept of building a Forex trading routine may be horrifying for you. However, there are benefits of building daily routines that should be examined even beyond the world of trading.
According to the health experts at Northwestern Medicine, building a daily routine will help reduce stress, improve poor eating habits, improve the quality of your sleep and enhance your physical condition. Routines will also eliminate inefficient uses of time and allow you to use your time more optimally.
Routines may be difficult to implement at first, but if you tackle them slowly and focus on the specific results you are trying to achieve, you may actually come to look forward to your daily rituals.
POINTS TO PONDER
For anyone looking to Forex trading as a way to escape the routine of daily life, building a Forex trading routine may seem antithetical to what you’re trying to achieve. However, it’s very important to realize that without a routine, your trading will be less focused and, as a result, less successful. Before building your trading routine, consider the following questions:
1 – What time is best for me to focus on my trading without interruption?
2 – Do I have a healthy lifestyle that will give me the energy and drive to trade successfully?
3 – Can a few small tweaks in my current routine make the necessary time for my trading strategies?
If you consider the answers to these questions and discover that you are willing to alter your existing schedule to make time for a proper Forex trading routine, you will find that your current trading strategies will be clearer and your focus will be sharper, and hopefully, you’ll find more profits in the long run.
