Trading Plan, Strategy, and Celebrate
March 25, 2016
Ever wake up anticipating to make those trades for the gains you’ve dreamed about all night only to see the markets are closed? It can be a big let down but don’t let it ruin your possibly great day before Easter weekend!
Having days off from trading lets a trader appreciate where they’ve been, reassessing the trading plan, making tweaks to strategy and execution, and performing the much needed due diligence (research).
Appreciation
Congratulations! You haven’t given up trading and must have some value left to keep going. This is an accomplishment in of itself.
If you’re struggling to keep your account value remember the 90/90/90 rule and employ limiting loss procedures pronto.
For those in the minority with excess gains in the account great job! I like to plot my success and recount my wins to formulate a start, stop, and continue mindset. Next, I go out and spend time with loved ones and take a break.
Trading Plan
After the celebrations, it’s time to get back to business. My trading plan is the first start. My trading plan consists of:
- What markets will be traded in: Stocks, bonds, commodities, currencies, ETFs, mutual funds, futures, options, and e-minis
- What risk appetite will guide and position size boundaries
- How much time is available to accomplish planning, researching, analyzing, trading, and reevaluating
- Find liquidity and volatility opportunities
- The type of market research to perform: Technical analysis, fundamental analysis, both, paid services, social media platforms, software, apps, gurus, and whatever info fits your style
- Entry and exit rules with a greed line determined and loss limiting strategy developed in advance
- How wins will be celebrated
Good Friday 2014 I determined my trading plan needed to be tweaked. I moved away from the OTC stocks and focused more on options and big cap stocks. My risk appetite was too aggressive so I changed my gain expectations. My time to trade was decreasing with family and JOB taking more priority. I increased my researching and analyzing capabilities. And I started focusing on my wins and relaxing more.
Reassessing Strategy
A plan and strategy are two separate things. A plan is comprehensive while the strategy helps guide entry and exit of trades. A trading strategy aids in entry and exit determination and execution.
There are many trading strategies available. The trick is to pick ones that fit your plan and your trading style. Rockwell Trading describes four trading strategies and when to use them:
- Simple strategy: Use in trending markets
- Ping Pong strategy: Use in sideways trending markets
- Boomerang strategy: At tail end of trends
- Seahawk strategy: Scalping at opening and ending periods of the trading day.
Trade Research
Research mediums are as various as stars in the sky. I trade 100% mobile so I prefer apps to assist in my due diligence collecting. Here are a few suggestions.
Celebrate
I hope you Good Friday and Easter go well. Spending time with family and friends helps put into perspective why trading gains are well earned and a blessing to help those we care about.
Happy trading!
References
Images courtesy of
Have a happy holiday!
