MY CHECKLIST THAT GETS ME SET TO TRADE
CONSULTING ANALYST, INTERTRADER
I’D LIKE to start my final column by inviting you to a round-up webinar taking place 5 May 2011 at 8pm. It’s free and will be an opportunity for you to ask questions and see the strategies I have described over the last eight weeks. Register on: intertrader.omnovia.com/webcasts.
Before I sign out, I want to go through with you the checklist that I use daily. It has become an essential part of my proprietary trading, especially because I trade both currencies and indices, and both intraday and over several days.
CHECKPOINT 1:
What is Asia doing? Every morning I go to Yahoo Finance and see what the Asian indices are doing. If they are all up, I expect a bullish Europe.
CHECKPOINT 2:
I go through the major currencies (dollar, sterling, yen and Swiss franc) and their crosses on the weekly, daily, four-hour and 60-minute chart. I look for patterns, double tops, trendline breaks, and anything else that I can use to gauge for direction for the day. I also look for Fibonacci ratios and expansion of range bars. In total, it amounts to 40 charts, and it takes me about 30 minutes. I make notes next to each pair where I see something of interest. It means I am ready for the trading day.
CHECKPOINT 3:
I trade indices off a tick chart, but I still need to know what the daily and weekly trend is in indices.
POST-MORTEM:
Once the trading day is over, the hard bit starts. Trading in itself is fairly mechanical, although controlling the emotions is something I have to be vigilant about every day. I easily get over-confident and trade way too big. After the day is over, it is time to ask the three Ws: Why did I do that?; What could I have done instead?; What did I miss today? I have learned more from going over the trading day than any course I ever attended or any book I have ever read.
Happy trading – See you online on 5 May.
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