Retail trading from home can be a lonely activity. Let’s be honest, even if you’re incredibly successful, your spouse and nearest and dearest won’t be that interested in the mechanics involved in trading, beyond the profits. Trying to hold a conversation involving a discussion on: spreads, indicators, technical and fundamental analysis, coding your MetaTrader platform, how an STP/ECN liquidity pool works, what slippage is, algorithms, high frequency trading etc., with anyone not involved in our trading world, is generally met with a blank stare and a “that’s nice Dear” remark.
Most strangers only ask personal questions to discover where you’re at, in relation to your social standing; are you further ahead in the great game of life than they are? Therefore it should come as no surprise that “trading the markets” is of little interest to most folk you accidentally meet, unless you mention your profits of course, then you’ll witness a different attitude. But the first rule of fight club is we don’t talk about trading, and we certainly never discuss the edge we’ve taken years to perfect with ‘perfect strangers’.
We discuss trading plans in relation to our trading, but where does a trading plan meet a lifestyle plan? We’ve worked tirelessly and smart (not necessarily hard), to create: a plan, a trading method an edge and we now know it doesn’t require hours of screen time to take profit out of the market. By accident, or design we’ve created free time which we should put to good use.
Unless you’re a manual scalper, then sitting in front of a three screen set up, anxiously searching for price action, is not an effective use of time. If you are such a trader you’d have to question the efficiency of such trading methods, given that you’re attempting to replicate algorithmic trading methods favoured by high frequency trading firms.
In order to become a successful trader you must be extremely well organised and disciplined, that discipline can seamlessly extend to organising your trading day into periods whereby you spend your free time effectively. The advance of lightning quick trading platforms hosted on tablets and smartphones, ensures you’ll never miss trades again. Even in the UK, where broadband/wi-fi speeds and network speeds lag many other developed countries, unless you’re underground there’s little chance of experiencing no connection. You can set alerts, should price reach certain levels on your platforms, or if an indicator or certain pattern is recognised. You can set orders to open, close and to trail price. In short, there’s very little reason to stay isolated, introverted and cocooned in your trading office.
We chose this trading profession as a career path because we visualised where we might be once we become proficient and eventually profitable. It’s therefore essential that we embrace these factors that initially attracted us to trading. So if you’ve planned your day and week efficiently and effectively put on those trainers, plug in those earbuds and enjoy that lonely run. But remember, it’s a marathon not a sprint.
