Too Much Screen Time Is Killing Your Trading

Aspen Trading Group

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People often ask me –

How can you get up from your screens, grab a workout or run errands or worse yet….go to bed?!

It is simple – but let me ask you a question first.

Why can’t you get up from your screens?

The answer I most often hear is as follows:

- I need to make sure I protect my profits
- I was looking at some trading blogs and I saw another viewpoint
- My trading style demands me to watch the price action very closely

Allow me to respectfully dispel these ideas:

- Protect your profits – this is nothing more than I was up 50 ticks on this trade, now I am only up 23 – I need to get out. Who says the trend has changed – rarely does a trade go linear, it ebbs and flows.

- Trading blogs – why do you need to get an opinion on your trade AFTER it has been placed – do you not trust your thesis?

- Unless you are scalping 1-minute charts, staring at your screens adds no value – each tick against you actually triggers your brain to start thinking about what can go wrong – it plays on you and gets you to abandon your reason for getting into the trade.

These answers relegate the trader to be a prisoner of their screens, as it clearly indicates that the trader is not operating from a robust trading plan or as I call it – a framework.

If you do not have a framework you are compelled to manage and watch every change in prices thinking that that somehow puts you in control.

Nobody can control the market – you are kidding yourself!

Having a framework accomplishes the following:

- Increases your confidence in placing and staying with trades

- Provides an objective rule based approach

- Allows for freedom – get away from the screens – do other activities that actually get your brain ready to come back later refreshed and recharged

- Enhances your ability to stick with trends and capture the big dollars.

Do what every professional trader that trades for a living does - get yourself a framework.
 
"Unless you are scalping 1-minute charts"

Yes, some of us do just that.

Nothing wrong with that - that is how I started in the biz years ago....eventually though you move up the ladder and push your times frames out further and further with each passing year. Then it becomes scalable and far less time intensive.
 
Trading Quote of The Day
 

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Trading Quote of The Day

This quote is indicative of the selfish and cruel attitude of people in the world today. Whereas the bible exhorts us to protect the weak and care for the ill, this quote exhorts us to take advantage of people - worse- to take advantage of the frail and weak in society(n)
 
lol guys , its called "figure of speech" ....

oh man and I've just gone out and bought myself a sniper rifle, and some bear traps to really lame the buggers before hand. Really these posts should be a little more literal!
 
"It may hide in the bush all week, waiting for just the right moment"

I thought Aspen was saying don't sit there all day, it seems they're now suggesting we sit there ALL WEEK :confused:
 
"It may hide in the bush all week, waiting for just the right moment"

I thought Aspen was saying don't sit there all day, it seems they're now suggesting we sit there ALL WEEK :confused:

Hope he take's a packed lunch for the week.
 
"It may hide in the bush all week, waiting for just the right moment"

I thought Aspen was saying don't sit there all day, it seems they're now suggesting we sit there ALL WEEK :confused:

C'mon, really? You do not have to sit in front of your screens to be patient - amazing how many different interpretations can be had from a quote :)
 
Received this from a client today - thought it was spot on....

"Too much screen time"

Completely agree

But, I discovered that I was "too focused". I.e., I had my MetaTrader or NinjaTrader alerts set to alert me too often. Two years ago, I was trading 8 to 12 pairs on hourly charts and getting alerts every time they crossed levels of minor importance.

Eventually I began to tune it out. When I was being called to my computer 4 to 8 times per day, you can imagine how "dull" I would get to it. It's like tuning out TV noise when at a family holiday gathering.

I regained my sanity when I realized that I needed LESS information not more (duh - it's the "less is more" concept - a very well known concept, talked about for centuries and most recently talked about in AntiFragility by Nassim Taleb, which I highly recommend). I bumped my purely technical / discretionary system (sorry Dave, don't use Elliott - it's why I pay you) up to daily / 360 bars (I use two time frames). The result?

Now, I get about 1 signal per week (if that) and my trading results have been incredibly smooth and consistent. Since last year, I have been putting in less than two hours of chart time per month. My worst month was -.2% (negative POINT two percent). Best month so far was a positive 5.7%. I've continued to refine the system, but I am enjoying trading much much more as my computers are set to email me when it has the minimum technical requirements for a setup (only at bar close / 5p EST each day). Once the computer emails me, I get in and evaluate the pair, decide on a plan of attack, and then wait for the right conditions. Most recent trade was EURUSD sell stops last night at 2920.

Anyway, glad to see you are spreading the gospel of trading to the Aspen community. I think when someone hears it enough and from enough sources it really begins to sink in.

DP
 
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