A typical trading day

A trading day with the AtticManTrader
It’s important for me to ensure I have some structure to my trading day. My attention span varies from short to very short (so many other things going on!). To help me to remain focused I have found it useful to have a very structured approach to my trading activities – this gives me a fighting chance of following my daily disciplines. What follows below is the routine that I follow during the course of the trading day.

GET THE SOFTWARE UP AND RUNNING.
The first thing we do is load up all the software we need to Trade.

Tradestation 8.2 for all my graphing and analysis needs;

  • My Tradestation Swing Anlaysis Workspace
  • The Market Analysis Spreadsheet
  • The Reporting Spreadsheet
  • The MS Access Trade Capture System

FOLLOW MY DAILY DISCIPLINES.
Have I closed any positions since my last analysis?
If I have, I look at whether my monthly targets have been met. If they have;

  • I protect my capital by either closing all other open trades or moving stops to breakeven and cancel all pending trades
  • If my monthly targets have not been met, I check to see if my monthly stops have been hit. I also check to see if I have had 3 consecutive losing trades. If I have I simply shut up shop for the remainder of the month.
If I have not closed any positions since my last analysis I check to see if I have any open positions.
  • If I have open positions, I check to see if any exit signals have fired. If they have I close the trade
  • If no exit signals have fired, I ensure that the trade still conforms to my money management criteria (2% or 4% of Base Equity at Risk)
  • I check to ensure the total Base Equity at risk is less than 6% (or 12%). If it is greater I amend my stops accordingly
If I have no open positions I check on my pending positions.
  • If I have pending positions I check to ensure the order is still valid. If it is not I cancel the order.
  • I ensure that my Pending Trades (together with any open trades) do not exceed my Base Equity at Risk parameters

If I have no pending positions I undertake my daily analysis of the markets using Tradestation and The Market Analysis Spreadsheet.

If I get set-ups I design the trade in my Trade Capture system, ensuring the trade conforms to my Money Management (Base Equity at Risk) parameters.

Once I have designed a trade I check to ensure my Money Management parameters across all Open and Pending trades remain valid. If they do not, I re-design the trade. If the trade does not conform, then I cancel and look for the next signal.

Once my analysis is complete. I double check my orders against the trade design to ensure I have made no mistakes when keying in the trades.

I then complete this process across the FX pairs that I am currently designing a strategy for.
Once this analysis is complete, (it normally takes about 60-90minutes), I record the daily market overview, which effectively gives me final clarification around my trade designs and acts as a third and final check.

I do find times when verbalising my decision making process highlights errors in my analysis, at this point I will rectifiy them. Recording and posting the video takes between 30 and 60 minutes.

I AM DONE

I sit back and relax….Well in reality I work on other set-ups and think about the markets, but the disciplined section of the my regime is complete!!

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