VIRTUAL TRADER
On Being An Efficient Trader
Streamline Your Trading Routine
by David Mabe
Become a more profitable and efficient trader by automating
your trading. Find out how.
How many times
have you been trading and come across a great entry price, only to have
the price cruise on by before you can get your order in? Worse, you discover
you were just seconds too late on your trade of the day as the price is
already extended beyond your entry point. This is a frequent event in a
trader's life and can often lead to frustration, which can cloud your thinking
and even result in overtrading.
When I'm too late to get in on what I think would have been a great
trade, I used to get frustrated. Now I take a methodical approach to analyzing
trades I miss by answering the following questions:
1. Was this a trade I could have reasonably seen in time to
trade it? No matter how efficient your daily routine, you'll always miss
some trades.
2. Given my current trading routine, is this a trade I should have
seen in time? If so, why didn't I?
3. Is there part of my daily trading routine that I could make more
efficient so I can be prepared for more trades like this?
Answering these questions turns a frustrating event into an opportunity
to improve. One of my goals as a discretionary trader is to use automation
to streamline my daily trading routine as much as possible. There are a
variety of aspects of your trading routine that can be streamlined and
in many cases completely automated.
...Continued in the September issue of Technical Analysis of STOCKS
& COMMODITIES
Excerpted from an article originally published in the September 2008
issue of Technical Analysis of
STOCKS & COMMODITIES magazine. All rights reserved. © Copyright
2008, Technical Analysis, Inc.
Return to September 2008 Contents
