Preparation is essential in the trading world. Just like an athlete practices for hours, days, or weeks just to prepare for an event, or a soldier has to train before going into battle, a trader must prepare themselves for the trading week ahead.
Part of my trading plan is that I do not trade on the weekends, unless I get a signal on the longer term time frames that I cannot ignore. But since the passing of the Bitcoin ETFs, most of the fun action has been happening during regular stock market hours and the weekends have been pretty dull. This makes for a great time to do some trade prep for the week!
Setting Swing Trade Alerts
One way I like to get prepped up for the trading week is to set alerts for the pairs I am trading. For my strategy, I am setting alerts on the 1HR time frame that inform me that it's time to make a move. This way, if I am not paying attention to the charts, I will get alerted when my conditions are met.
Currently I am really only watching 2 pairs for swing trading, BTCUSD and ETHBTC. This helps me narrow my focus. Because of the current bull run action, I am going to pretty much stay in BTC unless the charts tell me it's better to be in ETH or in USDT. My goal is to end up with more BTC so this is a great way to trade up as the markets get hot. If ETH is making a big move and the charts tell me it's better to be in ETH, I will swap my position, ride the trend and then go back into BTC and have even more sats than when I started. Same with going into USD.
Day Trading Plan
Currently I am not day trading, I am running the 1HR swings and using the 5min to find entries, then looking out at the 4HR and Daily time frames for continuance. I am building my primary trading account back to a certain figure and once I hit that, I will take 10% of it and get back into some high leverage trading during the day. I dabbled some this week, but really need to increase my stack so I don't get eaten alive in exchange fees. Hopefully in a couple of weeks I will be back on that daily trade grind.
Reviewing Last Week's Trades
Like I said, I did dabble with some day trading this past week, ended up down just a bit, but that was because I forced a couple of trades and got stopped out. But that is why we set stop loss orders, to get us out when the trade is going against us.
Keeping a trade journal really helps with this. I like to write everything down in a notebook. There is still a physical connection between putting pen to paper and writing digitally. For my trade journal, I like the good ole notebook so that it connects with me more than the other online noise that is out there.
I keep the notebook right by my desk so I can physically see it. This keeps it in my mind to journal each trade I make so that I can stay disciplined and in the long run, become a more sound trader.
Journaling On The Blockchain
If the physical pen and paper is not your thing, one way that you can really keep yourself accountable is to journal your trades here on the Hive blockchain! This is a great way to keep yourself in check by putting it all out in the open and letting the community help keep you motivated to continue your improvement.
Don't just write about the good trades either. Make sure you are posting about your losses. Don't be embarrassed to post about them either. It helps get it out there to the world, and who knows, someone may come along with just the right advice to help you do better next time! Not only that, but you could possibly make some money back that you lost just by posting about the trade... Just saying...
Usually when you see me writing about trading with rules, and following your plan, it's because I did something stupid and took a loss because I didn't follow my trading plan, haha. This kind of thing really helps keep me in check with my trades, and just by writing about it, can help your brain work through the issues and hopefully you can teach yourself a lesson along the way!
Sharpening My Weapons
In trading, the indicators on top of your market knowledge are the weapons you have to take into battle. You need to keep yourself sharp on how the markets are moving, and what your indicators are telling you. I created my own tool in the Logical Trading Indicator so I spent a good bit of the week working on backtesting different settings and finding the best ones that work with the different time frames I work with. If you are interested in knowing what all I did as far as strategy development, check out this post that explains what I did.
But that is all apart of the preparation. It's like when an athlete goes back and watches the replay of the game or event to see what they can do better and to watch other players to see if they can learn something from them. This is essentially what journaling and strategy backtesting is all about. If you can make a small adjustment to an indicator that gives you just a bit more edge over the markets, the more chances you have to squeeze out some extra profits!
Ready For The Trading Week
Now that I have my alerts set, I am ready for the markets to do their thing! I have a plan of attack, goals I am trying to meet, and have learned some lessons and shaken off last weeks losses. This week is still in swing mode, but you know, I will be watching the charts like a hawk!
I will be very excited to get back to the day trading grind after I recoup some funds to do so, but I have met some goals for my homestead and 3D printer farm, so it's all been worth it! After all, you do have to have some balance in life, it can't be all about finances.
Hope you all have a successful week of trading logically!
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Additional Blog Locations
Many of my cryptocurrency related articles as well as trading articles can also be found on my crypto research site, Coin Logic.
I also post trading chart ideas on my TradingView Profile.
Disclaimer:
The information in this trade journal is for educational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Please consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.
