FTUK

How to start your day as a trader

There are many aspects of trading to think about especially before each trading session before you begin analysing and making decisions. We will take a look into the main things to think about along with some tips taken from proficient traders.

 

The Watchlist

 

An extremely important tool for successful professional traders is the watchlist and most won’t think about precisely planning the instruments to trade. Instead, they will open many random pairs or ones they have seen others trade online. Instead, look at which market you are interested in studying and pick 1 to 3 instruments, to begin with. 

 

Once you have chosen your select few instruments or currency pairs to trade it is always a good idea a the start of a trading session to highlight the top recent movers when doing your premarket research. Then it is a good idea to get into the habit to journal the reasons for these top movers and follow along with their journey of them. All currency pairs will indeed have different traits and reactions in certain market conditions. As traders, we need to try and pick up on these to help us know how to trade when a certain instrument is performing a certain way. The better you can pick up on these the better your profits will be. 

 

Fundamental News and Calendars 

 

A lot of professional traders will undoubtedly have a strong view of how the market reacts to the involvement of the news. Many sources of major news around the world can impact the prices of the instruments we trade so it is crucial to keep an active eye on what’s happening out there. 

 

We starting a trading session it is a good idea to look at the overnight sessions to see the actual results of the fundamentals and to see if it reflects the current state of the market. If you are trading in the USA then you will likely want to read about what happened in the European and Asian sessions and visa versa. 

 

There are many different news sources available to traders such as Bloomberg, FX Street, Investing.com, and the financial times to name a few of the majors. Of course, some of the news sources listed will have free and paid versions which will come down to how deeply you want to be connected with the real-time news. Some traders may be 95% technical which will only require summary news or potential upcoming news announcements. Whilst more fundamental traders will require more in-depth news sources. 

 

Calendars for traders can be confusing to start with as the information will show different types of events and impacts. Such as earnings, dividends, expiry, and national commercial/employment rates. Usually, the online calendars will show you the times that the news will be set to go public along with the level of impact which can make it easier to navigate for most traders. 

 

Trading plan and journal log

 

Plans and journals are often overlooking topics or underused tools in this industry. Having a morning routine where you journal and plan your day can put you in the right shape of mind to start trading and work out what is important to focus on. You should have a prebuilt trading plan to follow, but the journal is ongoing documentation which is priceless for increasing your skills as a trader. Knowing your prebuilt strategy is one thing, and knowing which parts to tweak and improve is learned through chart time and trading experience. Much of the knowledge could be lost if not thoroughly journaled.  

 

Journaling can be done through word documents and creating folders on your computer if you are tech-savvy or you can use a notepad and pen which can be kept near your computer and used as your trading brain for logging results and your emotions before and after a trade. This is a good idea if you feel like your emotions can take over, getting your thoughts written down and saved can help you get control over your emotions and take the losses as vital lessons. 

 

Other aspects of a successful trading routine 

 

Whilst the above pre-trading routines will help with your edge in the market as you begin your trading day, there are other pre-trading benefits to help you be successful. As we have mentioned many times before in our blog, take care of your mind-body, and health. This might include taking time to exercise and starting your day off with a nice breakfast or coffee. Your health and mental state will play an important role in determining the accuracy of your decision-making for that day. 

 

Try to ensure that your trading workspace is neatly positioned, is comfortable to be in and you are well equipped. The best traders will never jump straight into the market each day. If you are jumping into your trading day without a pre-market warm-up session, consider taking a systematic approach to ensure that your trading day will be successful. 

 

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FTUK Funded Account Disclaimer

CFTC Rule 4.41 – Hypothetical or Simulated performance results have certain limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, because the trades have not actually been executed, the results may have under-or-over compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs, in general, are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profit or losses similar to those shown.

All our funded accounts come with a fixed equity stop out level. Once the account equity level gets below this fixed stop out bar, we will close all running trades and disable trading and access. The stop out level is a fixed value for each funding level, this means that any profit which has been made by the trader increases the loss allowance.

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