Hey traders, have you ever asked yourself this question. How can I work a little bit more sleep into my schedule?  I know I do. With that being said, I often find myself waking up earlier and earlier as the year goes on. My original plan was to wake up at 6:30 every morning but somehow that has now turned into 5:30.  I'm honestly worried that before I know it I will be back to waking up at 4am everyday and if the past is any predictor of the future, then that won't be a good thing. 

While on a run today I was thinking of ways to be more efficient with my time. Many ideas came into mind such as stop checking emails, loading up the charts right away and skipping breakfast to name a few. Unfortunately all of these options would go against the section in my trading plan that says I have to be both mentally and physically prepared before trading each day.  Then around mile 2 of my run it hit me. The task that took up the bulk of my time in the morning (aside from recording a video for The Syndicate Members) was my market analysis.  Since I am both a swing and day trader I have two separate sets of analysis that I must do each morning before trading. Although there is nothing that I can do to save time on my day trading pre market analysis , I have found a way to shorten my swing trading analysis and its actually something I do every once in a while anyway.  All I have to do in order to become more time efficient is not delete my charts. 
The potential setups that I look out for on the longer time frame charts (4 hr/Daily) are far and few. Therefore I've found that if I take the time to do some really in depth analysis on the weekend/Monday, then all I have to do is sit back and wait for the market to reach my zone. For you Pro Trader Course graduates, this means basically doing the I, P and D of our I.P.D.E. This way instead of loading up the chats each morning and drawing out what I'm looking for from scratch (which isn't a bad idea), I already have a reminder on my charts of what's happening and simply have to take the time to look at price actions progress or for any new formations. 

With all that being said, I still believe that for those who have time, it is a great idea to do fresh, full analysis each day. This will allow you to train your eyes for certain patterns a lot quicker as well as maybe pick up something that you may have missed previously. However, there are a few of us that just don't have enough hours in the day to complete everything we need to get done so instead of missing out on a good night's sleep, which is crucial to trading, here is a way that may help you out. 

Roy
6/25/2012 07:56:13 am

Hey Akil, I should have probably shared this a while back as you and I had talked in the past about the ‘fresh start’ approach to market analysis. Like yourself, it worked very well for me for a while, that is until life in general and reality caught up with me and it became just too time consuming to do as an every day task. I have since followed a similar approach to the one you’ve outlined in such as I also do a very detailed weekend analysis that remains on my trading computer always at the ready for the duration of the potential trade. However what I did was to opt to set up a second computer, a family members old one, with its own demo account and data feed that offers me access those ‘fresh start’ charts for me to analyze on the mornings that time does allow me to do so, which is maybe twice a week. Now I can’t trade off that platform obviously, but the screens are right next to each other, so its not a big deal. It still offers me some good practice and conditioning, and yes, I still end up catching a few setups from time to time that got by me on the weekend. Anyways, great post Akil, thanks and take care man :)

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Akil
6/25/2012 10:53:26 am

Maybe I'll try that as well Roy, having a chart where I keep it up, yet on another do it fresh a few times a week and compare. I wanted to do that with my swing trading analysis and my day trading, but it just ended up being so much on a chart that I could even recognize it anymore

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Roy
6/25/2012 11:17:22 am

I am actually surprised you were still doing that type of analysis with everything you’ve got going on these days. And I can imagine how your charts might get a bit crowded; between swing & day trading, the live room, 6 figure, your site and mastermind, I would think you need a freaking NORAD type wall of monitors to keep track of everything.!! …And you were only looking at a 3 monitor setup? I hope that’s 3 monitors on each side of you so all you have to do is turn your chair 90* every few hours. lol :)




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