There are many benefits of being a trader. One of the main reasons We love being a trader is about flexibility. This means We don’t have to wake up early to go to work, We don’t have a boss to tell us what to do, we can take vacations whenever we want and we can also control our own time.
Many traders however have a challenge in managing their time, because They don’t know how to manage it in an effective manner. In this article, We will highlight a few ways to manage your time effectively as a trader.
→ Related: Useful Ideas to Help You Boost Productivity
Contents
Why Time Management Matters
Time management is an important concept in all industries, including education, medicine, and aviation. The same is true with the financial market, one of the fastest growing industries.
Day traders should always manage their time well. Doing so will help them maximize their trading sessions and even become more profitable.
It will also help them reduce the possibility of working so hard and then achieving too little. Other benefits of time management are that it will give you a peace of mind, help you identify more opportunities, and give you an opportunity to prioritize your work well.
In our experience, We have found that most successful traders are those who plan their times well and those who follow a certain routine.
Useful hints to better manage your time
A good sleep
Some people like to brag about sleeping for a few hours. ‘I will sleep well when I die’, they say.
Donald Trump has always bragged about how he sleeps for three hours every day. He argues that it is difficult for a person that sleeps for 8 hours to compete with one who sleeps for 3 hours.
About this We have a different opinion.
We believe in having a good night sleep. Sleep helps you to stay refreshed during the day. It also helps you to avoid burnout that has affected so many people. The best way to handle sleep is to sleep early and then wake up early as well.
Have goals
One of the main reasons why most people don’t achieve their time management resolutions is that they don’t have goals. Having goals means having a set of things that you want to achieve within a certain period of time. Without goals, you will have a challenge of time management.
For instance, every morning, you want to have a set of things that you want to achieve during the day. When you have this set of things, you will be at a good position to achieve most during a short period of time.
→ Related: 5 Mistakes to Avoid Becoming a Full-Time Trader
Prioritize
You should learn to prioritize your tasks. This means that you should always try to do the most important things first. For instance, if your main occupation is trading, you should do the best to try and do or plan your trading early in the morning. This is where you should spend a lot of time.
Take time to read, watch, and make your trading tasks first. By doing this, you will be at a good position to achieve success. You should avoid trading when you are tired or when you have a lot going on.
This is well explained by the 80/20 rule (or Pareto Principle)
Trading checklist
Another simple way of managing your time well is about having a trading checklist, which can be written in a piece of paper or an online platform like Evernote or Google Keep. A checklist can be a complex or a short document that identifies the criteria that must happen before you buy or sell an asset.
For example, a checklist can have details like the assets that you trade like stocks and currencies. It can also have the technical patterns that must be there when you are opening a trade. This checklist will help you simplify your trading process and save time (and even money).
Be prepared
Preparation is an important step that can save you time when day trading. One way of being prepared is to be aware of what will happen the following day/week in the market.
For example, every day after you finalize your trades, you can check out your economic and earnings calendar to see the events that will happen the following day.
Doing these simple things will help you save time when you start trading. You can also spend your weekends looking at the key events that will happen in the following week.
Take time off
The problem with many people is that they want to appear busy. Even when they don’t have anything to do, you will see them try and do something. The challenge with this is that productivity is highly reduced.
As a trader, you should always focus on productivity! You should be content on every one hour spent well. Therefore, in your trading day, you should have breaks.
→ Related: Six fun things Traders can do in their free times
Avoid disruptions
Finally, you should do your best to avoid disruptions. This is an area where many people have a major problem at. For example, you might find yourself disrupted in terms of social media. You might find yourself spending a lot of time chatting with friends. You might also be disrupted by TV series and even music.
To avoid these disruptions, you should do your best to have a good workspace that is free from disruptions. You should also be principled enough to reduce instances of being disrupted.
→ In this case, the Pomodoro Tecnique can help you
Summary
There are other strategies that you can use to save time as a day trader. The simple rule is that you should always have a plan and execute it well. When you plan your time well, you will start seeing impressive returns in your trading.
Other Time Management Useful links:
- Time Management and CFD Trading – Cfdspy