Trading with Energy

“A trading career is a marathon, not a sprint: the winners pace themsleves.”  Dr. Brett Steenbarger

Those of you who follow this blog will perhaps have noticed that I’ve not posted any trades over the last 10 days or so.  This has not been a case of me hiding bad trades.  Far from it!  To begin with there simply were no set-ups in my currency of choice (GBPUSD) to encourage pulling the trigger.  Then over the last week or so I decided to take a break from Trading for a few days.

I realised that for the fund I work for I had been veering towards passive trading as opposed to active trading.  I also realised that I had not taken any time off in nearly 6 months.  I felt  tired and somewhat worn down.  There’s no point trying to strive for world class results when you’re not at your peak.  So I decided to take a few days away from the charts and spend the time relaxing, writing in my journal, visiting the gym, eatinng well and re-connecting with myself and some very good trader buddies.  All very good activities which I know help to replenish both my spirit and my desire for trading.

The message is: You do not have to trade all-day every day, believe me it’s probably counter-productive for the vast majority of people.  It’s about pacing yourself.  I have a friend who probably only trades on 5 days or so of the month.  When he wakes up he conducts a quick assessment of his physical and mental well-being.  If he’s feeling good, sprightly and alert then he trades, if he’s not then he doesn’t even bother looking at the charts.  His success rate is great because he follows such an approach.