28/09/2011 – No Trading. Why?

“Private traders have one advantage over professionals – the ability to stay OUT of the market, yet they squander this advantage time and time again by trading when they shouldn’t” – Dr. Alexander Elder

Wise words indeed by Dr. Elder and a principle I’ve followed in these last 48 hours where I’ve taken a hiatus from trading and looking at markets. Why you may ask? Well yesterday was my birthday and I’ve learnt (the hard way, it’s always the hard way) to just switch off for a period over my birthday and just go and enjoy spending time doing something else.

So allied to the fact that we’re enjoying something of an Indian Summer here at the moment,  instead of looking at markets my partner and I enjoyed a picnic in our garden as you can see from the attached photo.

Okay, so I admit, that’s not actually my garden…yet.  These are the gardens for Blenheim Palace where I spent a very relaxed and civilised few hours away from markets enjoying a birthday picnic.

Whilst I doubt Dr. Elder had in mind birthday picnics when he made his original comment (I suspect he was taking about over-trading) I think the principle is valid here. Sometimes its best to spend some time away to provide perspective upon why you trade.  And why would you wish to ruin your birthday if you’d had a tough trading session or perhaps you’re a little slow after a late night and a few drinks?

So for me these days I take a 36-48 hours hiatus around my birthday and go and enjoy doing something completely different.  And I would happily recommend a similar course of action for anybody else.

Until next time, trade well.

FXTraderPaul