Stumped by Trump- What’s To Do?

Where  so many go wrong

This is a clip from an interesting trader, John Locke.
I make no recommendation,but there are a load of clips on Youtube that may be of some use. As in the clip, in the early days of trading we may find ourselves glued to the screen. That’s great if you are trading intra day off a one minute chart. When we place an options trade typically we will have from one to six weeks for that trade to be exited. Once in a trade I might look at the FTSE twice a day-more if I’m looking for a trade to go with what I already have.

Screen Fever Heightens Anxiety

I am currently reading a book about risk by Dan Gardener, while taking almost a back seat trading this initial period of the Trump administration. Trading is about taking risk? It’s about managing risk. It’s about making good decisions, finding what works for you. And what doesn’t work. We should not be overly concerned  with risk-it should be defined, or we should have a very very good idea of how market moves will affect our position. Personally I like to keep downside risk around 6% below the underlying, upside maybe 3-4%. My view however is dynamic and will change when the market changes. It’s natural to keep an eye on things but when loaded to the max with data, charts, news, opinions, doubts and distractions we need to be calm. We can have control over how stressed we will get over the intra day moves. We do not need to look too often, unless there is trade potential in doing so. I keep end of day screenshots of my positions, and potential trades. When I feel there is nothing to trade, I trade nothing