Essence Of Trading: Value Of Time
By Lawrence
Many traders who learned to trade by themselves often glue themselves to the screen watching every single trade, every bid and offer updates on the markets they trade until they are so tired that they either fall asleep or cannot do it any more because their eyes are burning in pain. They thought this is dedication to learn the art of trading. The truth is that they are wasting their time.
Not All Screen Time Is Equal
There is no information to be analyzed from the price movement of a market if it is in waiting mode as traders from both sides are mostly staying on the sideline waiting for an important announcement.
There is no information to be analyzed when most of the participants are not participating or monitoring the market at all when they cannot be there for various reasons – holidays, major communication or infrastructure breakdowns, or for a lesser degree like lunch time.
There is also not much information to be analyzed after a major market shock as many unprepared traders are likely wiped out.
Spending time monitoring these quiet periods are usually counter productive. Trading opportunities would be rare and many trading setups would be less reliable. Imagine you spend all those time instead into studying historical data and analyzing price patterns, etc. I am sure you will gain more insight into the markets you trade than just staring at the screen when your senses already numbed by the inactivity in the market.
