I have been asked recently how my day is structured between, technical analysis, trading, study and personal errands. It took me a long time to find a structured daily routine that works for me, so it is very personal, but my journey may help people cherry pick what may work for you, I thought this may be worth writing a short article.

For me personally, routine and habits are very important. Developing a habit can take anywhere from 21 to 66 days from what I’ve read, so establishing what your day will look like, will in its self-take a month or two of repetition before it starts to become a pattern. Once your routine and habits are established, I find myself refining and progressing it as life changes.

So, my day starts at 5:00 am. I wake, I think of 3 things to be grateful for and then shower and grab a cup of tea or orange juice. This gives me 30 minutes to wake up properly and get my head into the day’s work. I like waking early, as I feel like it gives me an edge. It’s quiet and peaceful, I can concentrate without any distractions outside, without my phone going off and everyone else in my house is sleeping. 

5:30am I fire up my computer and take a few minutes and repeat my affirmations and spend 10 minutes or so meditating to focus my body. 

Once I’m ready, I open my charting software and I begin my technical analysis. I start each pair looking at the monthly, weekly, then daily, then drop down to the 4 hour. I’m looking for patterns and setups. I’ll draw my trendlines and fib levels and look for entry levels for each pair, sometimes dropping down to the hourly to find a good entry level. I will look for various elements for a trade setup to be confirmed but I won’t get into in this article. I set my alerts for any patterns that I see, and I’ll make notes on what I want to look for during the day to come.

At 8:30am, I’m ready for the open. If I’ve entered trades before the open and they are in profit, I will consider closing the position and take profit as in my own personal view, I have found that positions at open can reverse, so I’m happy to bag any preopen pips that I may have gained That’s not a rule but something I do consider. At this point, I will keep an eye on any open trades and if alerts are triggered I will watch the instrument and wait for confirmation then enter the trade when all my parameters are satisfied. 

Also, in this time I have reviewed my mistakes sheet/gold rules sheet and done any housekeeping in my journal. My journaling is vital to my trade plan and reviewing my trades at the end of the day.

At 10:30am I find things settle and markets cool off somewhat so it’s at this time that I feel comfortable to take an hour or two and get some exercise or take care of any errands.   I will keep an eye on my trades from my phone but if I’m in any open trades or I’m waiting for a particular setup, I would rather stay by my computer and monitor.  I make sure to be back by my charts by 1pm.

At 1pm I’m preparing for the US open so will look again and any alerts and setups for particular pairs. I’ll recap what happened in the morning session.  Once the US open I will watch what happens and deal with accordingly. By 3:30pm my day starts to become quieter, so I like to try and find an hour and study or read and learn one more chart pattern from my favorite book “Encyclopaedia of Chart Patterns” by Thomas N. Bulkowski. 

By 5:30pm my day starts to close but I will keep alerts running and keep an eye on trades as well as move stops as I need to. 

For me, this routine works well but we are all obviously unique and individual.  My advice is, find yours and stick to it.  Life will become less complicated and trading clearer.