6 Daily Habits of Successful Traders

Trading isn’t just buying and selling; it’s a way of life. Successful traders are simply people who have built successful forex trading habits over the years. Here are 6 daily trading routines of successful traders that you can implement today. 

1 Analysis of the Economic Calendar

The forex market is very responsive to news and economic data released on a daily basis. The economic calendar can be discovered and analysed on foreign exchange trading platforms like Oanda.com. At the beginning of every trading week or day, the upcoming news events are released in a schedule that can easily be accessed online. The goal of analysing these events is to understand the likely direction of price movement from a fundamental perspective. It also allows you to prepare for the volatility that can result from the release of these data. Professional traders can opt out of trading on certain days when there are many news events that can make the forex market challenging to predict. Being aware of upcoming news keeps you ahead because you’ll have enough time to plan your trades for the day. 

Knowing the economic calendar and release schedule for high-impact news can help you determine when to stay out of trading if you’re a conservative trader.  

2 Trading Without Distractions

Before you start trading, make sure you’ve eliminated all distractions that can prevent you from making optimal trading decisions. It’s preferable to trade in a calm environment without anyone or anything that can cloud your judgement. 

Every trader is unique, and most professional traders have different routines to clear their minds. From the bittersweet espresso to cold baths and exercise, there are different ways of clearing the mind before getting on the charts. Find a method that works for you and create a trading desk that allows you to trade efficiently and with ease.

3 Time Management

Full-time trading isn’t ‘every time’ trading, and day trading isn’t ‘everyday’ trading. This means that as much as you love to trade and analyse the financial markets, you need to plan your trading hours beforehand. Spending all day staring at a screen can hurt your eyes, productivity and interpersonal relationships. Professional traders manage their time and even find ways to reduce the amount of time spent on the charts. Most traders love the idea of being financially free from a ‘9-5’, but if all 24 hours of the day are spent staring at the charts, then are they truly free? 

Planning your trading hours is quite simple. You just need to study your currency pairs and find out the most volatile and liquid hours of the day to trade. Once the best trading hours are over, you can review the charts instead of actively seeking to execute trades. Otherwise, you may spend time with your family and pets, work on other goals, and then prepare for the next trading day. 

4 Emotional Control

Discipline isn’t a heritable trait……it’s a cultivated attitude. Successful traders spend a lot of time and money learning how to be disciplined and psychologically resilient. This is a habit that they routinely improve and sustain on a daily basis. Some experienced traders use affirmations and read books like ‘Trading in the Zone’ by Mark Douglas to have a disciplined approach to trading daily. 

5 Preparation

Preparing for a trading day is critical to your success as a trader. It involves planning every trade and journaling your wins and losses while reviewing your actions and finding ways to improve your results. There are many journaling platforms out there, such as the notion app. 

These platforms help you keep tabs on your trades and performance. You can also prepare for a new trading day by doing some pre-market analysis and commentaries outlining your expectations for the day. 

6 Non-stop Practice

The most notable difference between new and advanced traders is the amount of time spent practising. Practising should be a daily routine because it helps you to get better and improve your results over time. The most important part of this is consistency because these efforts build your discipline as much as your technical and fundamental analysis skills. You can practice at the end of your trading day and make adjustments to your strategy when necessary.