The part-time trader advantage

You've heard me say it before. One of the biggest trading leaks is micromanaging positions by jumping from trade to trade and never letting your trade work for you.

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Well part-time traders, I've got great news for you. You have a huge advantage over full-time traders in this area just by the nature of your environment. You don't  have time to sit and stare at every tick on the computer screen. Take advantage of this instead of wishing you could trade full-time. You can "set it and forget it" and let your trades make you money while you do other things.

If you would like to learn more about how I trade, receive my nightly focus list with market analysis,setups and trade alerts, sign up for a 14 day free trial at BullsonWallStreet.com. 

How to Swing Trade Late Day Strength Off An Intraday Reversal

As a swing trader it is important to understand that strength often begets more strength.  This is the central principle of the hammer setup.  We look for strength at the end that reverses what looked to be a down move earlier in the day.

$SPY is a good example of this setup.  Trade Report members were alerted to this setup as I made the trade before the market close.  Like clockwork the market gapped up today and the position was sold for a quick profit.

It is tough for some to enter a position when a significant move has already been made.  However, this is a high probability setup and one must forget about what has already happened and look to the high probability of what will happen.

If you would like to learn more about how I trade, receive my nightly focus list with market analysis, setups and trade alerts, sign up for a 7 day free trial at BullsonWallStreet.com. If you like this article, follow me on twitter

Quoted in an SFO Article on Part-Time Trading

I was quoted in an excellent article on Part-Time Trading in SFO Magazine. There is some great advice by part-time traders, Brett Steenbarger, John Forman and Dan Passarelli.

http://www.sfomag.com/ArticlePrint.aspx?ID=1426

Part-time Trader Series (tip 2): Have a Plan

This is the second in a series of tips for the part-time trader who trades around a full-time job.

As a part-time trader, time management is as vital to success as picking stocks or managing my portfolio. Over the years I have developed tricks to streamline what used to take me up to 4 hours a night, down to about 45 minutes.

How many hours have you wasted agonizing over a trade you have just made? You place a trade, get back to work, look up at your monitor and watch every tick the stock makes. You try to get back to work, but you can't get the trade out of your mind. You don't know what to do. Should I sell now the stock has ticked up for a small profit? Should I exit now that it's gone the other direction?

The easiest way to combat this problem is to have a plan before entering every trade. In tip 1, we developing a weekly focus list which you fine tune on a daily basis. Every night you should review your focus list and mark each stock with an entry level, stop and target. Accompanied by these numbers should be comments on the setup and risk analysis.

By doing this, you make post-trade decision making a snap. The plan is there so you have no need to sweat as the trade develops. This type of preparation will not only make trading easier, you'll get more work done at your day job!

Tip 1

Part-time Trader Series (tip 1): Weekly Focus List

As a part-time trader, time management is as vital to success as picking stocks or managing my portfolio. Over the years I have developed tricks to streamline what used to take me up to 4 hours a night, down to about 45 minutes.

Over the next week I will share some of these tips. 

Time Saving Tip #1: Create a Weekly Focus List 

As a swing-trader, I spend most of my time building watchlists. Watchlists can provide a number of beneficial functions. Of course, the primary function of a watchlist is to find stocks to trade. However, well built watchlists also can provide insights into areas such as market sentiment and sector rotation. 

My watchlist is organic and can have anywhere from 100-300 stocks, depending on market conditions and how many different setups I am trading. However, I rarely trade more than 5-10 stocks at any given time. Most of the stocks in the watchlist are a few points away from ideal entry points, so it is a waste of time to go through the list every day. 

Now, instead of wasting valuable time analyzing a few hundred stocks daily, I create a focus list every Sunday, after my sector review. I go though my watchlist and pick the 20-30 best setups, and put them in the focus list. This is the list I trade from during the week. 

The focus list saves me an hour each night. That's about one extra day of "time" every month, time better spend analyzing my past trades, researching setups or just relaxing and having fun. 

Part-Time Trading Review

I am frequently asked questions about part-time trading, and received a number of e-mails this weekend. The recent market action has something to do with it. I must admit that I too have been tempted to take a few days off and monitor the markets more closely. I'm glad I did not, as it would have likely lead to overtrading.

Here are a few past posts on part-time trading:

First of all, I would like to let you know that I enjoy your "Market Speculator" blog and find it very educational. After reading many of your posts, I noticed that you prefer not to micromanage your trades and sometimes only check the market a few times a session because of your day job. How do you enter and exit your trades? Do you use buy stops to enter positions or do you enter a position by buying when you get an opportunity to check the market?

I check the market a few times per day, in the morning, lunch and at the close. If I have time while at work, I might sneak in a few more looks. Each time I check in, I take a look at all of the stocks on my watchlist to see if they are at my buypoints. If the stock and market looks good, I enter.

This method works really well for breakout-pullback plays, but not quite as well if I am trying to time pure breakout entries. Therefore, I use buy stops for breakout plays. For example, if a stock is basing near a strong resistance level, I'll put a buy stop above that level. The drawback with the buy stop is I can't monitor the volume.

The key to trading part-time is to do loads of research at night, build a strong watchlist, and stick to that watchlist during the day.

Also, when you exit, do you enter a profit target order or just exit when you get around to checking the market and if the price is good you close the position?

I have a profit target based on technical factors for every trade I enter. I try to stick to the target, but may exit early if the stock isn't acting as it should.

Trailing stop?

Depending on the setup and how the sector is acting, I'll either use a trailing stop, take partial profits as each target is met, or exit in full. Trailing stops work best for trend trades lasting longer than one week.

Any tips you can suggest for swing trading the market and holding a day time job?

Have a disciplined post and pre-market routine. Carefully study market and sector action every day. Pay attention to market sentiment (high/lows, percent above 50 day moving average, etc). Study at least 300 charts per day. This is easy if you have Telechart. Create a daily watchlist based on your preferred setups. Preperation is the key to success as a part-time trader.

Here are some of my past posts on part-time trading, preperation and routines:

Part-Time Trading

Early Rising Part 1

Early Rising Part 2

Daily Schedule

Watchlist

Watchlist and Entry Points

I welcome any questions my readers might have. Whether it's about my trading methods, sports, entertainment, something I've talked about, or anything else that you may have on your mind, feel free to leave a comment or email me at SinghJD1@aol.com

Time Saving Tip: Weekly Focus List

As a part-time trader, time management is as vital to success as picking stocks or managing my portfolio. Over the years I have developed tricks to streamline what used to take me up to 4 hours a night, down to about 45 minutes.

Over the next week I will share some of these tips.

Time Saving Tip #1: Create a Weekly Focus List

As a swing-trader, I spend most of my time building watchlists. Watchlists can provide a number of beneficial functions. Of course, the primary function of a watchlist is to find stocks to trade. However, well built watchlists also can provide insights into areas such as market sentiment and sector rotation.

My watchlist is organic and can have anywhere from 100-300 stocks, depending on market conditions and how many different setups I am trading. However, I rarely trade more than 5-10 stocks at any given time. Most of the stocks in the watchlist are a few points away from ideal entry points, so it is a waste of time to go through the list every day.

Now, instead of wasting valuable time analyzing a few hundred stocks daily, I create a focus list every Sunday, after my sector review. I go though my watchlist and pick the 20-30 best setups, and put them in the focus list. This is the list I trade from during the week.

The focus list saves me an hour each night. That's about one extra day of "time" every month, time better spend analyzing my past trades, researching setups or just relaxing and having fun.

Check back soon for more time saving tips.

Trading Tips for the Part-Time Trader

Like many of you, I trade around my full-time job. Sometimes it feels at though I have two full-time jobs. Trading successfully requires a smart, detailed approach.

I wrote a guest post over at Blain Reinkensmeyer's site, detailing five smart tips for the part-time trader. Head on over there and if you have any questions or comments, leave some feedback on his site.

Answering Questions About Part-Time Trading

First of all, I would like to let you know that I enjoy your "Market Speculator" blog and find it very educational. After reading many of your posts, I noticed that you prefer not to micromanage your trades and sometimes only check the market a few times a session because of your day job. How do you enter and exit your trades? Do you use buy stops to enter positions or do you enter a position by buying when you get an opportunity to check the market?

I check the market a few times per day, in the morning, lunch and at the close. If I have time while at work, I might sneak in a few more looks. Each time I check in, I take a look at all of the stocks on my watchlist to see if they are at my buypoints. If the stock and market looks good, I enter.

This method works really well for breakout-pullback plays, but not quite as well if I am trying to time pure breakout entries. Therefore, I use buy stops for breakout plays. For example, if a stock is basing near a strong resistance level, I'll put a buy stop above that level. The drawback with the buy stop is I can't monitor the volume.

The key to trading part-time is to do loads of research at night, build a strong watchlist, and stick to that watchlist during the day.

Also, when you exit, do you enter a profit target order or just exit when you get around to checking the market and if the price is good you close the position?

I have a profit target based on technical factors for every trade I enter. I try to stick to the target, but may exit early if the stock isn't acting as it should.

Trailing stop?

Depending on the setup and how the sector is acting, I'll either use a trailing stop, take partial profits as each target is met, or exit in full. Trailing stops work best for trend trades lasting longer than one week.

Any tips you can suggest for swing trading the market and holding a day time job?

Have a disciplined post and pre-market routine. Carefully study market and sector action every day. Pay attention to market sentiment (high/lows, percent above 50 day moving average, etc). Study at least 300 charts per day. This is easy if you have Telechart. Create a daily watchlist based on your preferred setups. Preperation is the key to success as a part-time trader.

Here are some of my past posts on part-time trading, preperation and routines:

Part-Time Trading

Early Rising Part 1

Early Rising Part 2

Daily Schedule

Watchlist

Watchlist and Entry Points

I welcome any questions my readers might have. Whether it's about my trading methods, sports, entertainment, something I've talked about, or anything else that you may have on your mind, feel free to leave a comment or email me at SinghJD1@aol.com

View the rest of my site, including today's trades.