Currency Day Trading: The 20 Day Plan

Currency day trading requires discipline and sticking to a strategy. If you have been struggling to make consistent profits, rather than looking at your strategy however, you need to pay close attention to your daily habits.

Here is a 20 day currency day trading plan which you should do for 4 trading weeks of 5 days each.

Establishing these habits will make a huge difference to your currency day trading results:

THE START ROUTINE

Step 1

At the start of each day you need to prepare the mind. Use visualization techniques and see and feel yourself following your strategy.

You only trade when there is a real opportunity. You carefully calculate your entry point, stop and limit levels. Almost mechanically you enter the trade.

You let the trade run and check back every hour or two and detach yourself emotionally from what is happening.

You take a loss as part of the deal and a gain as part of the deal avoiding extremes in emotions from joy to despair.

Playing through this sequence in your mind helps you start with the proper mental discipline.

Step 2

• You now fire up your charts and do a top down analysis. You take a look at the daily chart, then the 4 hour, then the 1 hour to get the big picture.

• You calculate your pivot points and draw them on your 15 minute or 1 hour chart

• You mark yesterday's high and low on the 1 hour chart.

• You take note of where price is in relation to the 200 EMA on the higher time frames to give you an idea of price direction.

Now you have done your preparation and your charts are prepared you can now start looking for trading opportunities.

THE TRADING ROUTINE

As you approach your trade and before pulling the trigger you make a conscious effort to relax. You monitor your breathing and you monitor your self-talk. No doubts, just confident, mechanical action is required here.

Once your trade is in you trust your technical indicators and just let the trade run. Yes price will move backwards and forwards, testing your resolve. You might get rewarded soon, or you may have to wait some hours for price to reach your target.

If after some time price has still not done what you expected and there is a volatile economic report on the horizon you now have to make a decision as to whether to take out the trade or at least move up your stop to minimize loss or protect some profit.

Again this is all done mechanically, in a controlled calm state of mind as you constantly remind yourself of the characteristics of the professional trader. Stay in control, don't panic, don't engage in any wild, impetuous actions.

THE REVIEW ROUTINE

At the end of the trading day you conduct a review and an analysis.

• How did you handle your currency day trading session?

• Were you stressed at any point? Why? Did you engage in any destructive behavior such as moving stops, or adding to losing positions thinking price would turn?

• How can you avoid such behavior patterns in the future?

• If your trade(s) resulted in gains, what did you do right?

• If your trade(s) resulted in losses, what did you do wrong?

• Was the loss due to an error in technical judgment or a lapse in mental and emotional discipline?

• What steps can you take, or what reminders do you need to keep in front of you, to avoid this next time?

NOW APPLY

For the next 4 weeks apply this 3 step routine to your currency day trading. It will take discipline and resolve.

However, to do otherwise is to keep on doing the things you are doing and expect a different result!

To get out of a non-productive currency day trading pattern, action and analysis are required. Use the daily 3 step plan above to embed these productive habits into your mind and see the difference after 1 month!

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