When to Trade or not to Trade? That is the Question

Life is often pretty routine.  You get up, go to work, have lunch, come home, put some Forex Trades on, feed the cat, cook dinner, chat to the family, take a walk along the beach and… well, use your imagination! Then the week is over. Your routine will be different to mine but you get the picture.  We tend to go from day to day without too many upsets.

But what happens to your Trading routine when things are not so mundane?  Have you actually thought about this?  If you want to keep your trading account balance in a healthy state, you need to plan ahead of how you will handle your Trading during these unavoidable times when life is a bitch.

It is vital to make sure you have a Trading Plan – there will be no indecision about your course of action during those times when you are not even capable of tying your own shoe laces.  No need to decide when you are in the midst of a storm as you would have already made that decision when you were sane enough to so.

Trading during times of illness, stress or emotional periods is a recipe for financial disaster.   You may think you’re ok to Trade but you’ve got to be realistic about your ability to focus and your powers of concentration during periods of emotional pressure.  Have you ever tried Trading whilst you have a heavy head cold?  I have – it was one of my worst Trading days ever (luckily only paper) but it taught me that my foggy  stuffed up head was incapable of even objectively defining a daily trend, let alone counting pips and risk!  I soon realised it was best to sit in bed and sniff instead.  Much safer.

A number of weeks ago, after my first coaching session with my Trader Coach at Knowledge To Action, I created my first Trading Plan.  My plan tells me what I will do with my Forex Trades when I go on holiday or when I’m ill.  It also states what I will do when I am having a crisis.   My plan is to close out any active Trades and then not Trade until I am back to “normal”.  Normal? no, that’s not possible… let’s just say my usual self.

I have not placed a Trade for the past 2.5 weeks.  I have barely looked at a Forex Trading Chart.  This week, I even postponed my precious private coaching session with Eve at Knowledge to Action.  Firstly, I was on holiday in Margaret River in Western Australia.  Trading was the last thing on my mind as my partner and I floated in and out of the many wonderful wineries and viewed the incredible beautiful surroundings.  Vasse Felix was on my mind, not the Euro. 

Not long after my return from the West, my father was admitted to hospital.  He’s been in there over a week now and I visit him every day after work.  I don’t know when he can go home.  Instead of coming home and firing up my Charting Platform as I normally do, I just followed what  my  Trading Plan states I will do whenever I feel extra blonde -  and that is just to sit out of the Forex Markets.

I don’t feel I am missing out.  The Forex Market will still be there when I’m back on board.