Daily Schedule - January 2012

Daily structure is critical to keep you focused on your immediate and long-term goals.  Just like every trader should construct a detailed trading plan, traders should also construct a daily plan that makes the best use of their time and helps direct their energy and efforts.  Below is my current daily schedule that will be updated as necessary:

• 6:00am - Wake up
• 6:00-6:15am - Check futures, setup market replay for the morning session
• 6:15-6:30am - Read trading blogs
• 6:30-7:00am - Blog post morning thoughts 
• 7:00-7:30am -  Shower, dress, eat breakfast
• 7:30-7:45am - Check important news items
• 7:45-8:30am - Commute to work
• 8:30am - Begin work for the day and follow SPY and IWM activity
• 10:00am - End market replay recording of morning session
• 12:00-1:00pm - Lunch, read trading books, blog post intraday thoughts
• 3:30pm - Update market breadth indicators
• 4:30-5:15pm - Commute home
• 5:15-5:45pm - Document trading strategy results, post Market Breadth Report
• 5:45-7:00pm - Evening workout
• 7:00-8:00pm - Shower, dress, eat dinner
• 8:00-10:00pm - Sim trade the morning session with market replay, research new indicators, research new trading strategies, read trading books, blog post evening thoughts
• 10:15-10:45pm - Go to sleep

Throughout the day, I monitor the behavior of the market using FreeStockCharts.com.  I follow the intraday performance  of IWM and SPY, noting volume and technical patterns.  I have set up a watchlist to track the intraday performance of several markets including DIA, EFA, EUR/USD, GLD, IWM, OIL, QQQQ, SPY, TLT, VIX--X.  I monitor each of these for daily percent change, volume buzz, and their relationship to their 5, 10, 20, and 50 day moving average.  I will also monitor the number of stocks up or down 4% on the day as a gauge of market strength or weakness.

During lunch, I review any significant news items.  I also use my lunch time to read through any interesting trading blog posts and archive them if I believe the post can help me in the future.

In the evening, I create the Market Breadth Report to summarize the behavior of each industry and help me determine the overall health of the market.  I review and archive trading blog posts, then post a list of my daily trading thoughts on this blog.  I use the rest of the evening to research trading ideas or read trading books.