Daily Routine For Traders

Do you track your daily steps?

Do you pay attention to your P&L in your trading account?

Do you keep track of calories and macronutrients?

I know you are on the road to being a successful trader (or you already are), but are you tracking what needs to be tracked to be successful?

It all started with a standard morning routine. It's actually quite luxurious having a morning routine, that you can look forward to every day.

Start the day fresh, doing only the things that get you in your ideal state.

For me, my morning routine is what sets up a successful trading day.

And by successful I don't mean that I made money that day.

A successful trading day for me means that I followed my trading plan with perfect success.

I didn't take trades that I had "feelings" about, I only took trades that are part of my system.

I didn't take randomly sized positions, I took the exact position size my system told me to take.

I didn't accidentally enter a limit order instead of a stop order.

I didn't miss a trade because I was too busy scrolling my feed.

To ensure that I run my system with perfection, I set myself up with a morning routine that keeps me operating at ideal levels.

Here's my current routine...

My day begins around 4AM. No alarm, my body naturally wakes me up. It isn't always that early, sometimes it's 4:30, occasionally I even get up at 5:30, but I also get to sleep by 8PM.

Sleep is so important and I don't need to be awake the earliest, I have plenty of time before I need to be trading.

That's by design.

My trading day doesn't actually happen until hours after the market open, if I'm day trading, which isn't everyday.

And my swing trades don't happen until after the market closes.

Shocking I know!

First things first, water and supplements. I won't get into my supplements on this one, maybe in the future.

Next, deep breathing and meditation.

Since it's usually still dark outside, I turn the lights on and spend some time reading while I'm waiting for my son to wake up, with a cup or three of coffee.

He usually wakes up between 6 and 7AM, so I have plenty of time to read. I'm usually reading a long form article, some research on a thread I want to pull on, or if I'm knee deep in a book, that works too.

I always have a Notion doc up on my phone/tablet/laptop in case I get any ideas. I've become a fanatical note taker.

This has made my writing so much easier, I always have an idea to write about or a subject to research.

When my son wakes up, we hang out on the couch and giggle at cartoons or line up the numerous trucks he has collected in his short two years.

My wife takes over soon after and I continue.

To the gym! Our gym is in our garage and back yard.

First workout of the day is either Zone 2 Cardio on the Versa-climber or Rebounder, or 30-45 minutes of Boxing/Kickboxing. Depends on the day.

If I'm fasting then I opt for water and hit the office, in home office.

If I'm not fasting that day, then it's a protein shake post workout.

By 8AM I'm at my standup desk getting prepared for the livestream.

At 8:30AM we go live in the Trading Lab.

We have a very specific format, a routine, of how we blast through a universe of about 100 Currencies, Futures, Commodities, Cryptos and Equities each day with precision.

By the time we are done reviewing all 100, or so, assets, we have a watch list.

1 hour after the market closes, we review that watchlist and put on our trades.

It's very tactical, precise and effective.

After the review, we take a look at anything else interesting going on in the markets.

There's plenty of Q&A, and sometimes I teach some courses as well.

By 10AM we are done with the livestream and communicate the rest of the day in Slack.

Next up, gym time...again.

I've been doing the Kneesovertoesguy (ATG) for a year now, and I swear by it. My. ankles, knees, hips, shoulders, elbows, back and neck have never felt better. I'm bulletproof!

It usually only takes 30-45 minutes.

Lunch time.

I eat the same two meals for lunch which is basically High Protein, Medium Carb, Low Fat one day and High Fat, Medium Protein, Low Carb the next day.

Basically one day is a fiber/protein day, and the next is a keto day.

From 11AM to 1PM I do two focused 1 hour blocks of work.

At 1PM I hit the mountain trail near our house for an hour run/hike.

At 2PM I'm back in front of my screen, going through the watch list of potential trades I reviewed with the team earlier that morning.

I share out the trades I'm taking that day in the Slack channel. That all takes about 15 minutes.

That 15 minute window, literally is my trading day (except on days I day trade).

The remaining 45 minutes will be used to do a manual backtest of my system or a new system I'm working on.

For the next few hours, again, I'm doing focused work in 1 hour blocks, such as writing, research or podcast interviews

At 5PM I'm done and it's family time AKA dinner time.

Again I do a Fiber/Protein meal or a Keto type meal.

This is how I'm able to stay consistent with my trading and with my results.

Consistency allows me to track results on what I'm targeting.

If I'm not getting the results I want, I need to change the habits that I'm doing consistently.

My routine is structured around the habits that are in place to meet my goals.

Over the years, when I haven't followed a routine like this, I find myself taking on too many new projects or trading too much.

No focus.

This is the exact routine that I have to make 2R-5R per week, stay in great shape, get good sleep and keep feeding my desire to learn.

Notice that there's no doom scrolling of news feeds, CNBC/Bloomberg/Fox Business, I'm not getting caught up in the current thing.

My focus is longevity in this game, my biggest edge is trading my system for as many more years as I'm alive. If I had to rely on forever trying to out think the market to strive, then I'm stepping over dollars to pick up pennies.

What strategy are you using to earn your 2R to 5R this week?