Unpacking Instead of Trading

• Posted by Greg Harmon
• on May 28th, 2014

Yesterday was the fourth day of unpacking for me after a move across town. I am exhausted all over and the unseasonably warm and sticky weather in NorthEast Ohio is not helping either. I figured that this week following Memorial Day would be a bit light for trading when we planned the move. Who knew the next leg higher was about to begin (or false break out for all you bears – by the way you must be more exhausted than me). I spent Tuesday morning with the cable guys at Woway! (they did a bang up job) and watched the market from my smartphone. Nothing really to do. In fact about 15 minutes into the regular trading I posted the picture above to my Instagram feed with the caption. “Market continues higher but instead of trading I’m prepping to load crystal into China cabinet……”. I am sure that many assumed I was not trading because of the move or dealing with the cable guys. It would have been hard to trade off of my phone with no internet for other devices. But in fact at 9:45am any given day I am not trading as a rule.

Through a trial and error process I have learned over the years that technical set ups that trigger in the first 30 minutes of trading seem to have a higher likelihood of failing. So I wait. For 30 minutes and on Monday (or after a long weekend) for 45 minutes. I am sure that some behavioral psychologist has done a study on this effect, but for me it just seems logical. From the close to the next open is when most investors and traders get their news. It is a lot of hours. And over the weekend, wow, that pent up demand for action can get really big. So I just avoid it.

Sure I miss some set ups for trades that trigger and never fall back. I understand that is part of the process. The two exceptions for me are that I will take profits in that first 30 minutes, and if a stock has triggered earlier in the week and pulled back to re-trigger I will consider trading it early. But with the market looking bullish there is really no reason to take profits early in the day. So I wait, and unpack the China. Maybe today it will be placing the painting and prints on the wall.

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