I was that guy clicking through the charts aimlessly, missing all the big moves. It came down to the reality that I was failing to prepare for the week ahead properly.
Now this week is coming to a close, let's close the chapter on it, and prepare for next week.
1. Review last week
Start by looking at the past. On a Sunday the first thing I do is check current open positions (if any), then look at the closed positions.
- How did the trades play out? Is it what was expected or if I closed what happened next?
- How well did I keep to my gameplan?
- Were there any big changes in the markets?
The last thing we want to do here is beat ourselves up. It's about learning what went well, what we can do differently next time.
2. Look at the Data coming up
Let's now check out the big news stories coming for the week ahead, is there any other research we can do? Maybe some sentiment analysis.
This one is pretty straightforward and you probably already jump on an economic calendar everyday. How about diving a little deeper? What's the key data, how could it impact the market?
3. Identify opportunities
Arguably my favourite part, once we have gone through the process we can try to identify any opportunities, this is now the combination of those fundamentals with the technical.
Here I will mark up the key levels of the markets I am interested in and set some alerts.
Take your time
When I first did this process it took me anywhere between 1hr 30 minutes to 2 hours. Now it takes me around 30-45 minutes depending on what's gone on or happening.
Remember don't be too critical. We want to be confident about going into the next trading week, not feeling sorry for ourselves.