Ten Productive Things Traders Should Focus on Before the Opening Bell

 

I’m a big fan of famous author and former professional trader James Altucher. James is a huge advocate of creating lists upon lists in order to brainstorm your way to productive and profitable ideas. He also uses these methods in an effort to focus and prioritize thoughts that otherwise may have never developed.

 

 

 

Using these tactics, I wanted to create a list of everything that I should be doing, “before the bell” during my morning routine. This list acts as a reminder on how to best prepare myself mentally  to have a profitable trading day. It should also center my attention on growth as a trader and more importantly, preparing for the trading day that lies ahead. I wanted to post my list and hopefully get feedback from the other traders in the SharePlanner community. I’d love to hear any additional pre- market analysis tools, scans, and mental exercises utilized by fellow traders. I hope you all enjoy the list provided and that it will  help to put your own trading routine in perspective.

 

 

 

1.   Read a trading book! I’m fairly consistent with this one, as I am always reading a book on trading strategies, market psychology, or success stories. I feel this enhances my trading IQ along with creating motivation for the day ahead. I prefer to read at the earliest possible hour of the day, usually between 5 and 6 AM.

 

2.   World Markets- I take a quick look on Google finance to see how markets overseas did. I need to make sure there is not a staggering price change across the Majors.

 

3.   News- This is broad but I need a pulse of what news is strictly affecting our market. My goal is to weed out the BS headlines and churn through PR’s found on the major news sites to gauge the severity of the announcement.

 

4.   Data Calendar- It’s very important for me to check my data calendar. I want to know any and all macro data announcements dealing with sentiment, Consumer Confidence, employment, the Fed, political announcements etc. This could affect an intra-day trade so it’s very important that I know the exact timing and potential impact of the news.

 

5.   Twitter pulse- I like to have an idea of what’s trending on twitter. I need to find out information that my scans and filters might not pick up. At times, it can be a measure of market sentiment but it also acts as caution tape to see what direction the “dumb money” and “pump and dump” sites are trending towards that day.

 

6.   Broker and Charting software up and running- I need to prepare these windows well in advance of the opening bell. I’ll double check positions on my broker screen and prepare my charting software to start adding stocks and creating watchlists.

 

7.   SPY Read- I use my own trend lines, MA’s along with Funi Haz’s Analysis on the SharePlanner network for guidance of overall market direction. With an overall market bias, I’m able to gain an advantage on intra-day trading.

 

8.   “Go-To” Stocks- The primary things I’m looking for when searching for intra-day stocks to trade are news specific gap stocks.   Most of these have some pre-market volume and I’ll add each to the gap up and gap down lists. I also make sure my general watchlist Is updated with support and resistance levels.

 

9.   Check my sources- I have only a few that I care enough to ask what’s hot in the market today. I’ll drop a couple Skype messages and emails to my preferred list of traders. It’s important to check if I missed any important levels and information needed for the day.

 

10.   Words of Wisdom- Just before I go live I take a couple deep breaths, focus, and remember some key points that I jot down to focus on. It’s game time and I’m the star player!