Full-Time Trading: Learn to Stay Away from Useless Market Information

Recently, the weather has been turbulent, and I'm not sure if it's due to changes in air pressure or simply because I've been using the air conditioning too much, but I've been suffering from headaches these past couple of days. After staying at home for two days, it's time to go out and get some activity.

During trading days, when I go out, I usually check the market situation on my phone every 30 minutes. If I see a potential trading opportunity brewing, I will find a nearby café to sit down and carefully watch the market for a while, waiting for the moment when it completely aligns with my trading strategy.

If the market is calm, I will wander around the streets or go to the gym to lift weights. More often than not, after finishing my trades in the morning, I will play some basketball, which is a form of self-discipline.

When it's mealtime, I will call up my office worker friends to have a meal together—this is probably the daily rhythm of a full-time trader.

During the trading hours, the actual time that can provide trading value is quite limited, possibly accounting for less than 10% of the entire market, while most market movements are far from our trading strategies—either completely uneventful or in chaotic oscillations, and these situations fall outside of my analysis scope.

Whenever the market is in such a chaotic state, we can actually give up monitoring the market and do other meaningful things. Staying away from useless market information and learning to maintain an appropriate distance from the market can help traders maintain a good trading mindset.

It’s important to know that the shorter your monitoring time, the less market temptation you encounter, and the fewer chances there are for overthinking, which makes it less likely to make mistakes—so for traders whose mindset is not yet mature, consciously learning to stay away from those useless market information (markets unrelated to trading strategies) is an effective means to maintain a healthy mindset.

In my view, full-time trading is less of a job and more of a lifestyle. It does not exist as an opposite to life like other jobs do; trading intertwines with your daily life in a wonderful way. Compared to colleagues, it feels more like having a roommate.

Maintaining a good sense of distance from the market is extremely important for traders.