Taking Time Off & Trading During Vacations

http://oneminutetrader.tv/2017/08/22/taking-time-off-…during-vacations/

This is the transcribed version of the podcast linked above ^^^

This is a MAILBAG Podcast, these will be listener questions that are sent to us via email and are answered by Matt here on the Podcast. They are also available to our Five Minute Video subscribers immediately after we make them in video form. In this episode of MAILBAG Matt answers questions regarding taking time off and trading during a busy vacation.

MATT: [00:00:00] Matt here from the One Minute Trader we’re going to be releasing, sporadically, our listener mailbag. What I mean by that is we get a lot of e-mails and you by the way you can send those also to me directly to mattt@oneminutetrader.tv lot of these e-mails ask the same questions that we hear from clients over and over again so we’ve put together a series that we’re going to call one minute trader listener requests and we’re going to answer questions during these sessions and we hope you like them. Thanks for listening to the One Minute Trader podcast and as always keep your questions coming. I’m Matt Davio and this is the One Minute Trader podcast.

BRINT: [00:01:11] So my wife and I are going to be traveling to Europe during august for about a month, I mean do you take vacations? How do you trade and do family time and vacations? How do you work that out?

MATT: [00:01:25] It’s a good question. It’s a really good question and it’s one that you have to think through a little bit because no markets are the same all the time. In other words, December typically is a slow month. Really from Thanksgiving through January. August is typically a very slow month. Outside of that you’ve got 10 very busy months so you basically have. From mid January through July when earnings end July earnings ends the second quarter, For most companies. July is a very busy month. So if you have to choose a summertime vacation I always suggest. August over July over June. Okay. The other thing is where are you traveling for vacation. Do you have Wi-Fi? Do you have internet? Are you going to be able to trade in Hawaii at 2 a.m. when the market opens? Would you like to do that? If not then take it off. It’s available, however, for you to behave and exist in a February market but you might lose a little bit of sleep. So it really depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. When in Europe I’ve never spent long periods of time in Europe. I’ve always wanted to. And here’s why: In Europe I could basically have my full day of touring around. Wherever it may be, again different time zones from, UK over to Russia. Let’s say, right, there’s different time zones across the whole wide area of Europe. So I need to know how late I want to start. But in the U.K. I’m basically going to start trading around eight o’clock local time p.m. That’s a good thing because I can spend a whole day. Tuck the kids in or send them off after dinner, watch a movie, and I can actually work. Now do I want to? That’s the question. Now the great thing about markets is if they’re busy and you’ve really planned this vacation. Well you have to go on vacation. You need to you got to get away from the screens and maybe you just don’t trade. That’s an option or it’s an area where the time zones work in your favor. Again Hawaii or Europe you can still trade and not miss a beat. You’re just going to miss a little bit of sleep and maybe some downtime. So I recommend always getting away from the screens. And I try to do that daily by the way.

BRINT: [00:04:02] Yeah how do just click that off button?

MATT: [00:04:06] As a rule. I know in my head that I have a swath of time every day from 9 to 11 a.m. (PST) that not much is happening. And with today’s world I’ve always been a screen trader so I’ve never traded on the floor. I’ve been on the floors, but I’ve never traded for a living on the floors so I never had to do that every day. So I have to be anywhere and nowhere, I’ve never had to be anywhere to trade. However, where I have an advantage today is my cell phone, my iPads long as they have chargers and access to power. These things can tell me what’s going on as long as I have access to internet. Now, if I’m up in Oregon where I live and I’m up in the mountains hiking I’m not going to have access to the internet. Either I leave my orders in and go, there’s another way to trade or I don’t trade. So it really comes down to your experience level and what you expect when you’re on vacation. I totally think you need at least check out two to four weeks. But I also know. That there are certain times of the year that are really slow and usually by 8:00 or 9:00 from December 10th until January 10th. I know that the markets are going to be slow in the afternoon because people are vacationing. It’s funny, Americans act like we don’t take vacations and we work hard but we do the same thing that Europeans do in the sense that “hey around the holidays we’re going to go to our parties we’re going to get together with our family. We’re all working but we’re taking time off”. The great thing about markets is you can put orders and leave them there. And still make money as long as you’re comfortable and good enough to know that your system works and your orders are going to be taken. Now having mobile devices changes everything. When I first started trading I’ve always been an up stairs trader, trading on a computer. I Still 90–95 percent of my trades were phoned in. I can’t tell you the last time I phoned somebody or any of my brokers. Except if I had a discrepancy in the trades or a missing a trade. Even that rarely happens. The flexibility is there that you’re able to trade whatever market you are in where you are. But let’s say I go to Europe and I decide I want to trade the European markets in the open and then spend the afternoon with my family. I can change because I know that the way that trade doesn’t matter what market I trade it won’t work for the DAX, just as well as it works for the S&P 500. So it doesn’t matter, I can switch vehicle like that. And still get when I out of there in a short period of time because, again, we have an open, we have a close, everything in between is kind of chop suey lunch. Everybody is kind of standing in a circle shooting each other. I don’t need to be around for that. So I’ve learned that’s the time that I go work out, that I go from 9 to 11. I go play squash, I go for hour and a half walk, get away from the screens refresh, rejuice, rejuvenate because you have to. Just like every job. I am my best, and you’ll know this about yourself, I can’t tell you. I am my best in the morning. One of the reasons why I wanted to move out west was I love five o’clock to 9:00 a.m. That is my most productive time of the day. That happens to match up very nicely with the U.S. opens. My next best time of the day is after that 9 to 11, is from 11 to 2, or 3. I am very productive after lunch for the U.S. markets. So on the West Coast that means it’s 11 to 1:30 here is when I’m operating so it works extremely well. I know that that’s like the natural biorhythm of U.S. markets. I know that Wednesdays are the EIA. I know when the crop reports are. I know to avoid trying to guess what the market’s going to do in those days. I wait till the news comes out, why step in front of a news release that everybody knows is coming but nobody knows what’s going to happen in that newsroom. So it’s really important that you take vacations step away from the markets and take time off. It doesn’t matter. I know a lot a lot of traders can do do their job, and quite frankly, a lot of people can make their money in the first quarter of the year take the rest of the year off. If they’re comfortable doing that. I’d be bored. I couldn’t do it all the time. Take time off. I really think you’d have to structure it every day. Were you planning on taking it off if the market’s doing it’s normal thing you can leave. Get away from the screen go have lunch, go have breakfast with friends, go take your kids to a doctor appointment, go pick up your car at the dealership, go pick up your laundry. There’s a ton of things you can do and still have that time after the market’s closed to spend time with your family. As always here at the five minute trader we welcome all of your questions send us an e-mail anything that you’re thinking about that we haven’t touched upon may be coming in a video. Believe me we’ve heard many many questions. But please keep them coming. I don’t care how silly, stupid, dumb you think it is, send it to me. I’d love to answer your question. And as always if you’d like to spend an hour with us click on the button on the Web site. ( oneminutetrader.tv ) If you want to spend a day. We have that offering also. I’m not going to hard sell you, you’ll know when you’re ready to make that move. In the meantime, keep busting it out there, keep grinding. Training is fun. Have fun with it. Make it simple. Make it your own. And have a great day. Peace.

MATT: [00:09:50] The One Minute Trader was developed to bring you fresh trade ideas every day of every trading week. Make sure you go sign up for our invaluable One Minute Trader daily e-mails along with our five minute video emails to get timely insights into evolving trade possibilities. Let one minute trader be your second set of eyes for trade opportunities that may have passed you by. We appreciate your listening today to the podcast and we hope you’ll support the show by leaving us a positive rating on whichever platform you’re tuning in from. I’m Matt Davio and this is the One Minute Trader podcast.