The #1 Mistake Swing Traders Make in the Forex Market // Ep. 87

In This Episode

• How to setup a trading routine
• FollowUpThen
• What traders tend to think when they check the charts more often than they should

The Swing Trading Mistake to Avoid

A listener wrote in and asked how to stop checking the charts all the time when swing trading. Doing this can be detrimental to your trading because it can lead to over-trading.

We share our best tips for overcoming this tendency and help you understand why you might be doing it.

Read the Transcript

Hugh:               Hi, Walter. Somebody wrote in and asked, “Can you guys speak about how being in front of the computer intraday as a swing trader can be sabotaging?”

Walter:            How is being in front of the computer intraday?

Hugh:               I guess, they are in front of the computer for quite a while during the day but they are swing traders.

Walter:            So, I guess it sounds like they are kind of getting into the trade. So basically, they should not be fiddling with the trade but they are sort of thing. Is that how you interpret that?

Hugh:           Yes.

Walter:            I had that too when I first had the smartphone like when smartphones came out before iPhones. I had a smartphone and it was the same thing. I put the MT4 on it and I was always looking at it, that was stupid. I mean, that was definitely the case.

It really comes down to discipline sort of thing. It could also be, a similar question will be like I was spending too much time in front of the screen. I guess it is sort of the same thing. If you are a swing trader and you are trading a four-hour chart, there is really no reason to be watching the charts eight hours a day. You can check in every four hours essentially, in theory.

The problem is the candles change. So, for example, I have been trading the twelve-hour chart lately and so I look at the twelve-hour chart during Asia and I go, “Oh, crap! It is going against me.” And then London comes around and the candle kind of closes and completely goes the other way. It goes in my direction, you know.

It has been happening for the last couple of days with my trades. The problem is, you think the candle that you see right now is going to be the candle that prints on the chart. It is never the case. It always changes towards the end.

It does not matter if you are looking at a five-minute candle or one-hour or a daily, at the end of the candle, it always changes quite a bit. Something for you to check out for yourself. So, discipline is really the solution here.

What you need to do is set up a routine. So, you walk the dog at a certain time or whatever. You go to work and have lunch. Check your charts after lunch time if you are at work or whatever. You need to have a process. A routine to go.

This is why those military people do so well with scalping and stuff like that. Or, athletes that have trained for years and years because what happens is they can easily slot in a routine of waking up at this time, check my chart at this time. I am going in a trade at this time and that is what you really need.

Even if you are a swing trader. Even if you are not scalping for three and a half hours a day. If you are a swing trader, you just need to set up a routine on when you are going to check your chart. You can set alarms in your phone or send an email reminder to yourself. Anyone can send an email reminders by sending an email to at FollowUpThen.

So, if you want to remind yourself to do something on a certain day or time, you can just send it you know, tomorrow at FollowUpThen. Put the headline on the email. It will come right back at you. So, these sorts of things are all there for you.

You can set alarms on your chart even. You can do whatever you want. The idea here is you need to set up your day in a regimented way so that you have a process that you go through every single day and that allows you to, “Now is the time to check my charts.” I cannot check my charts until it prints.

If I am a four-hour chart trader, I cannot make a decision on these until that four-hour candle prints at two o’clock. When is the next one? Okay, it’s at six o’clock. The next one at ten o’clock, that is it. That is the way to do it.

If you cannot be there right when the candle prints then you have a schedule based on an hour after it closes or whatever. For example, you might not get off of work in time to check the four-hour chart and you are busy with the work stuff. So, you have to do it an hour after it closes.

You can find that. You can make that work. It does not matter what kind of life you have. If it is too hard then you are trading the wrong time frame. Move to an eight-hour chart or whatever.

Hugh:           Totally.

Walter:            That is what I will do.

Hugh:               At least my psychology behind that was that I was trying to become successful faster and I thought that looking at the charts would speed that up. So, I think that if you realize that that is what you are thinking also then you have to understand that that does not work. You just have to like you said, look at the chart when you should and not look at the chart when you are not.

Walter:            If you want to get better faster like you said, I know people who tend to say things like, “Oh, back testing is a wasted time.” You will get a lot more under your belt if you spend time back testing in the last three years than if you watched the last three hours.

So, in that amount of time of sitting there watching this candle to just do this, you could have taken thirty trades. You could have taken thirty trades in Forex Tester or some simulator so that you have those experiences under your belt. So, to me that is a better use of time.

Hugh:               Totally. Thanks Walter.

Walter:            Thank you!

Hugh:               All the information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not trading or investment advice.

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