Preparation H

Now that you are here reading this, I am sure you are wondering just what on earth a tube of cream has to do with stock trading. You can relax now and loosen those butt cheeks.

Let's talk about Preparation and the H? Well that is Hard Work. Two things that are required to improve your chances of success in stock trading (heck, in anything you do). Hopefully each of you have a good solid approach to getting prepared each day you trade. For me, I have a very structured routine:

• I go through my Trading Journal for the whole week. Yes, I review the entire week - no matter what day of the week it is. This helps me get into the flow of any trades that still in play.
• I then review my Stalk Lists and will do some basic review of news events that may impact stocks on my lists. I will also look for any stocks that have made unusual moves in after hours or pre market.
• I will review briefly the indexes and futures, but really do focus on individual stocks for the most part.
• I then review current trades and where I am with each trade. Often I have a trade that is carried overnight so I may need to act on it pre market. Today for example I was reviewing an open trade in WFMI that I held a partial of overnight.
• One final thing I do is get caught up on any reading that I want to review before the market opens.

As for the H for hard work, this is what my process outlined above really is. It is hard to go through this routine each day. It is hard to be thorough and keep your trading plan up to date. It is especially hard to look at the pre market and see a lot of RED when you have 10 great Long setups! LoL

All kidding aside, remember this old adage: "You get out of life what you put into it". Be prepared and work hard - I would expect you to see better results in whatever you do.