Having planned to start the new prop challenge this week I find myself still sharpening the axe while preparing for going all in and trying to make a fast and impactful start.
A final further excuse has arisen, and that is an unusual heatwave of 37 degrees celsius appearing in the country on Monday. This shouldn’t really be a show-stopper, except my office space is designed to insulate and not clear away the heat. I only have windows and doors on one side and so when it gets mildly warm, high 20’s max, I can usually direct air out of the door with a fan, which draws it in through the window in front of me. However at 37 degrees I’m not sure I stand much chance except with maybe some water evaporation or cooling strategies.
This could be an interesting week coming up though, with rate announcements and further risk off behaviour inflating the dollar, and if a trend did start to develop on the majors I would be remiss to ignore it. If I had a live account however I would be trading all conditions, regardless of weather or dollar strength, but because this is a challenge and I want to optimise for success, I feel like I should wait for the right moment to make a start.
Another solution to the heat issue might be to trade earlier in the day before the heat has a chance to take hold and be out by lunchtime before the US market open. This has worked for me in the past when conditions were right but there’s no guarantee that this Monday or Tuesday will be good.
I am still hopeful however that the liquidity zone trading indicator is performing well, even in tight ranges and so there is an argument for just starting and averaging out the conditions over the next few weeks, bearing in mind that the kids are off school soon. The morning trading technique could actually work better in that case too, given that I won’t be having to do the school run and the kids might even stay in bed for once if we’re lucky.
I will take a look this afternoon at further improvements, tightening and formalising of the strategy, creating a checklist and formal plan that includes everything that has come up of interest and use over the last month of challenge trading. I have always liked the use of checklists and that has been reinforced by certain books and literature on productivity and consistency, highlighting their use in Japanese rail networks, airports, hospitals and all manner of other critical systems. Not every point will have to be hit but at least considered and this will include a clear-head check at the start of each trade and session. If I’m not in the right headspace then I stand to do more damage than good, so it would be better to sit out or at least acknowledge the issue. I want to put as many barriers in front of me against my own stupidity!
Here’s to the last preparations before starting again.