[TheNegotiator]

How do you mentally prepare yourself for the day? Do you exercise? Go for a run maybe or beat the c*&% out a punchbag to release aggression? Do you try to relax and calm yourself? Meditate or listen to some chilled out mp3? Or do you believe that the routine of preparation for the day such as checking overnight and re-evaluating levels etc. is enough to set your mid on the right track? Of course everyone is different in what works for them. Some won't have ever considered this as necessary. But sharing some of your ideas would be great!

[TheNegotiator]

Personally, this is how my pre-trade goes(at the moment anyway).

1- Get up and get a cup of tea. I need the rehydration in the morning probably more than the caffeine so perhaps I need to consider changing this one.

2- Check the website and the stats and my emails. See if I need to do some moderating or can reply intelligently to anyone(don't laugh!!).

3- I check the overnight markets, check the technicals and check the news/events/releases for the day. I do the last two this way round as I don't want to have the later bias my market analysis.

4- I do 10-15 mins of fairly strenuous exercise. I want to really push but not so much so that I am tired afterwards.

5- The exercise prepares me for my next step. I sit quietly for 20-30 mins and meditate on my thoughts about the markets and myself and my prior thoughts about the market. The exercise puts me in the best state to be able to contemplate these ideas.

6- I eat something basic and filling but also not too heavy. I really don't get on very well with having a big stodgy lunch prior to trading.

7- I calmly monitor the market pre-open.

Of course it doesn't always happen like this but I am generally quite good in maintaining the routine.

[TimRacette]

I thought it'd be interesting to share our daily trading rituals and routines, here's mine. I posted my full daily schedule on that blog section of my profile.

2:00 AM Begin trading at the Euro Open

The first thing I do when I wake up (after grabbing some juice and toast) is to see what Germany did in the hour leading up to the European open. Typically the European session will do the opposite of what Germany did. I’ve found this holds true on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday mornings (the meat of the week). Monday and Friday are typically less participation days.

Since it is slow and quiet during the wee hours of the morning I will throw on an audio book or some podcasts to listen to. I find that I am the most productive during this time so I will occasionally work on a blog post or other project if I am waiting for a level to set up it is especially slow (such as right now!)

(I begin Euro open trading on Tuesday morning as Monday is usually uneventful and slow).

5:15 AM Back to sleep for 90-mins

If the Euro session is really slow and I haven’t had any trades by 3:30 I will go back to sleep at 3:45. I try and get to sleep by these two times because it allows me to complete a full one or two sleep cycles by the time I wake up next for NYSE open trading

6:45 AM NYSE open trading begins

I call this NYSE open even though the cash session doesn’t open until 8:30. This starts the main part of my day. I usually feel refreshed and away both times I wake up. After taking my resting heart rate I throw on some clothes, grab a yogurt and some orange juice and hit the office. (Oh yeah, forgot to mention that my office is down the hall from my sleeping quarters, a nice feature to say the least).

I review what has happened since the Euro open and take a quick glance at Reuter’s news headlines. Then I pull up my daily notes and fill out the day’s numbers. I read over my trading rules (again to engrain them into my subconscious), by now this has just become habit, and the trading beings, (or resumes).

(I don’t trade the ES during the first 30-mins because it is erratic as market orders hit the tape).

I have been signing into DH’s room for about a year now. I enjoy chatting and interacting with other traders during the day and DH always has some good comments (and jokes every now and again). Mostly I use the trading room as background noise (over the other background noise of the trading pit).

10:30 AM Lunch Time

This is more of brunch as I will make eggs or some sort of sandwich. I always eat at this time because I found that over the years I almost never had a winning trade on the ES from 10:30-11:00. This is also the Euro close so I like to let things settle out. It’s not worth my time to trade this time frame. If everyone else is at lunch, I should be to.

11:00 AM The home stretch

If Euro has been technical all day I continue trading it until 12:30. I also look for a full trading hour’s only halfway back setup on the ES around 11:45-12:30. This is usually the only setup I will take after 10:30 on the ES, else another larger 15-min setup. I stay away from the micro time frames as most of the time this the slowest and choppiest time of the day.

12:30 End Trading for the day