Post Mortem

We've discussed pre-trading prep but I haven't talked much about what I do after my trading is over for the day. Yes, a nice glass of wine but there's still work to do.

First thing I do is "check out". This is an old floor habit where I check that I am flat. On the floor it also included checking with my clerk that all my trades had "matched" with my counter parties in the LIFFE computer. No out trades!

Off floor, there's a bit more to do. I go through most of my trades to see how I performed. Did i stick to my TP? Did I enter and exit where I should have? Again, for the most part, I isolate off piste trades and tell myself not to do them. I do a review of my thinking, my pre-trade vision and any adjustments.

And finally, I make marks on my chart for anything i want to make sure I remember the next trading day. Things I saw or thought while I was trading.

Before my first glass of wine I also run any backtesting I need to do. If I had a new idea, I test it.

These things become a habit but consume hours every day. There's no free lunch. "The harder I work the luckier I get".