LIVE YOUR LIFE

                              Why are you trading? Are you trying to fulfill a lifelong desire to wake up at
3:00 A.M. and stare at currency charts for 10 hours a day? I didn’t think so.
Unfortunately, I continue to meet traders who remain glued to their charts
for more than 10 hours a day! Ironically, for many of these traders their
effort doesn’t translate into additional profits. I don’t know your interest in
trading, but whatever the reason you trade, never forget that there is more
to life than trading!

                                        Currency trading isn’t like other businesses. You can’t advertise your
way to more sales or work your way to greater levels of success. The market
doesn’t care whether you spent 10 minutes or 10 hours planning a trade;
it won’t reward you for the extra time. Trading doesn’t require 70 hours a
week. If you want to work that hard, perhaps you should consider becoming
a doctor, a lawyer, or a chief executive officer. The market will only
offer a good trade when it is ready, you can’t force a good trade with more
time in front of the charts.
                                       “Live your life” is the first principle of a bargain hunter because I want
you to enjoy the road to becoming a professional trader. The longer you
spend staring at a chart, the more likely you are to burn out or take a
trade out of boredom. I’ve seen many traders struggle to maintain a healthy
work/life balance when it comes to trading. Perhaps it is the global 24-hour
nature of the market. Perhaps it is the emphasis on day trading that lures
traders into thinking they must be engaged at all hours of the day. Whatever
the reason, I’m here to tell you it doesn’t take 10 hours a day to earn a
healthy return trading.
                                            Your mind needs time to recharge, and your desk chair needs time to
reshape after you have sat in it for several hours. Additionally, your spouse
or family and friends are going to grow tired of being abandoned in favor
of the market. Take a break, go watch the sunset, fly a kite, or call your
mom. Do something other than try to make another buck in the market.
I understand the desire to become a successful trader is strong, but you
can’t create a trading opportunity simply because you want to trade, and
you shouldn’t abandon your life, loved ones, or hobbies in the meantime.
The majority of trading strategies in this book focus on trading with
daily charts or longer time frames. These strategies can be executed in
less than a couple of hours a night. I personally spend about an hour anda half every night planning and managing my trades. If you’re spending
                                  more than two hours a night with the market, I suggest you make a couple
of changes. First, reduce the number of currency pairs you’re monitoring.
Second, trade longer timeframes using the price action strategies taught in
this book. Quit chasing the market around on a 15-minute chart. Learn to
trade on longer timeframes and you’ll learn to let the market do the work
for you. This might sound absurd to some of you, but this principle is first
for a reason. I continue to see traders working themselves to death for no
measurable gain. I suspect some of you reading this know exactly what I’m
talking about. Slow down, trade longer timeframes, and live your life.