Best Practices for After Trading

There is no shortage of trading advice out there. Even on this website, we have articles and webinars about how to trade, when to trade, why to trade etc. Steve Wheeler has advice about something else, though – best practices for after trading.

Wheeler is a trader, coach and systems developer at NaviTrader. He recently joined the NinjaTrader Ecosystem for a live webinar event, “Six Things the Best Day Traders Do Differently”. In the event, he shared a list of his post-trading best practices, including ways to organize your thoughts, how to avoid after-hours mistakes and setting yourself up for the next trading day.

First, Wheeler says that you should update your daily trading log. Before you “clock out” for the day, it is important to make sure you have a thorough and accurate record of the day. What trades did you take; what trades did you skip; what worked; what didn’t? A trading log will help you evaluate the day and learn from your choices and their results. This will help you look at past actions you took and evaluate their performance. You complete your log immediately following the end of your trading day, so that the memories are fresh.

Once your log is complete, check for and cancel any open orders or positions. You don’t want an order to accidentally fill after hours when you aren’t paying attention and actively managing your trades. Similarly, Wheeler advises setting your system to “Global Simulation Mode” when you aren’t actively trading, as an additional security measure. When switching to sim mode, the NinjaTrader platform will alert you if you have any open positions, adding yet another safeguard.

Once all positions are closed and your platform is set to Global Simulation Mode, review your daily profit and loss. Did you achieve your goals? Why or why not? What could you have done differently? What would you do again the same way? Note these lessons down in your trading log or journal for use in the future.

Obviously, the act of trading is both risky and exciting – which means the trading day can become tiring! That’s why it is so important to have the diligence to complete these post-trading tasks, even when you don’t feel like it. An educated and aware trader is just that much closer to consistency than one who is disorganized and uncareful.

If you want to learn more about best practices for after trading, watch this short clip:

Also, be sure to check out Wheeler’s full-length webinar, as well as the many other archived events on our site. Want to attend future events live? You can find a list of upcoming events, as well our recent archives on our Free Trading Webinars page. If you are interested in receiving updates about upcoming events, you can sign up for a weekly email alert using the form at the bottom of this page. We’ll see you in the webinar room soon!