Tuesday, February 12, 2008

My Daily Research Schedule

UPDATED: 02/12/08

When I first started trading, 9 years ago, I'd wake up at 5:30, and be in the city by 6:30 sitting in the atrium of the JP Morgan building reading the newspaper while eating my breakfast.

I didn't go into the office right away because I didn't want people to bother me.

I sat in the JP Morgan building because it made me feel more "Wall Streety."

Nowadays, I sleep until 8:00. Or, when I wake early, I piss a lot of time away on email or reading idiocy on stock market blogs.

Well, new year, new company, new market. It's time for me to take this job seriously again.

In December, I deserved to lose money because I wasn't working hard enough. If I lose money now, it's not going to be due to poor work ethic.

Some things I can't control but my work ethic is not one of them.

So here's what I'm doing. I'm going to make a strict schedule of research that I adhere to each day. It will help me focus.

However, the first thing I will do each day is to create a simple "Good Morning" blog post. This will put at least a little pressure on me to get in and get the post up each day. It would be shameful to admit to myself and my 3 readers that I lost money because I got to my desk at 9:24.

So here, is my new research schedule:

1. Morning post.
2. Read IBD Big Picture.
3. Read Bloomberg breaking news headlines.
4. Read Bloomberg "Stocks On The Move."
5. Check front page of NYTimes and WSJ.
6. Link-love post.
7. Morning stretches.
8. Breakfast and shower.
9. Watch Alphatrends daily "Stock Market Video Technical Review."
10. Read Briefing Live In Play from previous day's close.

Now for some graph work.

8. Check BigCharts' "big movers reports." Especially the largest % gain in volume.
9. Go through index graphs like SOX, XBD, XOI, etc.
10. Go through each stock on screen.
11. Write "one idea" post.

After all of that, (I figure it's 3.5 hours worth of work) I should have an excellent idea of the general tone of the day and what stocks could be moving.

If you have any other suggestions for research, please let me know via the comment section.

3 comments:

tapeworm said...

i was in the process of forwarding this post to prospectus...u know what #13 on the list would have been

even though u made some serious money today, i'm going to wait until u get back to your normal consistent self before i trash your good name

btw, u traded SUPER (with a lisp) today

D1 said...

hold onto your winners longer sell when the trend changes, my 2¢ that I'm pretty sure you asked for.

As for the trading mumbo, do you subscribe to briefing? They have a nice summary of gappers and droppers and why. Using that list I frequently find good (read as volatile, obvious trend) day trades.

maybe a peek at the ol' sector heat map?

My consultation fee for 5 mins is $85, your thanks not necessary.

Dinosaur Trader said...

thanks tapeworm,

Danny,

Yes, my office has a briefing subscription so I am a member of that "fine" service again. Were it my money, I wouldn't join out of principle because I think their customer service sucks.

See "the Fly" for your check.

-DT