Do you dive into your trading day, or do you cautiously dip your toes in?
The first trade of each trading day often sets the tone for the rest of the trading day and can be a window into the type of trader you are psychologically.
The first trade of the day can be a unique experience and is often distinguishable from all other trades made. It may be that your first trade of the day performs better than average, or it could be a weakness.
You can try to identify if you have a strength or weakness in your trading using the Performance Analytics platform inside your FOREX/City Index trading account.
First Trade of the Day is a Weakness:
Your first trade of the day might be a weakness. This trade is underperforming compared to your average trades.
If this is you, you need to examine your emotions when you are about to start trading. A trader who can’t wait to jump into the markets and tends to place a trade as soon as they start trading, is often motivated by emotions of greed, and unfortunately these trades often underperform.
If your first trade typically underperforms and you have identified this as a weakness then you may want to consider a smaller size trade for your first trade until you identify what you need to change to improve.
First Trade of the Day is a Strength:
Alternatively, if your first trade of the day outperforms your average trade, and you have identified this as a strength, you may want to try to identify what the factors are contributing to this strength.
What do you do when this happens?
Look at the emotions occurring when the first trade of the day is placed. Often, traders who do not feel anxious and rushed to make a trade, but rather are patient and wait for a well-reasoned trading opportunity, make decisions based on proper market research and analysis. These traders often achieve better results in their trading choices. They often spend enough time researching and getting ready; feeling prepared helps ease their mental worries.
These traders often display above average performance in their first trades.
If your first trade is a strength, then this is something you can capitalize on. Ask yourself what you are doing to prepare for this trade. Is it simply the markets, or markets or is your level of discipline higher than at other times. Try to copy this behavior for the rest of the day to obtain better results.
To summarize:
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Identify the emotions behind why you are trading. For your first trade of the day, are you feeling apprehensive, or greedy?
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If you have a weakness in first trade of the day, consider a smaller size trades smaller size trade to minimize your losses.
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If you have a strength in first trade of day, study what you are doing around that, and try to replicate it throughout the day.
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Tbh, I don’t really think much about the first trade of the day/ week. 