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Anyone managing sleep/work while trading the London Session from the US?


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Anyone managing sleep/work while trading the London Session from the US?

  #21 (permalink)
 minskee 
Sydney, Australia
 
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Neo1 View Post
I can relate- I trade US markets, and live in New Zealand( where the US market currently opens at 1:30am).

-Flux( anyone using a computer/ cell phone before they sleep should be using flux- google it)

Gl

I've had that flux thing for one day and it already feels better. Thanks!!!

Fish fry,

You ever thought about moving abroad to UK/Europe or Australia/Newzealand? That's one of the beauties of being able trade full time for a living. And also one of the beautiful things about the global alliance between western countries, Migrating with money to an English speaking country is cake. Pete Davies of Jigsaw lives in Thailand, life must be good with that sort of exchange rate.. haha

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  #22 (permalink)
 
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 fesx 
Georgia
 
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minskee View Post
I've had that flux thing for one day and it already feels better. Thanks!!!

Fish fry,

You ever thought about moving abroad to UK/Europe or Australia/Newzealand? That's one of the beauties of being able trade full time for a living. And also one of the beautiful things about the global alliance between western countries, Migrating with money to an English speaking country is cake. Pete Davies of Jigsaw lives in Thailand, life must be good with that sort of exchange rate.. haha

Hi @minskee,

I have thought often about trading from Thailand. Many great advantages, mostly being able to trade both the US and European markets and not having to worry about the topic of this thread "Sleep"!!!!!! The low cost of living is just as attractive too. But my biggest concerns after talking with several people is the reliability of internet connections and the loss of power. I start my mornings @ 4:30am and try to be finished by noon. Ideally it would be nice to start at the European open but have found it very difficult to do with lack of sleep caused by others in the house that take for granted when I have gone to bed at 7pm. Maybe someone should set up a "Trading Commune" during the week for traders so we can sleep when needed....

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  #23 (permalink)
 fishfry 
columbia south carolina/USA
 
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minskee View Post
I've had that flux thing for one day and it already feels better. Thanks!!!

Fish fry,

You ever thought about moving abroad to UK/Europe or Australia/Newzealand? That's one of the beauties of being able trade full time for a living. And also one of the beautiful things about the global alliance between western countries, Migrating with money to an English speaking country is cake. Pete Davies of Jigsaw lives in Thailand, life must be good with that sort of exchange rate.. haha

Thought about it, but we have a bunch of family and friends here. Besides, my trading partners and I are getting very close to fully automating our setups using a tool we discovered a couple of months ago. So, hopefully, in a few weeks the whole time zone issue will be moot.

All generalizations are false, including this one.
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  #24 (permalink)
 
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 Neo1 
Christchurch, New Zealand
 
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fesx View Post
Hi @minskee,

I have thought often about trading from Thailand. Many great advantages, mostly being able to trade both the US and European markets and not having to worry about the topic of this thread "Sleep"!!!!!! The low cost of living is just as attractive too. But my biggest concerns after talking with several people is the reliability of internet connections and the loss of power. I start my mornings @ 4:30am and try to be finished by noon. Ideally it would be nice to start at the European open but have found it very difficult to do with lack of sleep caused by others in the house that take for granted when I have gone to bed at 7pm. Maybe someone should set up a "Trading Commune" during the week for traders so we can sleep when needed....

I can't speak for all of Thailand, but I lived in Bangkok for most of last year. Never had any power cuts, and had a 20mb/s cable connection that rarely cut out( Some ISP's offer up to 200mb/s). If you're living in a modern condo and it's been wired up to support a cable ISP then you shouldn't have many issues once you setup your own connection- if it does cut out temporarily then you could easily just tether the internet from your phone.

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  #25 (permalink)
 fishfry 
columbia south carolina/USA
 
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Neo1 View Post

Things I've found useful:
-Flux( anyone using a computer/ cell phone before they sleep should be using flux- google it)

Gl

Neo1. I trade from 3 am to 4:15, then go back to sleep until ~7:15. I tried flux last night for the first time. I'm pretty sure I got back to sleep faster (usually takes me about a half hour+ or - a bit, but last night I remember very little after I got back in bed).

So, so far so good. Thanks for the suggestion.

All generalizations are false, including this one.
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  #26 (permalink)
ycomp
Europe-ish
 
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Neo1 View Post
Things I've found useful:
-Modafinil( Don't currently use, however it's great for performing at 100% off only a few hours sleep)
-Small doses of melatonin( less than 100mg), this is almost essential if you're going to be sleeping during the day/ early evenings
-Using a black out sleep mask
-Flux( anyone using a computer/ cell phone before they sleep should be using flux- google it)
-Exercise/ mediation ( If i don't work out everyday, I'll struggle to focus the following day)
-No Alcohol, and minimal caffeine( I love coffee & green tea, but they both mess with your sleep cycle- especially coffee)
-Having a consistent sleep cycle( even on weekends/ days off)

did you build a tolerance to modafinil or is that something that can be taken every day or 5 days a week?

did you ever try binaural videos on youtube (w/headphones of course).. a lot of them are annoying but some are really amazing for focus / concentration / waking up in the morning

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  #27 (permalink)
 tpredictor 
North Carolina
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader, Tradestation
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While not medical advice, Modafinil is a very powerful drug. I would not recommend to use it to stay up without sleep. Based on studies, performance will decrease and you would need to make up for the lost sleep. It can be used to increase performance, based on studies, when combined with adequate sleep or used for shift work sleep problems or other sleep problems.

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  #28 (permalink)
 
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 MiniP 
USA,USA
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mangolassi View Post
Hi everyone,

I live on the east coast of the US. I have been looking more in depth at the 5 minute EUR/USD charts recently (particularly looking at the differences in the London session and the New York session), and was interested in hearing from traders in the US (especially east coast) who prefer trading the London/Frankfurt open (around 2AM EST) for a few hours. The New York Session can sometimes be wild due to various news reports throughout the week, and the London Session offers great price action. Both offer great opportunities, but I've been considering trading the London Session in the future, only because I will be starting a new job soon which will prevent me from participating in any trading throughout the day. Plus, I will be in school all day starting in Fall 2016.

How do you guys manage sleep, trading the London Session, and being active at work/school (if you work and go to school)? Do you the think the crazy sleep schedule is worth it for you? How did you change your sleeping habits in order to stay awake and psychologically strong during the trading session?

When i first started trading FX I would work 8 hours have a 2 hour commute go to the gym for about 2 hours ( including driving working out ect ) go home eat dinner sleep for about 3 hours wake up trade for about 2 hours then go to sleep for about an hour or so and wake up and do it all over again. If you really want it you will make it happen.

it defiantly took a tole on me and some relationships but I loved it and would do it all over again. As Arnold says"sleep faster"

-P

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  #29 (permalink)
 
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 vmodus 
Somewhere, Delaware, USA
 
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i960 View Post
Realistically, no trading is worth significant quality of life sacrifices such as crazy sleep schedules or being chained to a computer. A suitable compromise here when it comes to timezones is to either swing trade or move to the West coast where you'll get a 3 hour advantage. Alternatively you may choose to sacrifice some portion of "action" and instead wake up at 0500-0600ET to react to some of it.

It's kinda difficult to trade everything.

Hahaha.... word.

My trading partner (and wife) had strategies that would run overnight to capture moves in the Euro zone, so to speak. Having a computer wake you up with potential trades at various points in the night got old, really fast. I think that is why she moved to swing trading.

Another alternative, if you trust automated systems, is building a strategy and letting it run. That is basically what we do in our shop.

~vmodus

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  #30 (permalink)
 Caretaker 
Tampa, Florida
 
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MacroNinja View Post
Become profitable enough to move to Europe for the better timezone, seriously. Cost of living south of Spain can be very cheap, especially with dollar strength at the moment. Rent in some areas can be as low as 300 EUR per month for an apartment and 1000 EUR for a nice 4-5 bedroom house.



Short of that, be really good at understanding which market conditions are good to trade and worthwhile for the opportunity cost of sleep. Be active 1 hour before the London banks open, do you analysis, and then go back to sleep if trading conditions are not ideal. Also be up and active during data releases if managing open positions.



Do this long enough until you can afford to move. Or you can simply focus on US timezone based instruments like oil futures instead. But no doubt the big money is based in the European time zone for a reason when it comes to FX.



Hello. By south of Spain, do you mean Morocco?


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