Often times, the best trade is not taking one at all. Rather than expose yourself to risk, let the trades go while you formulate your plan and your trading goals.

Set and forget trading

The “sitting on your hands” strategy is best mixed with a “set and forget” approach. The set and forget approach is made up of a very short process: place trade, set stop losses, take profits, and then let the market do the rest. The sitting on your hands strategy and set and forget trading reduces the amount of influence your emotions have on your returns and protects your trading account from irrational decisions. Following a trading plan is made far easier by the sitting on your hands strategy.

Don’t micromanage each trade

It is very easy to micromanage each and every trade you take, rerunning your technical analysis studies, checking your custom indicators, and then deciding the trade was wrong to take. How often do novice traders skew a trade because they are too quick to modify and even cancel trades long before they are allowed to let run? Not to mention, buying and selling quickly racks up commissions and spread fees, which cost the trader even more. Proven strategies will prove themselves out in the long term without continuous intervention and disruption.

How to begin sitting on your hands

The first step to any trading plan is trading goals. Do you want to produce profits around the clock, or are you looking for a more modest trading outlook? Identify what you will use to analyze the markets, whether it is technical analysis from your own custom indicators, or chart and candlestick patterns to the basic trading fundamentals. Know exactly what you want before you begin to prevent a costly change of plans down the road. Quality trades should be the number one goal, as once you place the trade, the strategy demands you leave it up to the market to work it out.

How to generate profits

The sitting on your hands strategy relies more on the market than the intervention of the trader. Advanced trading techniques, tools, and strategies are used simply to place trades, rather than modify them. The trading goal of the strategy is to produce profits with as little intervention and time as possible. It can be said that many traders lose money due to an inability to leave trades alone than to make quality trades. The extra time from trading can be spent on a variety of things, such as a trading education and resource program, a live trading room, or an interactive online classroom. There is much to like with a set and forget strategy.

About the Author:
Leroy Rushing is an active, professional day trader; trading coach; and author. He is the Founder and CEO of Trading EveryDay, a provider of educational trading products and services that are available worldwide. Trading EveryDay has complimentary/FREE products, a Tools of the Trade eBook and a Trading Room Report, that are downloadable for your convenience.