by Phiilp Wu

It’s important to have a systematic trading process in planning your trades. In our weekly Owl Bundle on Thinkorswim user group Zoom meeting, an experienced trader shared how he plans on which symbols to trade the next day. I was very impressed with his systematic approach to trade planning starting first with an understanding of the market.

Each evening he would look at the Flexible grid which is programmed with the key market indicators as taught by Dr Ken Long. He would step through each of the panes to assess the condition of the market. You can listen to his assessment here.

Next he would view his chart layout for Swing Trades. The layout is a 4 rows x 3 columns matrix of key symbols that he monitors on the 30 minute timeframe. On this view, he is visually scanning for interesting patterns to show up.

For the symbols that he selects to swing trade, he moves to his Active Trader grid. This is a 2 rows by 2 columns matrix of symbols on the 30 minute timeframe. He would use the Thinkorswim active trader panel to submit his orders.

For intraday trading, he goes to the 3 min timeframe on a 2 rows by 2 columns matrix of symbols. He also observes the Beta of each symbol relative to SPX.

You can listen to his description of his planning process using this link. The video is a subset of a larger presentation where he goes into factoring in market correlation, high short interest vs insider trading, and other considerations. I believe his trading success is greatly due to his systematic approach to daily trade planning, preparation, execution, and assessment.