Day Trading: Learning to Ignore the News
Anyone who watches daytime television is well aware of several news networks that broadcast nonstop financial news. Generally speaking, these networks parade a variety of experts in front of the camera who spout all sorts of interesting and apparently insightful information about market conditions during the day. Early in my career, many years ago, I faithfully listened to all the rumors and innuendo the financial news network’s reported. At some point in my career, I learned to turn the television off and simply trade the chart in front of me.
This is not to say that day traders should not be aware of the daily economic announcements the government and government subsidiaries publish. These are very important announcements and should warrant your attention. However, the never-ending stream of talking heads that grace your television screen are not worthy of your attention. Often times they spread information that is unsubstantiated and rumor, which can affect your trading strategy and trading timing in an adverse way. Let’s face it, the really successful traders do not appear on television and divulge their trades for the rest of the world to duplicate.
Aside from the misinformation, there is an even more important dynamic to consider when watching the Financial News Networks. The announcers and individuals being interviewed can have a decided effect upon your psychological outlook on the market movement during the days session. It is important to keep a tight rein on your emotions when trading, as an outside stimulus, like spurious news reporting, can often cause your trading to become biased. This bias can have very unfortunate and costly ramifications and you’re trading. For that reason alone, I generally listen to music while I trade. In short, I make an earnest attempt to avoid any outside influences on how I view the market and reserve my judgments for the information I glean from the trading chart.
This may seem a little nit picky at first glance, but a steady diet of news that amounts to speculation and innuendo can cause you to take trades or establish positions that may not concur with the information on your chart. Yet because you have heard certain information on the television you may feel comfortable in taking these contrarian positions based upon the conclusions of the television personalities. To be truthful, there have been several occasions where I have found myself in this exact position and made unwise trading decisions based upon recommendations and conclusions television personalities have expressed during the course of the day. To my disappointment, none of these prognostications became reality and I was the unfortunate recipient of a losing trade. About 10 years ago, I learned to turn the television off and my trading improved. The television is one distraction that is simply not necessary. Using proper support and resistance along with sound trading methodology is all that is required to be a successful trader. The talking heads on television certainly are not an asset to your trading experience.
Oddly enough, I seem to enjoy listening to the television personality’s blather on about various happenings in the market for entertainment. Unfortunately, I learned that at a subconscious level I was gathering information and incorporating it into my trading decisions, despite the fact that I was well aware that the information was of minimal value. My point is a simple one; use trading methodology and the chart in front of you, along with the daily government and government agency announcements to formulate your trades throughout the course of the day. There is no reason bias your thinking by exposing ourselves to the random meanderings the financial television personalities spew forth.
In summary, I think it’s important to trade based upon the price action and trading methodology you have learned and see little value in the rumor and speculation the financial networks disseminate throughout the course of the day. To be sure, once you have established a sound methodology you can depend on that methodology to trade without the input of your television.
