The questions you should ask are twofold. The first question is how to stay tethered to this rabbit. The second question is how closely tethered you actually want to be. Candidly answering the first may result in your answering the second by default. So focus on the first question and then ask yourself this: what you are willing to do each day to maintain your connection to the market? Your personal daily circumstances as well as your emotional commitment and discipline should guide you to generate a reasonable answer. With those inputs, you can then decide whether you allocate 30 minutes a day or 30 minutes a week.
The point here is that your allocation should be unique to you personally. To be successful, it must be based on brutally honest inputs by you about yourself. For this to work best, you must be willing to put it in writing, making it easier for you to revisit on a regular basis. You should also note that it’s not unusual to be overly optimistic at first about your abilities to pay attention and stay on top of the market.
As real time investing plays out, it might become a bit more comfortable to adjust your routines – let out some rope, so to speak – and not try to stay so close. By default, you therefore answer the second question. How closely tethered to the market rabbit do you really want to be?
It becomes crystal clear that the more closely you remain tethered, the more significant the commitment in both time and emotional capital required to do so. A day trader better be prepared to be tethered to the market rabbit on a very short rope. The position trader less so. A long-term investor comfortably less so.
The bottom-line is that there is no one magical tether. The challenge is to construct individual routines that match the personal fire in your belly so that you remain in equilibrium and are able to maintain consistent focus and discipline over the long period of time that you will be tethered to the market rabbit by this invisible rope of your own design.
Trade well; trade with discipline!
-- Gatis Roze
