Edge Letter #4: From 40 Hours to 3 Hours - My Weekly Trading System
How to escape watching charts 24/7
The Lie That Hooked Me
Remember when you first discovered trading? I do. Charts, candlesticks, patterns, money to be made at tip of your fingerprints. I thought to myself: "This is it. This is the way to make it."
If I could just make $50 a day clicking a few buttons, that's serious money. Working for myself. Freedom. Working from anywhere in the world.
The ultimate escape from the 9-to-5 prison.
But the opposite happens: You don't replace your job. You build yourself a worse one.
The 24/7 Nightmare I Built
The worst time I had was during the peak meme coin mania, waking up at 3 AM, grabbing my phone to see if I got rugged or if the coin did a 20x.
Every single night.
Futures trading wasn't better. In the beginning, you're pure emotion. Getting overleveraged with tight stops, or even worse, without it, blowing accounts just because it seems easy... just because everyone is trying to "make it quick."
Then the routine sets in:
• Charts before you get out of bed
• Charts before you go to sleep
• FOMO when you're offline for 2 hours
• Scrolling CT for alpha like a junkie
• "Working" by staring at 5-minute candles
• Anxious, not present in daily life, always checking your phone
You think you're building wealth, but you're just reacting 24/7.
Years pass, cycles pass, and the pressure only gets worse the longer you don't "win."
What skills are you actually building? Or are you just hyper-gambling and praying something works?
When everything changes
You make mistakes long enough that you can't take it anymore, or life forces you to adapt.
This varies depending on your age and situation. If you're young with infinite time, sure grinding Twitter for alpha and airdrops is fine. But as your life situation changes, you need a trading style that fits your reality, not the other way around.
The shift happened when I became a father.
Suddenly, I couldn't watch charts 24/7. I couldn't be "here" every second. I had to find a system that kept me in the game with minimal involvement.
For me, the edge is in waiting, not watching.
Most traders think more screen time = better results.
That's backwards.
The market rewards patience, not panic. Systems, not emotions. Planning, not reacting.
When you're constantly watching, you're constantly tempted to do something. React on every price move.
The Weekly System That Actually Works
Here's the exact process I use now:
Monday/Tuesday (2 hours total):
• Market scan and planning for the week
• Look for trade setups
• Set alerts and limit orders if needed • Walk away
During the week:
• Only get on the PC when alerts trigger
• Execute the plan (no emotions), trade the plan, if it fails it fails.
Sunday (1 hour):
• Log all trades
• Review what worked and what didn't
• Plan for next week
That's it.
Two to three hours of actual work per week. Everything else is noise.
Why This Actually Works Better
The psychology is simple: when you're always watching, you're always second-guessing. When you have a plan and stick to it, you trade the setups, not your emotions. I stopped making the same emotional mistakes over and over.
Your Next Steps
If this resonates, start here:
Step 1: Track your current screen time.
Step 2: Set up one day per week for planning. Pick Monday or Tuesday.
Step 3: Create alerts for your setups instead of watching charts all day.
Step 4: Force yourself to walk away between alerts. Find something else to do. Touch grass.
The market will be there tomorrow. And there is always another setup. Never feel like you will miss something.
P.S. - Want to see the actual alerts and setups from this system? I post my weekly market scans every Tuesday. Follow so you don't miss them.