How to Schedule Learning and Trading Around Work

A common issue for traders, particularly those who are learning or trading part-time, is being able to balance trading with other commitments. Let’s go through how you can schedule your time by starting with your commitments.

Identifying Your Commitments

1. Write down a list of commitments you have that can’t be changed. These are things like sleep, work, education and family commitments.

For example:

• I need to finish my university studies and that will need to remain my priority. However, I can update my schedule to allow more time when they are complete.

• I have to take care of my children in the morning and evening. This means I may have to learn during non-optimal times.

2. The next step is to think about any other commitments you may have which are more optional. Which of these are you willing to reduce the amount of time on?

Although it may be tempting to remove everything to trade as much as possible, there are some things that can have a positive effect on your mental wellbeing. These can help you become successful over the long-term, such as exercise and having some social time. 

Rather than excluding everything, you may be able to shift the times around. You don’t have to give everything up, it’s about prioritising what you’re working on.

For example:

• I can move my exercise times to allow for learning in optimal hours. Given the benefits of exercise, I should move it rather than exclude it.

• Rather than meeting with friends all day each Saturday, I will spend my optimal time in the morning on trading activities. I will arrange to meet friends in the afternoon instead.

3. The remaining blocks of time can now be allocated for learning or trading.

What you do in these depends on where you’re at with your trading, but I will list them as practice and admin for the example schedules.

Take some time to go through these steps to make sure you fully understand which commitments you’re willing to sacrifice. Some things you aren’t able to sacrifice and that’s okay, we can work around these.

Creating Your Schedule

The next step is to create a realistic schedule. It should be something that you can stick to consistently. We can always begin with a weekly calendar broken down into the hours each day.

The type of schedule you’ll keep depends on whether you're learning or trading.

Learning Schedule

A learning schedule can initially be broken down into practise and admin tasks as very broad categories. Everyone's will look different, but here’s an example for an early chronotype schedule:

• The analytical practice is being done in the optimal morning times (or close to optimal)
• More analytical practice during the evening rebound
• A break to help re-energise between work and the evening session
• Admin and mundane tasks are during non-optimal times

Even within a busy schedule, this allows for at least two hours of practice a day. You’ll notice we only have two hours for each consecutive practice session, as after that point you’ll become fatigued. You should also take a break after each hour.

It’s important to remain realistic with what you’re able to commit to in your schedule.

Spending less time learning to trade will mean it takes longer to reach your goals, but if you’re not realistic, you won’t be able to stick to your schedule anyway and you’re less likely to succeed.

In order to make your practice sessions count, they should be focused on something meaningful. To help stick to your schedule, you can go one step further and plan each session ahead of time. This should consist of:

1. Setting a target
2. Planning the activities
3. Reviewing your activities

We also have a full guide to creating monthly transformations which covers this area in detail. That will help you set a meaningful target, fill out your practice sessions with activities which lead to a meaningful goal, and finally use your admin sessions to review it.

Trading Schedule

Before we go any further, this section is for when you’ve developed the skill and you’re ready to be trading in the live markets. This is all focused on getting the best long-term performance given your situation.

However, while you’re still learning and developing, you should stick to the previous format. If you’re doing practice or simulator sessions, you should fit as many as you can within your schedule. Don’t just wait for alerts from the live markets, or you’ll develop at a slower pace.

To get started, a live trading schedule can be broken down into four sections:

• Preparation session
• Update session
• Check-ins
• Ad-hoc session

The first three types of sessions make up your core weekly routine. These are the ones that are going to allow you to run your system on a consistent basis and find many trading opportunities despite being busy with your full time job or other commitments.

Let’s go through each of component:

1. Preparation Session

Preparation sessions are usually the most time-consuming session of the week. During this time, you'll go through your market selection process to identify potential markets for trading in the upcoming week. 

This session may not always take much time if there's little to update for your technical analysis. For example, If you start with daily or weekly time frames, there may be few levels to adjust. However, it's also important to review the economic calendar and any relevant fundamental analysis. Note major economic events and set alerts if necessary.

After identifying key markets, spend the rest of the session on deeper analysis, assessing potential outcomes, and spotting opportunities. These steps are similar to those you'll perform in update sessions during the week, which we’ll cover next.

I recommend setting a routine, such as dedicating two hours every Sunday to your preparation session - whether you’re trading full time or part time. During this time: 

• Go through your markets and pick the markets you’ll focus on for the upcoming week
• Review the economic calendar to be aware of releases that may disrupt the markets
• Read the financial news to keep up to date with what’s happening in the markets

2. Update Session

Update sessions are the most critical sessions each week for finding potential opportunities and planning actions. During these sessions, you update any analysis and reassess potential outcomes.

After updating your analysis, reassess outcomes and set alerts for key areas. When you set an alert you should also take note of:

• The purpose of the alert
• The action you’re looking to take in that area
• The reason behind that action

Here’s an example of how to track your alerts:

This preparation makes sure you're ready to act quickly when needed.

Update sessions aren't just about setting trade actions but also about refining analysis. You can monitor multiple markets, setting alerts and notes for future actions if a market isn't ready yet. This preparation streamlines your process, allowing you to focus on executing actions rather than redoing analysis during the check-in session.

Finally, even if you have open trades, set alerts for decision points and note the appropriate actions as the price approaches. By the end of each update session, you'll have a clear plan for the next day, ready to act on any market changes. 

If no markets are tradeable, consider another prep session or accept that the rest of the week might be trade-free. Now, let's move on to check-in sessions

3. Check-In Session

Once you've set your alerts and actions, your check-in sessions are about executing your plans. When an alert goes off, you follow your pre-set actions from the previous sessions. 

This could be as simple as confirming a signal or as involved as updating your analysis, taking just a few minutes. If you're in a trade, set new actions for future decision points to avoid constantly checking charts and getting distracted.

Timing is also an important point to consider. If an alert goes off but you're busy, assess the situation when you can. If a trade setup has progressed, only enter if the risk-reward ratio remains favourable. Set clear rules for this in your system to avoid emotional decision-making.

This approach also applies to trade exits or scaling decisions. Even if it's not ideal timing, follow through if it's the right action. The goal is not perfection but consistency and profitability within your schedule.

With this in mind, it's important to choose the right time horizon for your trading which aligns with your other commitments. If you’re working and have to leave the screen, you don’t want the trade to be disrupted while you’re away. 

For example, if you're trading on a 5-minute chart, leaving for a few minutes won't likely affect your trade. However, the whole situation can change within a few hours.

On longer time frames, such as the 1-hour chart, being away for a few hours is generally safe. This means you need to align your trading time frame with your ability to monitor the market.

If you’re able to be more active during other commitments, then a shorter time horizon may work for you. If there are a few hours between when you’re able to make decisions, a higher time frame will be more suitable.

4. Ad-Hoc Session

Ad-Hoc sessions aren't part of your regular trading routine. These sessions happen when you unexpectedly have extra time to trade, like taking a day off work. 

Often, traders who usually trade around a full-time job switch to active trading during these rare full-day sessions, which can lead to issues. They might lack a daytime trading system and feel frustrated by unproductive sessions.

Instead of trading randomly during these ad-hoc sessions, it's better to focus on productive activities. Use the time to work on your trading goals, such as deliberate practice, reviewing your system, processing trading journal entries, or doing fundamental analysis. If you still want to trade, consider using a simulator to fast-forward charts and practice multiple opportunities.

Trading outside your routine can be tempting, but it often leads to frustration. Focus on productive tasks or simply enjoy your time off, and let your regular trading plan deliver long-term success. If your schedule changes permanently, you can then adjust your trading plan to fit the new circumstances.

With these sessions in mind, we can now create our schedule. Again, everyone's will look different, but if the learner from the previous section becomes profitable, they may schedule their day like this:

• Preparation session in the optimal time on Sunday
• Update sessions in the second most optimal times in the morning and evening during the week
• Check-in session during their lunch break at work
• Practice sessions during optimal times on the weekend
• Admin sessions during non-optimal times at the weekend
• Ad-hoc sessions could be included during free time