When people come to trading, they tend to overdo it. I recently spoke to a trader that was at his screen 16 hours a day. Trouble is – that’s far too much input to effectively store in your back-computer at night. I’ve had people tell me – I spent all weekend watching your videos.
By doing this – you are not learning, you are absorbing and forgetting information. A video every 2 days is way better than all in a weekend. Let some information in, don’t get drunk or take drugs that night and let it sink in.
Other things that help information sink in:
Write it down on paper (even if you never read it again – but you should)
Teach it to someone else (this DOES make you understand something more)
Keep what you learn to a minimum – encyclopedic knowledge of every trading style is NOT an advantage
One trader I know offered to show me his technique, after 2 hours I asked him to stop. My fear was the knowledge itself would throw me off my game. So we stopped.
Once you are educated, you then need to develop your trading skills. Consider pullbacks. At first you’ll miss them, you’ll get -5 points when +20 are available, you’ll take trades where no pullback exists. As you get better through practice, you’ll get closer and closer to grabbing the opportunity the market is making available to you.
If you do that for 12 hours a day, you’ll have scrambled eggs for brains. It won’t stick, you won’t improve. I get the addiction and that “Grind Culture Doomsayers” have convinced you to spend every waking hour trading – but it’s not aligned with how we learn.
Obviously, everyone is different but here’s some guidelines. Of course, do your own research.
Education – Theory/Absorption Phase
Per Session: 25-50 mins on one topic. Retention tends to drop off after 30 mins
Daily: 1-3 hours spread out into small sessions. At the 4 hour mark almost nothing is sticking
Weekly: 10-15 hours. Cramming more can spike short term recall but long term – zilch
Skills Development – Practice/Reps Phase
Per Session: 45-90 mins. Beyond an hour, error rates climb and adaptations stall
Daily: 2-4 hours max. Top performers (e.g. musicians) cap at 3-5 to avoid burnout
Weekly: 15-25 hours. Steep drop off after 40 hours.
Bottom line: It’s not about grinding harder—it’s hacking the brain’s rhythm. Hit these windows, sleep like a champ, and you’ll embed faster than the 16-hour zombies. If your back computer’s yelling “enough,” listen; that’s the real edge.
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