< previous page page_118 next page >

Page 118
6
Balancing Isolation and Information Overload
The setting providing the greatest degree of freedom for the disciplined online investor is the home office. It is here that attention need not be divided with any other activities, and unwanted distractions may be kept to a minimum. For active day traders or those considering active trading, the only other viable setting is a day trading room run by a retail firm. We will consider the pros and cons of each setting in this chapter.
Some occasional traders sneak in a trade on their computer when they have a spare minute while in their work setting. Others may make trades to be executed the next morning from a laptop at night while lying in bed. But our focus is not on these settings. Neither is the optimal environment for the kind of concentration that is required to do a good job of trading.
What does the ideal environment for the online trader look like? What are the psychological considerations in this setting that facilitate active or occasional trading?
In this chapter we will examine the nuts and bolts of trading at home, with particular emphasis given to how we may balance the isolating aspects of trading at home alone with the always looming threat of information overload.
Before we examine issues related to the trading setting, we need to begin by summarizing the different types of traders that have been previously mentioned. As discussed here, there is more than one way to define a day trader. It is not quite as simple as

 
< previous page page_118 next page >