# I watch the open every morning,do you?



## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

For the last couple of years,I watch the open every morning on a laptop using TDW

I keep a cash balance of some cash in my trading accounts

Spend about 3-4 hours / day looking

I am semi retired,so run every morning except sat and sunday,so home by 9 am,,I get up at 4 am

I plan on stopping in a couple of years when retired,give the responsibility to edward jones as they have some on mine now

Anyone in this boat?


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## JordoR (Aug 20, 2013)

I watch it every morning just in case something drastic happens. I'm at work right when the markets open in the morning anyway so perfect timing. However, I only spent a brief time in the morning checking and not several hours. I even set a quick alarm if I have a weekday off just to check as well.


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

^^^^^^^^^^^

Great to know I am not the only one to watch money


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

i once did a student internship for 3 months at an options trading house on the CBOE. Not the kind that has clients. All they traded was their own account. About 110 employees.

i asked what options they were trading? every option that trades, on all 11 different US options exchanges, they said. Every day, we're trading every option, they said.

everybody got to work by 6 am, in the pitch dark. My boss the research director reportedly arrived at 5 am. We'd find her with the half-light from the screens glowing on her face, alert & lively with europe news as we stumbled in like zombies.

everybody prepped. By 7 am everybody seemed to know exactly what all the other trading houses would be doing that am. By the time markets opened at 9:30 it felt like the day was half over.

i remember the morning goldman sachs phoned. They'd made a huge mistake the day before, they'd recommended & sold some fannie mae derivatives to a valued client but now the trade was going wrong. The client - a big institution - was complaining. Would my firm please take a part of the mistake?

sure, said the managing partner, calm as a cucumber. I recall he casually agreed to accept something like a $100 million loss. Just like that. Not even a blink of an eye.

why? i asked my boss. Goldman is going to phone maybe 20 firms, each firm will take a small part of goldman's loss like we did, she said. 

but again, why? because when it happens to us, we'll be able to ask goldman to bail us out, she said.


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

^^^^^^^^^^^

Nice to have a history around money,also to still be interested in growing it,good luck

It`s a lottery out there,nice to be part of it


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

it wasn't a history it was boot camp survival

once we were all inside each am, they'd lock the front door, they were so paranoid that a stranger might sneak in & figure out their logarithms. The reason they didn't object to having me around as the gopher was because they knew i'd never be able to figure out the logarithms.

lunch was in the house. There was a galley kitchen off the trading room. Various catering ladies would be hired to come in to cook.

i say various ladies because none lasted more than a couple weeks. Lunch would be served to the desk at 11 am. By 11:10 food fights had broken out. If the traders didn't like the lunch they'd stand in the galley doorway & hurl food projectiles at the cooks.

inevitably, there'd be tears, then resignations.

in between cooks my boss would order in chinese.


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

Hoping that did not effect your outlook on life


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## humble_pie (Jun 7, 2009)

of course not, this all happened in chicago, worst lot of animals i've ever seen


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## supperfly17 (Apr 18, 2012)

humble_pie said:


> i once did a student internship for 3 months at an options trading house on the CBOE. Not the kind that has clients. All they traded was their own account. About 110 employees.
> 
> i asked what options they were trading? every option that trades, on all 11 different US options exchanges, they said. Every day, we're trading every option, they said.
> 
> ...



Great story, i like reading this stuff. Do tell more.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

Cool story, I laughed hard visualizing the food fight scene. At the open I'm usually outside or still in the sack.


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## uptoolate (Oct 9, 2011)

I look at it now and then or hear about it on the radio. Don't really trade so there isn't much need for me to know what is happening. I don't really do stocks so am pretty much a random walk, buy and hold the market person. The last group of people I would ever give any money to is EJ! Though IG is probably in close competition with them. Just my opinion though.


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

uptoolate said:


> I look at it now and then or hear about it on the radio. Don't really trade so there isn't much need for me to know what is happening. I don't really do stocks so am pretty much a random walk, buy and hold the market person. The last group of people I would ever give any money to is EJ! Though IG is probably in close competition with them. Just my opinion though.


I have only about xxxk with them mostly JNJ and AAPL and COST from many years ago,in my world at that time, I got a happy birthday call and a bill,oh well,maybe I should put more time into it before I give the rest to someone going forward,(rest is more than they have now)


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## Mechanic (Oct 29, 2013)

I was online most mornings at the open and even made a few early trades but they always seemed to be mistakes. Then I read somewhere that it was best to avoid early trades and to wait at least an hour after the open. I have invested a fair bit over the last couple of years at the same time as trying to get an education. It has worked out fairly costly but I have made most of it back in trades and dividends. I have a lot more to invest that I would like to produce a retirement income stream, without drawing down capital, but at some point I think I will have to seek some outside help. There's another project in itself. All the professional advice I had before going DIY made money for them rather than me.


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## cainvest (May 1, 2013)

I used to watch the open when I had a position in a swing trade but I don't do that anymore. Now I just casually check what's going on during or at the end of the day.


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

I really don't see any point in watching the market day to day. I don't trade on a daily basis or anything resembling it.


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## Synergy (Mar 18, 2013)

I normally spend a few minutes in the morning before markets open reading a few emails (market breakfast news, BNN morning email, etc.). I often do a check / screen of the markets, sectors, individual stocks, etc. sometime around 10 or 11am. I don't spend a lot of time and it's more for interest sake and the desire to learn, stay informed, etc. Occasionally I'll come across a good buying opportunity, chance to add to my positions, etc.


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## dogcom (May 23, 2009)

Out west it is tough to watch the open because either you are still in bed or working at 6:30 AM. I have missed some good trades by sleeping in past the open. Also it closes early at 1PM and many times I am out doing stuff when it closes.


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## Getafix (Dec 29, 2014)

I'm always up at market open, mainly because i have some play money that i use for swing/day trades. It helps that i work evenings and i don't head out for work until 3pm. So that usually gives me time to do a few trades every day.


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## CrashTestSnoopy (Jan 21, 2015)

humble_pie said:


> it wasn't a history it was boot camp survival
> 
> once we were all inside each am, they'd lock the front door, they were so paranoid that a stranger might sneak in & figure out their logarithms. The reason they didn't object to having me around as the gopher was because they knew i'd never be able to figure out the logarithms.
> 
> ...


Great story. Enjoyed every bit of it. I'd get wrecked if I had to drag to the office everyday by 6am.


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## hboy43 (May 10, 2009)

Hi:

Most of the time when I am home I read the news and log in to the account to see what is happening. Might be at 9:30, might be at 11:00. When I am out a week or two in the boat, I don't give it even a passing thought. I don't have a data plan on my cell phone, hell I only own a cell phone as of September last year.

hboy43


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## 1980z28 (Mar 4, 2010)

I was thinking that a lot more check in on the open

But if fully invested ,I guess no reason,or no cash in trading account and nothing to sell


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