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Reasons Behind Archiving Pre-Market Data At work, if I am not actively engaged on a call, I am either watching the stocks or reading about trading. I am almost finished reading "One Good Trade" by Mike Bellafiore. Admittedly, reading this book is a major contributor to the idea. He stresses the importance of trading the stocks that are in play, reading the tape, reviewing your trades, practicing trading, keeping a journal, building on your strengths as a trader, and building your trading "quiver" (or as his second book calls it, "Playbook"). I haven't got into the second book yet, but I am sure once I get started, it will give me more reasons to back my reasoning. Primarily, this idea revolves around the DAS Trader Replay Feature. The first step to progress begins with archiving the pre-market data. Starting with a trade idea, we can build a foundation to grow our trading business. Stocks in Play Many of us watch the pre-market show to get trade ideas from veterans. It is also where we can suggest stocks that we may think are important, which we are either agreed with and those stocks are discussed, or disagreed with then explain why. By archiving the stocks that the moderators are watching gives us a higher chance of trading stocks in play. In the Replay Feature, using the stocks archived, we can go right into the program with an idea without pure bias on the outcome. My idea for using the Replay Feature is to go into the trading day blind for the DAY I choose. I don't want to know how it actually went, and let that steer my practice trading. Don't let my bias (a.k.a. ego) keep me from making good trades. Reading the Tape The tape is the time and sales of the stock. It can also be the Level II. Mike Bellafiore says it is the most important tool to master for a trader. He even says that he does not need a chart when he trades, all he needs is the tape to see where the price action is leading the stock. He has had years to study his craft. His prop firm also has recording devices for his traders that they can go over after the close. Personally, I do not have access to recording my own trading, and I imagine I am not the only one. The Replay Feature brings that skill development in reach. Taking note of my trades, which I generally gauge on the charts, I can go back to when I traded, and watch the tape to see if there are patterns to learn from. Practice Trading As soon as I heard that DAS was working on the Replay Feature, I thought about the additional time I would get practicing. Andrew says that this is not a get rich scheme in both of his books I have read. Mike Bellafiore goes further to say that if you are not willing to put in the time to sharpen your trading skills, then you should not be trading. It boils down to the fact that if I am not willing to put the time in for my future as a trader, then I will likely be giving my money away. In Andrew's books, he mentions a cost for education. In this line of work, if your education is costing you money, then it should be progressive. If education is costing you time, it should saving your money. I intend to dedicate a significant amount of time toward my education, even if it is only practicing on a simulation or the Replay Feature. Reviewing Your Trades My biggest hurdle is recognizing a pattern, creating a trade idea, and following through with the plan. After practicing our trades, we have the ability to rewind, and look for the patterns we thought we saw. Go further by looking at how the larger market was behaving, and see if there were patterns in the bigger picture that correlate with the move. Andrew and Brian have said that sectors like to move together. We can develop the ability to recognize these patterns by studying our trades. Keep a Journal Every book, webinar, and pro trader I have read, attended, or listened to strongly suggest this. What is the point of reviewing if we are not taking notes. My aim is to become a consistently profitable trader as a business for myself. Why half-ass my future? The best part is I can journal as I go. Pause the replay and jot why I chose to bid or short at a level, what I saw in the price action, what patterns I saw that made me pull the trigger, or hold off. All of this stems from the trade ideas from the pre-market show. Build on your Strengths Or as Mike Bellafiore says, build your "Playbook." Gaining more experience on the Replay Feature will foster my strengths if I focus on them. Harder patterns to recognize can be sidelined. Determine which setups work best for me. Repeated trades under these setups will start to become like a reflex. This will allow me to leave my comfort zone to experiment with those benched patterns. I realize that this only focuses on the open, and we are leaving out opportunities from the midday and close. There are also issues with the feature that requires the levels to be go in ready. Apparently the data will not show previous history before the feature began, so having levels in the main forum will benefit those who use it. After time, this may not be needed, but since we go far back on certain stocks just to find levels, it will be something that should be included. I do not know if I will have enough time to host these forums and keep up with the information for midday and close, without hindering my own trading pursuit. Andrew considers (evident on the volume) the open as the most important time to trade. Since I will really only have time to mess with this after work or on the weekends, I want to focus on the high volume time frames of the day. If I can build on the open, and use the Replay Feature to experiment with the midday and close, I believe I will be on my way to becoming consistently profitable. If it can work for one person, it can work for others. Thanks for reading. If anyone would like to discuss this, I look forward to reading your thoughts. I joined this community in the pursuit to become a better trader. With discussion and exchanging ideas, we can make our way to this goal.