The Right Amount of Screen Time

Screen time is the amount of time you sit in front of your computer monitor and watch the market price action. In today’s mobile world screen time can even expand to mobile phones and tablets if we check in on charts and price quotes when we are away from our desk top computers.

Screen time can add unneeded stress watching price action randomly intra-day or on a much smaller timeframe than your trading or investing strategy operates. Long term investors should not be watching real time quotes for an investment they plan to hold for years. Swing traders that trade off end of day signals get no added value by watching the price action all day. Even many day traders only need the first and last hour to trade while prices are moving and the most market liquidity is found.

Watching the price action too much can even lead to you stepping in and making errors and breaking your own trading plan and rules as your emotions get the best of you.

What is the right screen time for you personally? You only need the amount of screen time that it takes to follow your own system and signals inside your own timeframe.