“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” – Albert Einstein Paraphrase
A trader has to learn what matters and what does not matter for their own profitability. A good filter can save a trader a lot of time, stress, and capital. You have to know what to watch, what to ignore, and where to focus your attention.
Does macro economics matter to your trading or do you just trade price action?
How long do you need to sit in front of the trading quote screen each day? A day trader and a trend trader will have different answers.
What type of trading are you good at? Are you trading that method?
Does news matter to you? If so what kind of news do you need to be aware of? Earnings, jobs reports, or central bank interest announcements?
Do you care what a gurus opinion is?
Do you care what CNBC says?
How often do you need to see a live quote for your positions and watch list? Does watching live streaming quotes more than you need to hurt or help your trading?
Do you do enough homework to be prepared to trade when the market opens?
Are you doing enough chart studies and back tests?
Does looking at social media during trading hours help you are hurt you?
Do other traders opinions cause you to have a bias?
What matters the most to your profitability?
What does not matter at all?
Are you focusing on what does matter and ignoring what does not matter to you and your own trading method?
What do you need to change?