Most traders lose before the opening bell. Not because the market beats them, but because they sit down with no plan and react to whatever flashes on the screen first. That is not trading. That is gambling with extra steps.
I have spent 35 years in the markets, and the one thing that separates my good days from my bad ones is what I do before 9:30 a.m. The video above walks through my full morning routine. Here is the written version.
Why a routine matters
Trading is a business. Every business opens with a system. A restaurant does prep work before the doors open. A surgeon reviews the case before the first incision. A trader who skips preparation and dives into the open is flying blind in the most expensive environment imaginable.
The morning routine solves two problems. First, it forces you to do the analytical work before your money is at risk. Second, it protects you from the biggest saboteur in the room: your own mood in the heat of the moment.
The pre-market checklist
Before I place a single trade, I work through the same steps in the same order.
- Check the charts. I look at the overnight action, the futures, and the key levels on any stock I plan to trade that day. If price is at a level that changes my thesis, I need to know that before the open.
- Review upcoming news. Earnings releases, Fed speeches, economic data drops. A trade that looked clean yesterday can turn into a minefield if a report hits at 8:30 a.m. I check the calendar every morning without exception.
- Establish a directional bias. Am I leaning bullish, bearish, or neutral on the broader market today? I write it down. A bias keeps me from chasing both sides and losing on both.
- Prepare a written plan. For every trade I consider, I define my entry, my target, and my exit if the trade goes wrong. No plan, no trade. That rule has saved me more times than I can count.
The order matters. Charts first, then news, then bias, then plan. Each step builds on the one before it.
The discipline behind the routine
A routine is only valuable if you run it every day, not just the days when you feel motivated. Motivation is unreliable. The market does not care how you slept or how your morning went.
This is where most traders break down. They skip the routine on a busy morning, wing it, get caught in a bad trade, and spend the afternoon digging out. Then they tell themselves the market was manipulated. The market was not manipulated. They were unprepared.
If you want accountability on the routine, trading alongside a community of people running the same process every morning makes a real difference. Shared standards replace willpower.
Watch the full breakdown
The video goes deeper into each step and shows how I apply the routine to real market conditions before the open.
Watch “My Options Trading Morning Routine” on YouTube, then subscribe to the channel so you catch every new lesson when it drops.
Successful trading begins before the opening bell. Build the routine first, and the trades take care of themselves.
Nothing here is financial advice. Trading options involves real risk of loss, and no routine eliminates that risk. Never trade with money you cannot afford to lose.
