Follow the market for a weekRecaps, notes and feedback, every day.
Theory turns into skill when you follow the market live. A 5-day routine of recaps, daily notes and feedback teaches you to see which story the market is trading, and it is meant to stay after the week ends.
From theory to a skill
Knowing the theory is one thing. Following the market live, every single day, is what turns it into a skill. This routine puts everything so far to work over one week.
It runs for 5 trading days, Monday to Friday. You read what happened, write it down, check it against the charts and get feedback on your notes. No trade is needed. The point is to see, every day, how events turn into price moves.
What to read
On Monday, start with the weekly recap, a summary of what moved the markets in the week before. It gives you the backdrop for everything that follows.
Then, every day, read every Session Recap for Asia, London and the US, plus the opening preparation before each session starts. The lesson on why the market’s focus keeps shifting showed what a recap contains, and why the sessions you didn’t trade count too.
Full time or a 9-to-5
How much more you do depends on your schedule. If you trade full time, follow everything live through the day. Watch the Economic Calendar, the schedule of data releases and central bank events. Track the headlines, and watch how price reacts to each release.
If you work a 9-to-5, keep it focused. Read the Session Recaps, and check Currency Strength at the end of each session, or at least once a day. It shows which currencies are strong and which are weak right now. Then open the charts and check whether your read matches what price actually did.
Notes and feedback, every day
One part is non-negotiable for everyone. Take notes every day, and every evening send a screenshot of your daily notes to whoever gives you feedback, a mentor or a study partner. You get direct feedback on what is good, what is missing and how to improve. If nobody reviews them yet, read them yourself the next morning with fresh eyes.
The notes matter because you will come back to them, daily and on weekends, when you build your trade ideas. They are your record of what actually happened in the world and how the market responded. Sometimes they point you to a currency, and sometimes they tell you to leave one alone.
Risk-off after a conflict headline in the Asian session
US inflation above the forecast, the dollar up in the first hour
Yen strongest, Australian dollar weakest at the London close
AUD/JPY fell through the day, in line with the read
My bullish Aussie view is not in play while the mood stays risk-off
Make it a habit for good
Plenty of traders skip this step or rush it, and it holds them back. The routine trains one of the most important skills you can build: recognising whether the story you believe is the one the market is actually trading. The next lesson looks at that check in detail.
That is why the routine doesn’t end after a week. Once the first week is done, it stays, every day, so you always know what is going on. Use the tracker below to tick off your first week: 5 sessions, one per day, each with a note written, an event watched and a review added.
0 of 15 done
In short
- For 5 trading days, read the weekly recap on Monday and every Session Recap each day, including the opening preparations.
- Full time, follow the calendar, headlines and price reactions live. With a 9-to-5, check Currency Strength after each session and compare it with the charts.
- Take notes every day and get feedback every evening. You will use them to build ideas, so the routine stays after the week is over.
Key terms
- Session recap
- A short summary of what moved the market in a trading session and why.
- Economic calendar
- A schedule of upcoming data releases and central bank events, with forecasts and previous values.
- Currency strength
- A ranking of how much each currency has gained or lost against the others over a period.
- Trading sessions
- The Asian, London and New York trading hours. Most volume, and most clean moves, come in London and New York.