In turn, you’ll free up the day to monitor news or research new potential trade candidates not currently on your stock watchlist. Instead, when your alerts are triggered, they will bring the trade setups right to you. When the opening bell rings the next morning, you don't have to sift through your watchlist repeatedly (hey, unless you still want to), checking each stock to see if it's ready to trade. You can even create alerts for options and option combinations. The thinkorswim platform allows you to create alerts based on price, volume, technical indicators, index activity, and a host of other factors.

Your alert system can be as simple or as complex as you want it to be. You can even create a note to remind you of the specifics and why you created the alert in the first place. Here you can select the price at which you want the alert to activate, how you want to be notified (by e-mail or an alarm on your platform), and what, if any, action you want to take place automatically. On the thinkorswim ® platform, right-click on each stock in your stock watchlist, or on its chart, and select “Create Alert” from the pop-up menu. It doesn’t have to be the actual price at which you would trade that stock-though it could be-but more likely a price close to where a technical signal would be generated, for instance, breaking out of a range, or coming into a support level. Go through your list and determine the price point at which a particular stock will grab your interest. It all begins the night before, when the market is closed and you can calmly put together your stock watchlist of potential trade candidates for the following day.

With a little bit of preparation and the strategic use of market alerts, you have a better chance of sticking to your plan and lowering your trading stress. Former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth.” As active traders, that’s how it can feel when the opening bell rings and a rush of information hits us all at once-our trading plans often go out the window.

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