Forex trading is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week. In order to trade, you just need a computer connected to the internet, and sometimes a mobile phone is more than enough. This flexibility enables traders to trade whenever and wherever they want. However, this flexibility can also take its toll on your summer vacation.

If you take into account that you’ll trade during your vacation, this isn’t exactly a vacation. But as you are fully aware of it, perhaps you can take more vacations – making money and enjoying the sun at the same time. But for most people, this flexibility just denies them of clearing their heads.

A vacation is necessary for refreshing your body and your brain from the intensity of trading. When you return from the vacation, the recharged batteries will help you as a trader.

Checking out the markets

Some traders just use their mobile phones to check out their positions but promise to themselves and to their families that they will not trade, just feed their curiosity.

But if you are already connected and see what your open positions are doing, the curiosity may change into an urge to act. With limited tools and limited time available on your vacation, you might reach the wrong decisions and lose money.

And if you do take your time to analyze and make a sound decision, you’re not really on vacation: you are not enjoying yourself and you are not allowing your mental batteries to recharge.

Leaving Open Positions

So, you decided to go on vacation and disconnect from everything: no charts, no positions, no market alerts and no nothing. However, you had an open position or two and you still want to keep them open while you’re away.

This may still hurt your vacation, as you’ll be worried about what’s going on. It will either sit on your mind and trouble you, or you’ll find yourself connected once again. In both cases, you’re denying yourself a full vacation.

As aforementioned, if you take into account that you’ll be fully connected while travelling, it can allow you to take many such “half vacations”. However, if you want a true vacation, close all positions and disconnect from the markets.

Opportunities will always come and go.

Further reading: 5 Most Predictable Currency Pairs – Q3 2012

Trading on a Vacation? It isn’t a Vacation