The U.S.A. is turning 250 years old tomorrow!
The market is closed today in observance of July 4th. With nothing moving on your screens, you might feel like there’s no trading work to be done until Monday.
But over time, I’ve realized these off days are an incredible opportunity to improve your skills without distractions.
They give you room to think. And in trading, simply thinking is extremely underrated.
During market hours, there’s pressure. You feel it. Everything moves fast. It’s tempting to react in the moment.
But when the screens go dark, the pressure comes off. That’s when you can really look at what’s working (and what isn’t).
So while the market takes a breather, there’s still plenty of work that can move you forward.
Here are 4 ways to keep crushing today…
#1 Replay Your Last 10 Trades
This one’s simple, but it’s pure gold (and you’re probably not doing it … yet).
I keep a trading journal. Nothing complicated: just the name of the stock, the setup, what I saw, how I felt, and how it played out.
You can learn something from every single trade you take.
On market-off days, I’ll scroll back through the last 10 trades and try to answer one question: Would I take this same trade again?
Not from the outcome (that’s out of our hands), but from the process.
- Was it clean?
- Did the volume confirm it?
- Did you sell into strength?
- Did you follow your rules?
You’d be surprised how many trades feel right in the moment, but once the adrenaline’s gone, you see where things broke down.
It’s the same reasons sports teams study film of their performance. You break down the footage to understand it better, so you show up ready on game day.
That kind of clarity is worth more than any indicator.
If you don’t keep a journal, start today. Open a spreadsheet. Grab a legal pad. Just start taking notes.
Trust me, future-you will thank us.
#2 Mark Up Your Charts
It’s easy to just glance at a chart. But the best traders mark them up like they’re planning a casino heist.
Mark the levels that matter:
- Support
- Resistance
- Trendlines
- Ranges
- Risk zones
- Even the spots where you wouldn’t take a trade
I’ll mark the levels that keep showing up. The pivot zones where price hesitated, the range it’s been stuck in, the support or resistance the chart can’t break.
Sometimes I’ll go back two, even three months, to see the bigger picture.
Is this stock forming a base? Is it trending higher but chopping sideways lately? Or is it grinding lower on weak volume?
That work pays off before you ever click buy. It helps you trust your setups, and it gives you a clear map when the price starts moving.
And a bonus: when you mark it up yourself, you remember it way better than if someone else handed it to you.
#3 Study the Patterns
I keep coming back to the same chart patterns over and over again because they work.
But more than that, I’ve studied those patterns so much that I can spot them from a mile away.
After that many reps, I can read them cold:
- The volume they usually carry
- The candles that come before them
- What the visual looks like
- The red flags to watch for
If you’re still figuring out your style, a quiet market day is a great time to pick one pattern and study it until it’s second nature.
(I’d start with this pattern.)
Go back through your charting platform. Find 10 examples of solid breakouts, Supernovas, red-to-green moves, etc. Take screenshots. Mark up what made each one work.
This is about exposure. The more time you spend with a good setup, the faster your brain gets at spotting it.
And just as important, the better you’ll get at skipping the bad versions of that same setup (i.e., false breakouts).
If you can build those pattern-recognition skills now, you’ll never lack tradable setups.
#4 Enjoy Your Day Off
You can’t trade well if you’re burnt out, mentally exhausted, or unmotivated.
And a day with no price action is the perfect opportunity to reset.
I’m not saying you should sit on the couch eating potato chips and doom-scrolling on social media…
Do the 3 steps I laid out above. But after that…
Get outside, touch some grass, walk your dog, take your kids to the park. Do whatever makes you happy.
Hang out with people who couldn’t care less about charts, patterns, and tickers.
Consistently profitable trading starts with clear thinking.
And taking a much-needed break might just give you the mental clarity you need.
Have a great 4th of July,
Jack Kellogg
*Past performance does not indicate future results.
