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Only 45 minutes to trade today, here's how I'm using them

I've got an appointment later and I only have about forty five minutes at the London open this morning. It's a good test of whether my plan is simple enough, so I'm posting it.

With a short window, I'm not going to try to do anything fancy. One pair, EURUSD, one setup, the London range break with a retest on M5. I'll have the levels marked before the window starts so I'm not scrambling.

The risk is that having a time limit makes me want to force a trade before time runs out. So the rule is if nothing has set up by the time I have ten minutes left, I don't take a trade just because the clock is ticking. I close the platform and go.

I'd rather have a day with no trades than a rushed trade I'm uncomfortable with. I'll update after the window.

Short windows are actually where I think a lot of people do their best trading, because there is no time to overthink or overtrade. The ten minute rule is a good one. The temptation near the end of the window is real, and it is usually a marginal setup that looks better than it is because the clock is running. Having levels marked before the window opens makes a huge difference. If I start marking levels when the window opens, half of it is gone already.

Something I would add is a hard exit plan for any open trade when the window ends. If I am in a trade and my time is up, I either close it or leave it running on its stop and target and accept that I am not managing it. What I will not do is keep watching it on my phone in the appointment. Making that call before the window opens keeps me from improvising when the clock runs out.