What I Did While Markets Were Closed (And Why It’ll Make Me Money in Q1)

Markets were closed yesterday.

But my edge wasn’t.

While most traders treated Christmas like a complete break from anything market-related, I spent the day doing something that’s going to give me a clearer head when we’re back to business January 6th.

I wasn’t analyzing charts (kind of hard when nothing’s moving). I wasn’t cramming new strategies or reading trading books. I was doing something much more valuable:

I was studying myself.

See, Christmas shopping taught me something about trading that no market hours ever could.

I procrastinated until the last minute – thought December 24th was the 23rd and had to panic-shop for everyone. Should have been a disaster. Instead, it was clean execution under pressure.

Two hours. Done. No second-guessing, no overthinking every purchase.

Why? Because pressure creates clarity.

When you don’t have time to overthink, you either know what works or you don’t. You either execute or you fail.

That urgency? That’s when I make my cleanest trades.

What market downtime actually teaches you:

While the markets were closed, I realized something I already knew but hadn’t connected: my best trading sessions happen when I have that same decisive mindset. When I’m not overthinking every setup, just acting on what I know works.

Charts don’t trade themselves. You do.

Most traders will spend the next 10 days analyzing setups and tweaking strategies. The profitable ones will spend it understanding their own patterns:

• When do I make my best decisions?
• What emotional states produce my worst trades?
• How do I create the right mindset on demand?

What I learned about my own trading:

I perform better when I’m slightly pressed for time. When I have to trust my preparation instead of second-guessing everything in real-time. When I commit to action instead of finding reasons to wait.

So instead of promising to “be more disciplined” in 2025, I’m designing my trading environment to create that optimal state more consistently.

Your market-closed homework:

The next time you have downtime from the markets, don’t just disconnect completely. Use it to study your own patterns:

• Look at your best trading days from 2024. What was different about your mindset?
• Identify the emotional states that consistently cost you money
• Figure out what external factors help you make better decisions

The edge everyone misses:

Technical analysis tells you what the market might do. Self-analysis tells you what you’ll actually do when it matters.

Guess which one determines your P&L?

Markets reopen Monday. While everyone else is still shaking off holiday brain fog, you could be ready to act with clarity they don’t have.

Because the best traders aren’t the ones who never take breaks – they’re the ones who use downtime to get sharper.

Time to get uncomfortable. Time to get honest about what really drives your trading decisions.

The Q1 opportunity is coming. Are you ready to act when it matters?

P.S. Speaking of using downtime to prepare for execution… Mark didn’t take Christmas off either. He spent it analyzing post-Quad Witching order flow, and tomorrow (December 30th) he’s placing 7 Zero-Decay Trades based on what he found. 

VIX at multi-month lows, institutional positioning completely one-sided into 2026, and volume patterns screaming opportunity. 

Last year these same holiday setups went 6 for 7 with 67% average gains. Join Special Situations before these trade drop – because the traders who use downtime to prepare are the ones who execute when it counts.