Trader Mind Games

Sun Jul 28, 2013 5:57pm EST 1

I use the weekends to review all my trades. I’m sure many of you do the same. There’s beauty to data, it uncovers patterns and habits. Trading on a discretionary basis, no matter the instrument, is a mental process. This is the case more so if you’re a retail trader isolated from the trading community. That’s why it is vital to understand yourself as much as you do the markets.

I won’t get too deep into a cheap psychology lesson here because I’m no expert on these matters. I’m just a humble trader on the rise. I’ve noticed a pattern in my trades. After getting stopped out on a well planned trade I’ll take an unplanned trade. These unplanned trades have a 31% win rate mostly because there’s no confidence behind the position. I need to stop. A few twitter traders recommended The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. It contains some interesting case studies and one of the book’s cornerstones in The Habit Loop map.

Losing trades are part of the business, and I’ve accepted and even embraced my losses. But I need to eliminate the unplanned losses as they’re cutting into my bottom line. I built the following habit loop to give structure to a new method I’m adding to my trading repertoire this week. I call it The STOP Method©. (just kidding with the ©, you can use it).

Let me know if you love it. Let me know if you hate it. I want you to let me know if you’re a boss and don’t need any of these gimmicky tricks to become great. I put a link to the book below if you’re interested.