This may seem like a question that can be answered with a bit of discipline... and yes, it is... I am still relatively a new trader. I have my winning streaks. However, I am not there yet to take the right decision no matter what. On more than a couple of occasions I was in a situation when I wasn't in the right state of mind to trade. I didn't have enough sleep, I was anxious about private life, I had a hangover, I felt like a looser because I lost a few card games.... Normally, I shouldn't trade in such a state as I know from experience there is 80% chance of having a big loss against 20% chance of having a moderate profit. What I notice is I often start and continue trading on such days. First I am getting passionate about performance targets I may have... and I feel obliged to trade.... because I don't think straight hope replaces common sense. After I have a first loss, I run into a bigger loss while trying to recover and trading on pure hope. Are there any thoughts or ideas or repeatable "mantras" that stop you from trading when you know you shouldn't?
>>> I didn't have enough sleep, I was anxious about private life, I had a hangover, I felt like a looser because I lost a few card games.... Trading is a business. You need to treat it as such. Some people are excited about trading every waking moment. Some people see it as what they must do everyday to make ends meet. Regardless how you see it, it is still a business. As such, you need to be serious and give it your commitment. The market is not up to you to control. But your lifestyle is. It is no different than going to work, reporting to a boss. In trading, you are your own boss. Having a hangover on a trading day... that is not an excuse. >>> Are there any thoughts or ideas or repeatable "mantras" that stop you from trading when you know you shouldn't? Here is what I do for myself. I picked a few memorable stupid trades that I did. I captured the charts, my orders (entries, exits), how much money I lost on that trade, along with my annotations describing what happened, and why I made the trade. Make sure the details of each trade fits on one page. I printed it. In color. I taped these printouts on the wall of my trading room. Whenever I get in to the room or get up take a break, I can see all my stupid trades... reminding me not to make the same mistakes again.
Make a fixed rule-put it down in writing, read your plan everyday-it will help. Just have a fixed stop for each day-once you lsoe that amount stop trading. When you are new biggest thing is you cant get up from the chair once you sit down--it just takes practise--try getting up and leaving fora few minutes at a time.
When I sell low and expect it to go lower only to foolishly end up losing out on lots of time as the currency pair I'm trading in zooms upward instead. I think I need to imprint this into my brain. Buy Low - Sell High It's been almost two weeks I've been waiting for the damn rates to drop to where they were before so I can get my money back still hasn't happened yet. My money isn't necessarily at risk because I have enough margin to deal with the velocity of my currency pair now unlike the others but it's like a kind of unbearable mental torture. psst, "Buy Low - Sell High" is the mantra for this lesson
I guess I should taek more responsibility. There are a number of activities I can be good at when I am tired or distressed but trading is not one of those yet. That's an interesting idea! The worst thing one can do is repeating his/her own mistakes again and again....
Fixed stop for a day/week should help preserve capital, which is of atmost importance, but it doesn't help to get the psychology right....
I think what you suggets is more of a trading system than psychological approach. "Buy Low - Sell High"doesn't exactly apply to trading trends as you wait for a trend to form and never buy the exact low.... I would reword this "Wait for a good level and never rush into a trade. Missed opportunity doesn't hurt as much as a realised loss."
You can get with your broker and cut you off at a certain money loss for the day, that will make to trade tighter. I still trade though when something is eating at me and quit faster for the day once I make my goal instead of trading all day.
While this is a good idea, I prefer to annotate my mistakes, analyze them, and then put them away. If I look at anything more than a couple of times, it's my past successes, not failures.