Trading can create a significant amount of stress. The curious thing is that the body/mind is designed to adapt to stress. As a result, we may fail to realize that we are stressed out, because we may be numbed out or intensely preoccupied.
Here’s an inventory of common trader behaviors that may signify excessive stress and some examples of what might cause them.
12 SIGNS OF STRESS
1) A vivid fantasy of making lots of money today.
2) Feelings of invulnerability.
3) Eating breakfast or lunch at your trading desk.
4) Hyperfocus on price bars as they form.
5) Talking out loud to the market.
6) Bargaining with the market about an open position.
7) Cursing at the market.
8) Expressing irritation at partner, kids, pets, plants, inanimate objects.
9) Trading in your underwear(!)
10) Sudden urge to increase position size or frequency.
11) Canceling or moving stops for no good reason
12) Adding to a losing position.
12 TRADER STRESSORS
1) Lack of a clearly defined trading system.
2) Trading a system too complicated for your skill level.
3) Trading a timeframe too fast for your bio-logical CPU (too many decisions per minute).
4) Trading a new system, indicator, market or timeframe with real money, not SIM.
5) Excessive Multitasking while trading:
- Talking on the phone
- Googleing
- Fixing food
- Checking/writing/sending email
- Checking news
- Listening to CNBC.
- Multiple chat/signal rooms
6) Trading when overtired or with little sleep.
7) Trading when physically ill.
8) Trading when you have family (interpersonal) issues.
9) Trading under financial stress (serious debt).
10) Trading too large a share/contract size for your account.
11) Trading live with a history of scary/painful market experiences.
12) Negative Self-Talk.
If your trading results need improvement, shift your focus from The Market and The Money to your own state of mind. Your trading might get a lot easier and more profitable at the same time.
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Join Dr. Kenneth Reid, a trading coach, each Wednesday on TraderPlanet for The Dr. Is In column.
Read another story by Reid here.
