Discipline

Trading is often about how to take the appropriate risk without exposing yourself to very human flaws.
stueytrader
Posts: 863
Joined: Tue Dec 15, 2015 6:47 pm

eightbo wrote:
Wed Jun 05, 2019 7:52 pm
stueytrader wrote:
Wed Jun 05, 2019 1:00 pm
I've been someone who could have benefited from perspective to help my discipline a few times over the years. Trading stress is worth considering in this area as a related issue, as I think discipline and stress are complementary issues for us traders.
Reducing stress is huge.

I've recently begun to frame each day around the idea of having a stress-free day first with profit becoming secondary. Often I'm not making as much as I could be but at the end of each day, my mood is consistently "normal", as opposed to commonly finishing on a high or a low which feels much more sustainable and conducive to long-term success. Generally, this is all reflected by less volatility in the P&L.

For myself, pushing the risk tolerance is my main source of stress so taking smaller positions also makes the discipline "easier" (for lack of a better word). Also, trading fewer markets provides extra breathing room to allow any stress which has built up more time to alleviate.

I encourage others struggling with discipline to start utilising stress as an indicator. One that will lead you to areas of your trading which may be beneficial for you to adjust. Start journalling instances where you feel stress if you're not already and seek to eradicate severe cases.
The concept being that by reducing our stress levels, we're putting ourselves in a position to make higher quality decisions when trading.

I'd add that some stress is healthy and is a part of growth so the goal shouldn't be to eradicate it completely but rather to find and remove unjustified instances / excess amounts.
Great post - said what I've been thinking for a while about stress and discipline, but better expressed than I'd managed to formulate!
I totally agree that pushing the stress boundaries is often closely related to discipline, tilt etc. In the past, I've pushed myself way too much in terms of stress and ended up out of control. I still have elements of that, for sure, though not as bad as in my past. It's a great area to keep working on in self development.
soccersaint
Posts: 79
Joined: Fri Sep 01, 2017 1:10 pm

Someone quoted discipline being 90% of a traders successs...ummm...I think not...it’s important but not that important.

Anyway, there’s some good advice in the thread for anyone struggling to balance their emotions and trading.

I tend to feel keeping it simple is the best way forward. I mean look at what is causing the emotion of stress, unhealthy stress is a WARNING indicator right. Identify what it’s warning you about:

Money - warning of over risk and trading too big
Trade Selection - warning of a poor trade that doesn’t fit your strategy
Etc Etc
Look at the stress indicator as your friend not foe, it is often in those moments of stress that our greatest insights and learnings occur.

If we don’t learn and it gets out of control it can then turn to anger...
If that does happen when you are feeling angry in that moment...try to stop and ask why ? Identify the why and you are one step closer to eliminating the stress !

Many accounts are blown through chasing and revenge trading which is always anger based or motivated by Fear of Loss .....Ding Ding !

There has been a lot written about the psychology of trading so I think we should all be a lot wiser by now about our own individual characters.
Finding out what’s pushing those buttons is the first place to start,

Good Luck and remember to Keep It Simple 8-)
Post Reply

Return to “Trading Psychology”