Does this sound familiar to anyone else?

[Trader Pat]

If you're that stressed you might be over staking.

When a trading session is done for me I don't even think about it. I might have a few ideas floating around in my head re automation but I sleep like a baby!

Thanks. How long have you been trading Pat? PR or IR?

Trading on and off since 2008 but have only been consistently profitable for the last 5 years or so. Pre Race on the horses but both PR and IR on other sports.

In the early days I blew a lot of banks and can remember the odd sleepless night because of it. Stress can come from whatever expectations you're putting on yourself. If you're trying to make a full time income from trading then that could send your stress levels through the roof. I'm lucky, I still work full time but I work shift work and I do the roster so I can give myself mostly night shifts and still get home early enough in the morning to get some sleep before getting involved in the markets. I think not being reliant on trading for a living helps keep the stress down, maybe one of the guys who makes a full time living from trading can give you some tips on reducing stress. If I had to rely on trading for a living I'm guessing my stress levels would increase!

Like I said originally though it could be over-staking, having expectations that are too high for where you are right now or it could be frustration around your trading itself. Might be an idea to keep a diary not of your trading but of how you feel at different points throughout a trading session. If there's something in particular that's triggering the stress doing that might help identify it.

Good luck

[jamesg46]

I think we need to dig a little deeper into what you're stressing over. When you're unable to sleep, what exactly is it that runs through your mind & keeps you awake? Are you stressing over the past or the future? Are you stressing about finances, decisions, opportunities etc etc.

Give some context to the stress & from there you'll either figure it out or someone who has experienced the same can offer insight to how they may of got past it.

When I get near any level of stress I simply just zoom out on my life and ponder the importance of my existence relative to billions of other people. I remind myself of my size in comparison to the universe, it sort of puts stress into the pointless category.

Finally, how does stress operate, is it something that just happens to people on Sundays when they're trying to get to sleep or is it self inflicted with a snow ball effect.

[jamesg46]

I get the impression that for some reason people seem to take on stress because it allows them to portray self importance.... it's a very popular trait in the workplace. I think it's either a ploy in an attempt to portray importance or it's a weakness in being able to manage your own decisions.

[darchas]

I think it's a really interesting topic. One thing to think about is how stress might accumulate. I notice this in my own trading from time to time. And it's not like one thing to pinpoint, but just the nature of being in front of a screen day after day isn't always the most healthy thing. So there can be an accumulated stress from that. Then if either a spell of things just not happening as I expect, the market behaving in ways I didn't anticipate, there isn't one big stress, but say two or three days in a row of something like that I think accumulates a tension that I know i need to release or it will harm my trading. Sometimes what I'll do is just take a complete break, keep the computer switched off, more often I'll do something trading related but different for a break. I might watch some old recordings I've made of me trading the ladder, looking for new opportunities. I might look at a completely different market. I might organise my results sheet etc. Just a refresh of the mind.

Another thing I think about that happens to me, is a bit harder to explain. Sometimes I am really engaged on trading when I'm working on new stuff. But sometimes I have to admit that trading can be really boring. Doing the same thing day in day out, banking those few ticks, repeat, switch off the computer. It can be a real grind. I'm taking the day off today and bringing my results up to date, and I realise it's been such a good month for me, one of my best months ever, but it's honestly felt the most repetitive, dull, stuck staring at a computer clicking buttons, month. So actually my day has been quite refreshing. So there's something about taking time to explore new things in trading, new approaches, some research, go through some data, anything to get the juices flowing again. That seems to help me dispel some of that accumulated stress which is often hard to diagnose because it can creep up on you.

[Realrocknrolla]

I think it's a really interesting topic. One thing to think about is how stress might accumulate. I notice this in my own trading from time to time. And it's not like one thing to pinpoint, but just the nature of being in front of a screen day after day isn't always the most healthy thing. So there can be an accumulated stress from that. Then if either a spell of things just not happening as I expect, the market behaving in ways I didn't anticipate, there isn't one big stress, but say two or three days in a row of something like that I think accumulates a tension that I know i need to release or it will harm my trading. Sometimes what I'll do is just take a complete break, keep the computer switched off, more often I'll do something trading related but different for a break. I might watch some old recordings I've made of me trading the ladder, looking for new opportunities. I might look at a completely different market. I might organise my results sheet etc. Just a refresh of the mind.

Another thing I think about that happens to me, is a bit harder to explain. Sometimes I am really engaged on trading when I'm working on new stuff. But sometimes I have to admit that trading can be really boring. Doing the same thing day in day out, banking those few ticks, repeat, switch off the computer. It can be a real grind. I'm taking the day off today and bringing my results up to date, and I realise it's been such a good month for me, one of my best months ever, but it's honestly felt the most repetitive, dull, stuck staring at a computer clicking buttons, month. So actually my day has been quite refreshing. So there's something about taking time to explore new things in trading, new approaches, some research, go through some data, anything to get the juices flowing again. That seems to help me dispel some of that accumulated stress which is often hard to diagnose because it can creep up on you.

Love that.

I, myself also, spend more time looking for opportunities rather than trading for the sake of it.

I learnt early on that overtrading isn’t effective at all for me. I can achieve so much more in a 4 hour session than 8.