NexusFi: Find Your Edge


Home Menu

 





Any way to test yourself mentally to know whether you're fit to trade this session?


Discussion in Psychology and Money Management

Updated
      Top Posters
    1. looks_one iqgod with 5 posts (11 thanks)
    2. looks_two Adamus with 3 posts (2 thanks)
    3. looks_3 lancelottrader with 3 posts (3 thanks)
    4. looks_4 treydog999 with 2 posts (1 thanks)
      Best Posters
    1. looks_one rahulgopi with 4 thanks per post
    2. looks_two lsubeano with 3 thanks per post
    3. looks_3 iqgod with 2.2 thanks per post
    4. looks_4 lancelottrader with 1 thanks per post
    1. trending_up 6,497 views
    2. thumb_up 28 thanks given
    3. group 11 followers
    1. forum 23 posts
    2. attach_file 1 attachments




 
Search this Thread

Any way to test yourself mentally to know whether you're fit to trade this session?

  #1 (permalink)
 
Adamus's Avatar
 Adamus 
London, UK
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader, home-grown Java
Broker: IB/IQFeed
Trading: EUR/USD
Posts: 1,085 since Dec 2010
Thanks Given: 471
Thanks Received: 789

Hi All,

this is something that maybe not many people have a problem with, but I for one seem to find it really difficult to judge whether I'm actually mentally fit to trade when I am about to start a trading session.

Sometimes I can't even tell when I'm tired and I have to ask myself if I've been yawning or how many hours I slept.

I know my mental state pretty much by the time I've finished the first trade, but that can be an expensive way to find out - if I wasn't doing it in sim.

I figured there might be a short mental test you can do, or maybe see what my score is for a game of Minesweeper, or whether I can do some mental arithmetic.

Does anybody else do this?

I figure I can save myself wasting my time trading when I'm not in a fit state. I could get some sleep or do something that doesn't require mental acuity.

Thanks!

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
Thanked by:

Can you help answer these questions
from other members on NexusFi?
NT7 Indicator Script Troubleshooting - Camarilla Pivots
NinjaTrader
NexusFi Journal Challenge - April 2024
Feedback and Announcements
My NT8 Volume Profile Split by Asian/Euro/Open
NinjaTrader
Exit Strategy
NinjaTrader
New Micros: Ultra 10-Year & Ultra T-Bond -- Live Now
Treasury Notes and Bonds
 
  #3 (permalink)
 
Adamus's Avatar
 Adamus 
London, UK
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: NinjaTrader, home-grown Java
Broker: IB/IQFeed
Trading: EUR/USD
Posts: 1,085 since Dec 2010
Thanks Given: 471
Thanks Received: 789


Still looking.

Short of getting an EEG machine, I can't find any obvious way to do it.

I need to know stuff like, how tired I am, how "in the zone" I am, whether I'm complacent, whether I'm anxious (about trading), whether I'm worrying about other things in my life (e.g. arguments with family / friends, accidents, other events).

I am thinking of simple stuff. I came up with one idea myself. If I want to test to see how risk-seeking my behaviour is right now, I should consider whether I think it's a good idea to play a round of Russian roulette.

I thought also maybe playing minesweeper or mah jong on my computer and judging the score against my average might be useful. However I think that there is a natural variability due to the way those games are set up.

You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you.
Follow me on Twitter Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Started this thread Reply With Quote
  #4 (permalink)
 lancelottrader 
west palm beach florida usa
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ninja trader
Broker: Optimus Futures/ Rithmic
Trading: NQ
Posts: 1,112 since Oct 2011
Thanks Given: 1,113
Thanks Received: 5,386


Adamus View Post
Still looking.

Short of getting an EEG machine, I can't find any obvious way to do it.

I need to know stuff like, how tired I am, how "in the zone" I am, whether I'm complacent, whether I'm anxious (about trading), whether I'm worrying about other things in my life (e.g. arguments with family / friends, accidents, other events).

I am thinking of simple stuff. I came up with one idea myself. If I want to test to see how risk-seeking my behaviour is right now, I should consider whether I think it's a good idea to play a round of Russian roulette.

I thought also maybe playing minesweeper or mah jong on my computer and judging the score against my average might be useful. However I think that there is a natural variability due to the way those games are set up.

Since I tend to trade moves in Cl that usually have some momentum and volatility on them, I find it very important that I am in an alert state..or else my timing could be off. I subscribe to a site called Lumosity, which are brain games designed to sharpen your cerebral skills.
Some mornings if I feel drowsy or somewhat out of it, I play a few of these games to see how I am responding. Usually, I know myself fairly well enough to know if I'm not ready.
I record all my trading sessions and I have a running commentary going. In that commentary I will evaluate my cognitive fitness for that morning. Again, I know myself well enough to usually tell. If I feel I'm not ready, I will usually not trade until I have deemed I am alert enough to engage the market. I may see a setup that looks good but I won't trade it..simply because I know my perception could be faulty. Also, in the past, when I traded while I was impaired, I tended to loosen up on my rules. This resulted in some big losses.
Unfortunately, I traded last Thursday knowing I had a bad hangover. Some friends I hadn't seen in a while came by the night before and the wine was flowing. I lost count of the glasses I drank and woke up feeling terrible. I decided to trade anyway and ended up hitting my maximum drawdown limit. This ended a pretty lengthy winning streak I had been on. When I watched my recorded session, I was surprised at how poor the setups were that I traded.
But there are probably certain little arithmetic equations you could do in the morning or video games(like you mentioned) to evaluate yourself. Again, the Lumosity site is good for warming up your brain.

Failure is not an option
Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #5 (permalink)
 
trendisyourfriend's Avatar
 trendisyourfriend 
Quebec Canada
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: NinjaTrader
Broker: AMP/CQG
Trading: ES, NQ, YM
Frequency: Daily
Duration: Minutes
Posts: 4,527 since Oct 2009
Thanks Given: 4,171
Thanks Received: 6,018

I found this article interesting:
How to Get into Your Zone - James Allworth - Harvard Business Review

Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #6 (permalink)
 
iqgod's Avatar
 iqgod 
Mumbai, India
Legendary Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ChartNexus
Trading: Stocks, Commodities, Futures
Posts: 1,802 since Feb 2012
Thanks Given: 3,658
Thanks Received: 3,097

Its time to hit bed so I'll make it brief:

An emWave2 Heart Rate Variability monitor tells me using LEDs where I am - I keep it connected to my earlobe where it takes my pulse and monitors my state in real-time.

If I connect it to a PC it even tracks my progress between two guiding rails graphically (the words "The Zone" are printed in between the rails or a "trend channel" if you please :-) )

Works somewhat for me and I can aim to stay in the zone if I find I am slipping out of the rails then I slow down my breathing and collect myself till I am in the zone again.

Visit my NexusFi Trade Journal Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #7 (permalink)
 
Traderwolf's Avatar
 Traderwolf 
Raleigh,NC
 
Experience: None
Platform: Versatile and Stable
Broker: Reliable and Accurate
Trading: Money
Posts: 250 since Feb 2012
Thanks Given: 154
Thanks Received: 1,028


lancelottrader View Post
I record all my trading sessions and I have a running commentary going. In that commentary I will evaluate my cognitive fitness for that morning.

@lancelottrader,

How do you go about recording your session? What software are you using?


Thanks,

Wolf

Reply With Quote
  #8 (permalink)
 lancelottrader 
west palm beach florida usa
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ninja trader
Broker: Optimus Futures/ Rithmic
Trading: NQ
Posts: 1,112 since Oct 2011
Thanks Given: 1,113
Thanks Received: 5,386


Traderwolf View Post
@lancelottrader,

How do you go about recording your session? What software are you using?


Thanks,

Wolf

I use a program called Screen Movie Studio. It's easy to use and doesn't use up a lot of Resources on your P.C. I store the recorded videos on a separate external Hard drive, so as not use up too much disk space on my P.C.

Failure is not an option
Reply With Quote
Thanked by:
  #9 (permalink)
 
treydog999's Avatar
 treydog999 
seoul, Korea
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Multicharts
Broker: CQG, DTN IQfeed
Trading: YM 6E
Posts: 897 since Jul 2012
Thanks Given: 291
Thanks Received: 1,039


iqgod View Post
Its time to hit bed so I'll make it brief:

An emWave2 Heart Rate Variability monitor tells me using LEDs where I am - I keep it connected to my earlobe where it takes my pulse and monitors my state in real-time.

If I connect it to a PC it even tracks my progress between two guiding rails graphically (the words "The Zone" are printed in between the rails or a "trend channel" if you please :-) )

Works somewhat for me and I can aim to stay in the zone if I find I am slipping out of the rails then I slow down my breathing and collect myself till I am in the zone again.

I was thinking about getting one of these. i know brett steenbarger recommended it. How do you like it?

Reply With Quote
  #10 (permalink)
 lancelottrader 
west palm beach florida usa
Market Wizard
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: ninja trader
Broker: Optimus Futures/ Rithmic
Trading: NQ
Posts: 1,112 since Oct 2011
Thanks Given: 1,113
Thanks Received: 5,386



iqgod View Post
Its time to hit bed so I'll make it brief:

An emWave2 Heart Rate Variability monitor tells me using LEDs where I am - I keep it connected to my earlobe where it takes my pulse and monitors my state in real-time.

If I connect it to a PC it even tracks my progress between two guiding rails graphically (the words "The Zone" are printed in between the rails or a "trend channel" if you please :-) )

Works somewhat for me and I can aim to stay in the zone if I find I am slipping out of the rails then I slow down my breathing and collect myself till I am in the zone again.

That sounds pretty good. I may look into that. Even after trading for several years, I tend to get some adrenaline..especially when I lose. But I guess it's pretty obvious when that happens. Not sure I need a monitor to tell me .
Maybe the monitor alerts you before you get the full blown physical symptoms. I definitely do the slow breathing as well. I have a machine called Resperate that helps pace your breathing. Great for lowering blood pressure as well.

Failure is not an option
Reply With Quote




Last Updated on March 22, 2016


© 2024 NexusFi™, s.a., All Rights Reserved.
Av Ricardo J. Alfaro, Century Tower, Panama City, Panama, Ph: +507 833-9432 (Panama and Intl), +1 888-312-3001 (USA and Canada)
All information is for educational use only and is not investment advice. There is a substantial risk of loss in trading commodity futures, stocks, options and foreign exchange products. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
About Us - Contact Us - Site Rules, Acceptable Use, and Terms and Conditions - Privacy Policy - Downloads - Top
no new posts