The following questionnaire asks you to assess your emotional experience during your trading. Specifically, you’ll be rating how often you’ve experienced the following feelings over the past two weeks. Below, I’ll explain how to score the questionnaire; please complete the items before looking at the scoring. My next post will explain how to interpret your results.

Please use the following scale for your responses:

1 = rarely
2 = occasionally
3 = sometimes
4 = often
5 = most of the time

1) I feel happy when I’m trading __5___
2) I feel stressed when I’m trading __1___
3) I feel alert and energetic when I’m trading __5___
4) I feel discouraged when I’m trading __1___
5) I feel capable of succeeding at my trading __5___
6) I blame myself when my trading doesn’t work out __5___
7) I feel satisfied with my trading results __5___
8) I feel edgy and frustrated when I’m trading __1___
9) I feel in control of what happens in my trading __5___
10) I make impulsive decisions when I’m trading __1___

SCORING

Add the scores for the odd items. That is your positive emotional experience score: __30___
Add the scores for the even items. That is your negative emotional experience score: __4__

The ratio of your positive to negative experience is one of the most important psychological contributors to your trading performance. My next posting will explain why.

30/4 = 7.5

An important research review in the Annual Review of Psychology by psychologists Richard Ryan and Edward Deci examined what we know about positive emotional experience or what is often called subjective well-being (SWB). We often hear about how important it is to minimize stress, but an increasing body of research emphasizes that it is more critical to maximize our well-being.