Anxious: Am I prepared? Can I afford to lose what I am risking? Am I breaking my rules? Did I drink too much caffeine?
Anger: Have I not moved from the last trade? Am I tired? Is there conflict in my personal life?
Happiness: Are psychological gains more important than monetary gain? Am I overconfident?
Indifference: Do I care? Is something more important?
It is natural to feel emotion but in an appropriate and proportional way.
Anxious:
To this day, the first trade always produces a little anxiety. That little tingle in your stomach and shallow breathing. The same is true when I a trade I have been waiting for sets up. Above that, I know there is something wrong.
Anger and Happiness:
I am angry after a negative outcome and happy after a positive outcome but in order to adapt more quickly I have to remove emotion from the outcome as soon as possible. It is more important to focus on what happened and less how I feel about it. Prolonged feelings of anger or happiness causes risk blindness and impedes my learning. Misjudging risk will prevent me from taking a trade or taking too much risk. (more…)