I’ve identified recently that one of the most important internal abilities a trader needs is a seemingly endless supply of resilience to take daily knocks in the market and get back up. For me this shows up as a “not happening day”…

Some days its happening, but some days its not. As soon as I realize I’m in a not happening day the most important thing to do is quit right now and start again tomorrow completely fresh. Just forget it, start over tomorrow.

Each day in the market has no connection for the trader to the one before, its a clean slate. You need to just bounce back like a ball, fresh as a daisy. The sins of yesterday are completely forgiven, but you will be judged on how you act today.

Strangely I notice that these days also often line up to some degree with market behavior. My not happening days can sometimes be accompanied by a daily print that whipsawed in an ugly confused fashion.

This is not always the case, sometimes the market trends cleanly but I just didn’t get what was going on, I was in the wrong state to be doing this. Other days my head is clear but the market is a nervous wreck.

It is a strength though to be able to realize quickly that today its just not happening for what ever reason and to leave it for another day. If I’m in a position and i feel like this, I’ll just cut it, start flat tommorow. Usually these are positions that are going nowhere or else going bad anyway.