Trading is a waiting game. Waiting for a setup, waiting to get stopped or hit target. I see nothing wrong with a little masturbation during the waiting period.
Just my 2 c on the games, porn while waiting. I think that listening to business radio( or Chip Flory as I am an ag trader) is the best thing to do while waiting/lightly trading, you can also watch movies, but don't do anything that requires some kind of involvement( writing mails, posting on ET which is exactly what I am doing now , games...).
===Was taking small stops all day today in crude and got down a little bit, instead of stopping for the day or switching to sim=== The series of stops (small or big - just a matter of the method allowance) usually is the indication that either method or trader does not work properly... usually its the method: it does not indicate to the trader that its a time to switch to a different period, or it lucking some important aspect to asses current market condition. ====I thought it would be a great idea to 5x my size and a super tight stop=== The size of the stops and of the position should be dictated by the method ! When in a middle of the trading trader decides to deviate from the method - trader does not work properly. =====I'm sure other experience this dipshit decision making blackout from time to time, what do you do to be sure you are 100% surgical and always act in your own best interest?=== well, there are few mistakes: You did not realize that your method stoped working in current market situation or even worth -you realized that its not working and instead of getting out and continue to work on method (on paper) you started doing changes on the run - not good. about being surgical, one is as surgical as surgical one's method, one can never beat his own method, that's why one should never try to outsmart the method... you can either work by the method or without it (u started working without it)... and working without the method is dilettantism - something we here try to avoid how to avoid straying away from the method? Before moving his finger any trader always should ask himself simple question: "Is what I am planning to do really by the method?" and do it only if answer is "yes". The class of the the trader is not only in developing the great method (the one that works in almost any situation) but also in properly applying this method. Like in chess: one can know the theory but miss something on the board while playing and does not apply his own theory properly...
Do you have a daily stop loss limit? Set it and respect it, because your trading career depends on it.
What's more relevant is whether he truly has a competitive advantage, or not. No edge, no trading career. Forget all the psychology risk management bullshit. Easy fix for that.
How was that possible, method or psychology? The latter can be harder since doubling down are so often rewarded, until it's not. If not in Plan or reproducible, not part of any edge.