Success in day trading is all about precision and timing. However, when I spot multiple opportunities during live trading, sometimes I get the "deer in the headlights" reaction and by the time I snap out of it the stock has already taken off without me in it. Besides more screen time and practice, I am looking for ways to improve my reaction time and decisiveness so I don't miss opportunities. Any suggestions or book recommendations are welcome.
interesting topic. Two most important Mind managment/control words for trading are CALM and ALERT. What is calm? - ability to center your mind ALL the time. ie you don't think / feel the extreme like fear/anxiety/worry or reckless / angry / frustrated - you don't have OCD Obsessive compulsive Disorder thinking, - you don't think about past problems, you don't worry about the future - non judgmental. you don't see things as good or bad. You see things as neutral. You don't get elated when you earn tons of money. You don't feel angry when you lose tons of money. When you are calm, your mind is free from negative thoughts. Your body is free from negative emotions. Your focus is on the present moment. When you are calm, you feel light, not burden by heavy weights. You will be able to make wise smart decision, and you will be able to go to next stage which is ALERT. You will be able to focus your attention on trading and not distracted by trading problems and trading losses and family problems etc. When you are alert, you will be able to pull the trigger without hestitation, without second thought. Our subconscious mind could be causing all these negative thoughts and emotion over and over again throughout our life. We have our consicious mind to neutralise all these negative thoughts and emotions. Diffferent traders exercise their mind differently. These are the various techniques : - definitely physical exercise - meditation like Qi meditation .... - yoga - chakra - tap meridian points - massage - psycho cybernectics - spiritual retreat - listen to music ....
We offer Hot Keys and Hot buttons but I would not say faster is always better. Know what you are looking for and be confident. Be prepared. Sometime a little lag to double check is OK. Bob
That is called the "psychological gap" all traders have experienced it at some point. Best way to overcome it is by creating "flow". Reduce your number of trades and cut down your position sizes thus you are not married to the outcome of each trade therefore slowly building confidence in your process then the gap will shrink. Best of luck!
I am not sure how yoga or meditation will help you to think or react faster. I suggest you take up an activity like table tennis that requires quick decisions and movements, plus you will get some exercise. I am not talking about the table tennis that people play in their basements. Check the internet and find a table tennis clubs, where you will find some guys playing like this:
different people reacts differently to various techniques. If playing table tennis helps you, then that's good for you.
Scalping and timing stock for tiny profits will make you psycho and paranoid. Not to mention huge commissions and tiny profits. You should instead just time and trade the one or two or three major moves during the day for the broad market. Not stock, but options/leverage/futures. Doing this will make your time more worthwhile.
Keeping a log coupled to the fractal you trade. For me, it's a spectrum of the weekly, daily, 30m, & 5min. Good software can link trendline and channel drawings across all timescales. Intraday, the 30m and 5min are the ones that are annotated and logged. By annotating, it's the drawing of tapes, traverses, channels, and sequences of events as well as volume formations. In logging, turns are noted as well as current trends. At the end of each bar, it's formation is noted and a decision is made. So each 5 min bar requires a decision, even if most of the time it is hold. The repetitions build capacity.
When you freeze, what are you doing? You're thinking, right? What are you thinking about? Are you analyzing this setup that you know works 90% of the time? Are you doubting or questioning the setup? Are you thinking "What if......"? Are you looking for confirmation that the setup will work? Are you looking for a reason not to buy? Are you bias to a larger time frame? Do you fear that this is a trap? Are you thinking "But it might......"? Determine what you're doing in your freeze mode and than ask yourself if it's necessary with a setup that works 90% of the time. And do that at the time it occurs. If your setup works 90% of the time, what's there to think about? Buy them all without thinking. Just keep in mind that you'll come out plus on balance.