RELAX. Seriously, think about all the things that make you stress-tense up. For each one, RELAX. Know that being stressed is not going to help. You probably put a lot of effort into your trading, so put some of it into Relaxing. Avoid the Dentist Chair syndrome. Most people just thinking about the dentist stresses them. personally, I try to fall asleep while in the chair. One pro described it as "dispassionately, interested". I have a lot of rules I follow so I know what to do in just about every situation. Then I follow them and relax. Play the long game.
That's what I thought. Apparently they're making dental crowns out of it now. Maybe I can now impress a lady at a local fossil and mineral show. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.co...h/bridges-and-crowns/what-are-zirconia-crowns
Focus on lowering your size till you improve your win ratio. You need to keep track of your statistics. You should have clear trade setups that you recognize and know have an edge for example a win% over 55%. Have a set daily stop loss that you will honor. Say for example $ 500.00. Once you reach that you stop trading. This way you are preventing unlimited losses for the day. Your having stress because you don't feel in control of your system and you don't believe it works.
Fascinating, I feel like I just entered the underbelly of the trader's world! Since joining this forum, all I read are tough guy advice... Follow your plan! Stay dispassionate ! Real traders don't cry? Goodness it's a river! But I'm glad to read that cold, alpha male image is mostly show and the reality is, stress is eating you up like it should. As a newbie (when do I get to shed that label?) who discovered that 2021 is much harder to trade than 2020 was, stress and its management has been my primary focus. I had absolutely no stress trading in 2020 because I made very few bad trades, but when I started screwing up in 2021, I discovered lots of emotions I did not expect, such as doubt, frustration, despair or anger, followed by jaw, neck or back pain... what had been a fun, side activity was becoming stressful and unpleasant. I realized things had to change or I'd just as well put my money in some fund and return to enjoying my life doing other stuff. That's when I started looking seriously into various trading methods (scalping? Too stressful, buying to dip? Even more stressful) to rekindle with the satisfaction I had last year. I came to understand that there's no one successful method over all others, that the method must adapt to one's personality and not the other way around. I'm comfortable trading on educated guess, something a meticulously detailed method based trader would likely find too stressful. But when I trade that way my stress level shoots up; I'm too close to the analytic when I need an overview. Trading to your personality instead of trying to fit within a methodology will help take some of the stress away. For me timing is key because I don't trade on method. I have to constantly remind myself that I don't need to trade just because I'm in front of the screen and market is open. Releasing myself from the obligation of trading also helps to keep stress away. I pick and choose my moves when my confidence is greatest. A positive trade further increases my confidence while a loss is the opportunity to analyse why. But when I gave myself a time slot with an expected result, I'd simply bundle stress in a straight jacket. Finally, physical repercussions of stress (jaw, neck, back, wrist, fingers, but also cancer, strokes...) can be treated with sports, breathing, yoga, etc. but these won't disappear until you address the source of your stress.
Stress comes from not knowing what to do. If you have a well thought out plan before you enter the trade outlining how you will react to every possible situation there is no stress, only process.
Driving is a habitual experience. We don't actively think much when driving. It's a routine. It's nice when trading is the same way but quite often it's not, there are new special situations and unique stressors.
Lay off the coffee and tea and sugar. Stick to water only. Markets are already nerve-arousing, you don't need more arousal with caffeine and the depression with the sugar falling. Sprint for 20 minutes before trading. Several sets of as fast as you can. Try these two and see.
Good insight.... from my TQM/quality management years... process is everything. I used to use flowcharts to map out and improve trading processes. Automatic OTO conditional trades are a big help with discipline, and managing multiple positions. I like these fitness bar weights in addition to dumbbells