This bears repeating. And repeating. It answers your questions and it's that simple (and that difficult). It's the old Yoggi Berra line: If you don't know where you're going, how will you know when you get there? You know why BSAM's response is a trading cliche? Because it's an absolute truth, that's why cliches become cliches. You have to already know what you will do in every possible circumstance before you ever undertake the trade. Tension is born out of ignorance and indecision. Good planning is the key to long-term success in almost any endeavor or profession. Think of a job, any job, that is done well. It will require a plan w/contingencies - lawyer, stockbroker, doctor, olympic athlete, airplane pilot, manager of whatever business... If you're not prepared w/alternatives for whatever circumstances in which you may find yourself you won't know how to deal w/that particular situation in the moment. This doesn't mean you can't be creative and intuitive, a good plan should be adaptable, but successful improvisation is built on a firm foundation that you already know is workable. Tension also comes from the second-guessing that happens afterwards - "I should have done this or that". When you have a specific plan, even when you lose, which of course you will, you are able to pinpoint what happened and say "Ok, this was an acceptable loss because of such and such." It's not a big deal because losses should be part of any trading plan. You should know your money management stuff inside-out - risk/reward, win/loss, blah blah. There are plenty of threads on this subject. This tells you if you're on plan and how well it's working. W/a plan you can also analyze to see if any particular aspect that you see going wrong w/in the trade needs to be adjusted - later. A plan is a plan is a plan, but it's not meant to be a static, dead thing, but rather an living organism that evolves as market circumstances and your education and experience dictate. But that refining of the trade always, always comes afterwards, not during, and that evolution and analysis afterwards should also be part of your overall plan. So what is there to be tense about if you've already worked out every circumstance and your reaction regarding the trade beforehand, during, and afterwards? Also, generally, and these are cliches also, you should work-out and get good sleep to release overall tensions in your life. These will take away from your trading ablities, as they will any profession or undertaking. H
If you are trading "story stocks with crazy movement", then your stress and anxiety comes with the territory. IMO, and in my experience, you'll burn yourself out unless you get a systemized approach to trading.
This can be applied to stress as well as sleep deprivation... http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=955135#post955135 especially the last paragraph...
I started taking viagra in my early sixties; it helped me to calm down my trading during market hours from the open until about four hours into the day after that it seemed to wear off and I was pretty excited in the pm hours. The daily profit build ups then in the pm were part of the picture I guess. The last type of excitement I had to get under control (not the right word) was the FTT.
You don't want to get rid of every anxious feeling during the trading day, the last thing you want to do is sit back serenely while the market blows through your stop-limit order and leaves it hanging. When it comes to personal emotional peaks and valleys, the key is not in fighting the feelings but in disconnecting them from your trigger finger. In fact, if you know how to "read" your own emotional responses, they can often help with the p/l in surprisingly consistent ways -- ie, exiting a position upon the first expletive out of your mouth.
inhaling cigar smoke is a bad idea (worse than cigarettes) because Nicotine speeds your heart rate, restricts blood flow, and acts as a stimulant. PUFFING on a cigar has none of these effects, so it couldn't really stress you out any more than you already are. If you regularly smoke cigars or pipe tobacco, then feeding the dependency of your habit (not addiction, nicotine must be inhaled or ingested to become addictive; regularly duct taping Skoal to your forehead will not progress into a chemical addiction like it would if placed in your mouth) could easily help calm you down, or relieve stress. Furthermore, these are much better pictures of Jessica Alba...
ATTN ALL NEWBIES: Here's a guy on ET who knows about trading. Pay attention to the postings of this individual if you want to learn something. Good post, Hcour! Myself.....It took me years before I even began to grasp what daytrading was about. No wonder so many fail at this. They simply don't have the dedication / persistence, enough money, and/or (and I think this is a big one) enough time away from their regular job to really figure out what works in the market and how to apply it.....i.e.---a trading plan.