Technical glitches (more frustration and avoidance than angriness after many years of crappy tech). Flies in the room (maybe get more lamps?). Whatever broken interfaces brokers provide (so automate instead). Being angry and doing nothing about it is sign of immaturity.
Love the thread; love the responses; didn't think I had much to contribute. (As an option seller, working both sides of the market, I am wrong no matter what.) But I just realized, as a non-directional trader, what makes me mad when I trade: Days just like today. Days when vol shrinks down to nothing, days when my stuff on top of the market gets painfully squeezed into super-dense matter, with nothing on the bottom, OR on top farther out, for exits. "Fercrisakes!" I used to think vol under 11 was a joke. Vol under 10 was an eye-opener. (then) Vol over 12 was a gift. Vol under 9 was certainly something to write home about. (blah blah blah bee blah) And here we are again, with (VXST) kissing 8.frikken.0, $2 positions for next Friday having gone NOWHERE, and where do I get to roll 'em? Ohhhhhhh........ NOWHERE. I just hate that. Y'knowwwwwww? Just hate that. Great thread. Did I mention that? Great thread.
Dude seriously? So you can sit there calm as a hindu cow and feel nothing? Not even a raised pulse? I havent broken a keyboard before but I absolutely sympathise with anyone that does! Ill go smash a gym session and by the time Im back at the charts Im all loosey goosey and good to go again. Edit: And if I ran a prop firm and one of my colleagues got up and smashed his keyboard, Id probably get up and smash mine as well as a sign of solidarity. Like a bro code but different. Id also keep a huge pile of spare keyboards. Rather smash a keyboard and feel better about it than sit there seething angry inside and then revenge trading your money away. Yaknow where that leads dontchya?
Yep. Just numbers on a screen. You only have whats in front of you. What happened 10 seconds ago is ancient history. You either start winning or continue to loose. Emotions, while human, need to be checked at the door when you're trading. Thats probably why so many people fail. I'll say it once again... "you only have whats in front of you". Trade accordingly and get over the past.
Do you not even get frustrated with yourself? Even sometimes? I 100% agree with what you are saying and its a noble endeavour but you know these emotions are the damdest things they just pop in uninvited and sometimes they even bring a big stick with them and start beating that other thing Im trying to hold onto ...patience. Sometimes I win the battle, sometimes I lose and thats just how it goes in my world. Guess Im doomed to failure
Trades that immediately go against me and stop me out to the tick in a flash move, then immediately go in the direction I had originally planned. Even if I get back in and make a profit on that trade, it's still profit minus the previous loss, minus slippage (if any) and commissions.
There's a big difference between "frustration" and "anger". Anger leads to further mistakes. Frustration leads reflection. Study successful NCAA coaches. The ones that win. There's a lot one can learn there. We all lose from time to time... but anger gets you nowhere. Reflection does.
I used to get angry when I was trading futures, but 99% of that was my anger at the IB platform which just seemed buggy with Sierracharts. I was attemting to automate and the coding was a mamoth job, lots of trial and error, coding mistakes and long hours, lots of stress. I've reverted back to EOD trading stocks and I can't recall ever feeling angry re my trading since then, however saying that, it is EOD which is way more relaxing. What I do get grumpy about is having to look after my wife's hundreds of pot plants while she is away overseas on a trip. It's a responsibility I don't want forced on me, besides, I'm over gardening intensively, been there, done that, it's a pain in the bum now these days. It sometimes takes a couple hours a day to water them, feed, spray for bugs and just ensure they dont get burnt in the sun, eeehhhhhh!