What makes you angry when you trade?

Look, I've been reading your posts. You probably ought to consider stopping trading. It just doesn't work that way. Even if you are profitable now, you'll probably sabotage yourself or already do. There's conflict here, written on the walls of ET.
 
The market is a really expensive place to find out who you really are. Till then you get to play out your drama over and over.
 
I still say the all time winner is Bobby Knight throwing the chair. I just watched the video on YouTube, and I must say I feel better afterwards. He was much more deliberate than I remember. His team was getting shafted, so he did something. I know in baseball the umpires will say that they can sometimes tell when a manager wants to get thrown out of the game. I always saw it as a calculated move to defend their team, maybe wake them up. But that's professional behavior still. If you're scaring your own dog or girlfriend, that's bad. Your out of your mind. Ask me how I know.
 
Cswim63 said:
Look, I've been reading your posts. You probably ought to consider stopping trading. It just doesn't work that way. Even if you are profitable now, you'll probably sabotage yourself or already do. There's conflict here, written on the walls of ET.
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Sabotage, my friend, is bottling everything up and pretending that you have control over your biological impulses.
When someone tells me they dont care then one of two things:
  1. You are trading for fun. The money doesnt matter.
  2. You are lying and want to get semantic on the definition on difficult vs hard vs irritated vs exasperating vs whatever else there is.
Trading is the hardest journey you will ever undertake. To sit there while you are getting smoked in a trade and pretend to be un-emotional about it because someone online says so is a recipe for disaster in my opinion. Dont listen to those charlatans, rather learn to accept that you have emotions and learn to deal with those emotions in a constructive manner. If smashing a keyboard helps then do it - rather in than out I always say.

Seriously you cannot stop an emotion from happening just like you cannot stop a thought from popping up. Youre human not a robot and anyone telling you otherwise is full of it.
 
Hmmm. Going to think about that one. I tend to agree with the part about having emotions and not controlling them. I just find that acting on anger creates more anger. Not useful. I've noticed that I'm just not as angry as I used to be. Mostly it's because I have taken responsibility for my feelings. Somehow I don't put myself in compromising positions like I used to. Taking heat on a position--well, I'm just wrong, and probably too big as usual. We always have a choice. I appreciate your candor though. Too many sheep out there who can't speak up.
 
What I would say is that anger has a positive purpose, just like all of the emotions. If someone comes in the house and tries to eat my lunch, I'm not going to like it. If the market tries to take my lunch, it's different. I put on the trade knowing it might not work. Big difference.
 
Maybe you could look at it like I try to-- if I'm in a position and I feel anger rising up, maybe I'm not supposed to be in that position. I truly believe that my innermost self knows what's best for me. It's trying to tell me something if I'll only listen. You can substitute the word universe or God for inner self. I would say that's the one thing that has made me begin to be successful at this game. Try it it works.
 
I highly recommend you post your trades. When I put them up for everyone else to see, it seems to take some of the emotional energy out of it. Plus it's a way of being responsible, accountable. I try to post most of my stuff in another thread here, and I get feedback from another insightful trader, which is really, really helpful. Try it it works.
 
Cswim63 said:
I highly recommend you post your trades. When I put them up for everyone else to see, it seems to take some of the emotional energy out of it. Plus it's a way of being responsible, accountable. I try to post most of my stuff in another thread here, and I get feedback from another insightful trader, which is really, really helpful. Try it it works.
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Thanks for your suggestions. I think I have come across the wrong way in this thread. Im not an angry trader at all. I win and lose many trades which all of which go in my spreadsheet. There are times however when I notice myself weaker than usual such as when I havent eaten properly, or tired from poor sleep, or something else in life is aggravating me (paying bills). These are times I tend to be less disciplined and fight a trend when I should be going with it - thats when I get mad at myself for noticing weakness but ignoring it and instead thinking to myself 'I got this'. Im never angry with the market its just numbers and pattern fractals.
In fact if you're into this sort of thing then check out the Barnsley Fern: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnsley_fern

What is the link for your journal?
 
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