Don't Burn The Candle At Both Ends
"The mind must be given relaxation — it will rise improved and sharper after a good break. Just as rich fields must not be forced — for they will quickly lose their fertility if never given a break — so constant work on the anvil will fracture the force of the mind. But it regains its powers if it is set free and relaxed for a while. Constant work gives rise to a certain kind of dullness and feebleness in the rational soul."
— Seneca, On Tranquility of Mind
An interesting meditation today and something that we can relate to trading for sure!
When I first started out trading, I was trying to trade as much as I could, with no real plan or strategy! I thought that the more I traded, the more money I would make; how wrong I was!
I soon realised that I needed a strategy and a set of rules/criteria to stick to and I also realised that quality over quantity and less is more were vital elements to successful and profitable trading.
When you are using strategies, that have a strict set of rules/criteria that must be met to qualify as a potential trade, this means that you will be taking quality trades less often.
By doing this, you are not jumping on trade after trade and you are getting more down time for rest and recuperation, away from the computer screen. This in turn keeps you sharp, focused and refreshed for when a potential trade fully meets the rules/criteria for your strategies. You are less likely to make mistakes, due to a lack of concentration and/or tiredness for example.
By using the historical stats/data that we have available,, we can determine if the probability of something happening, is in our favour; thus giving us our edge. This means that we will be correct in our analysis, many more times than when we will be wrong. So logically, as long as we can control our losses when a trade starts to go against us, early enough, we will be profitable long term because the profitable trades will far outweigh the occasional controlled losses.
This is why as soon as a trade goes in play you must adopt a neutral mindset, to be able to trade what you are seeing and not what you hope/expect to happen! You must have a pre-agreed exit point and you should know at what point you will exit, before you enter! Then it is a case of forcing yourself to pull the trigger if you hit that exit point, to preserve your trading bank and stay in the game, to fight the next battle.
So enjoy the down time between trades and don't be scratching around looking to force anything that doesn't meet you criteria, or trade on impulse; stick to your rules 100% of the time!Be kind to yourself and prepare for your trading session. Take a pre-trading walk to clear your head and reinforce your trading plan for the day. Take some time to have a few minutes of meditation to help you adopt the correct trading mindset and increase your concentration levels, before you commence trading. Then you can monitor and be ready to pounce when something meets your criteria.
The more you practice doing this, the better you will become, which will instil a confidence and belief in your trading and you will become more consistent. If you are prepared to put in the hard work, you will be rewarded for sure. Why not give it a try?