Losing days are inevitable in trading. If you cannot get comfortable with red days, trading is not the profession for you. If you don’t know how to deal with losing days in a healthy manner, you will open yourself up to more losing days, and even more potential personal and mental issues. If you cannot put them in perspective or learn how to cope with them properly, it is very easy to get in a series of bad habit loops. Here are 5 healthy and productive things to do after a tough trading today.
1. Focus On the Big Picture
One of the worst things you can do in trading is getting too focused on the day to day PNL swings. What occurs in one trading day does not mean you are a successful or failure of a trader. Trading progress occurs over the course of weeks and months. If you are still green on the week or month, it puts the red day in perspective. If you are still red on the week or month, it gives you something to reflect about. Look at all of your red days of the month and figure out what they have in common, and figure out what you need to change. Study your green days and see what they have in common and figure what you need to do to make them happen repeatedly.
2. Exercise
Physical exercise is one of the best ways to relieve stress after a tough trading day. As traders, it is easy to neglect your physical health. Trading is time-consuming, mentally and physically exhausting. Exercise will put you in a good mood and keep you healthy. The discipline to exercise regularly carries over to your trading. If you can instil discipline routines in other areas of your life, you are more likely to adhere to a successful trading routine as well.
3. Get Away From The Screens
It is a good idea to get some fresh air and get away from the markets for a bit after a bad day. This will give your brain a break, and also keep you from overtrading and making your day even worse. Once you have gotten away from the screens for a bit, you should go back and look over your trades from that day.
4. Reflect On Your Trades From The Day
You need figure what you did wrong that day (if anything), and what you can do to prevent it in the future. Not all red days are the result of bad trading. One of the most difficult parts about trading is that you can do everything you are supposed to and still lose money.Remember that no system has a 100% win rate. You need to figure out whether your red trading day was because of poor decision making on your part, or your trades just not playing out.
5. Look At Your Past Winning Trades
After a red day you always need to remind yourself where your edge is. Studying your winning trades will help you do this. It is easy to get focused on recent results in trading and let that affect your confidence. In order to keep your confidence high so that you will not trade with fear, you need to study your winning trades and know exactly what you need to do in order to replicate that success.
Free Trader Assessment
If you want some direct feedback on where you are as a trader and your trading goals, you should take our free trader assessment for advice on how to take your trading to the level. We will also direct you to our free webinar “How to make $200 a Day Trading” to give you even more free insight on how to achieve consistency in trading.
