How does day trading affect your health?

[Salty Gibbon]

Oi Sandra, who was it who needs help ?

Me or Chumpy ?

 

[Mr. Charts]

ooooh er buddy, glad you edited that one ;-)))))
I always thought "Dick" was a compliment ;-)
BTW, why do so many Yanks call themselves, "Randy" ?
" Hello Miss, I'm randy" must be a great opening line.

 

[Salty Gibbon]

It was actually aimed at Sandrab before I cottoned on to the fact that she is not a bloke Richard.

It surely was not aimed at you my friend.

 

[Mr. Charts]

Even if it had been I would have accepted it in the spirit intended, my friend ;-)

BTW There have been females on this board who were actually males...............so watch yourself ;-)
Don't ask!
Richard

 

[sandrab]

hey salty ..........tell the truth to charty.........u full of that weed stuff...........

 

[Swang]

I have it on good authority that Socrates actually trades according to intergalactic time frames which are inversely proportional to the length of his dic k.

Jeez that short?

 

[SOCRATES]

Funny you should say that, usually the main bulk is done before breakfast and then the rest of the day is free and dedicated to amusement, unless there is something going on that merits attention.

 

[SOCRATES]

socrates

tell me something - do u trade intraday or a longer time frame?

sandrs

The most important thing you have to do in trading is not to force.

You have to trade in harmony with the rythm of the instrument that you choose.

The market imposes that rythm and not the trader. The trader has to be available to take advantage of opportunites as and when they present themselves.

Futures and Shares require different techniques for this reason.

Trading in Futures can be over in minutes, and frequently is, you need to have very fast reflexes. I find them very challenging and exciting.

Shares I treat differently. I like to get tucked in early as a stong holder and then let them perform over a few days or weeks. If I miss the starting line, I never chase.

I am not an advocate of holding many stocks at the same time. 4 to 8 is usually enough, for Blue Chips, which I like, because they have a ready market with narrower spreads than you would find in Second Line shares or marginals.

Blue chips also have the advantage that they are perfect for covered call writing, and stock lending operations for example, whereas the others are not.

 

[sandrab]

Salty Gibbon

Come down from the tree and talk to us. We all r missing U.

"As If" ............

sandra

 

[eatontrade]

Just as an addition to the very valid points above, having a conservative and disciplined position sizing method is absolutely vital to low stress levels.

I currently trade with a size and stop ratio that ensures I can't lose more than 0.75% of my account on any one trade. If I want a wide stop I just reduce the size to ensure I stay within this limit.

If I stick to the above I can pretty much relax knowing that my account is safe regardless of the outcome. When I was learning this business, nearly every time I got into trouble it was due to doubling up positions or trading up to my maximum margin.

Even now, on the rare occasions when I place larger positions than I should, this is when I'm sitting and sweating !

 

[martymr]

Can we get some insight into this matter? Is it just me who gets tired, stressed and anxious or is there any other people who feel the same?

You're in good company here, so know you're not alone. Stress and anxiety stemming from trading is extremely common.

In fact, one of trading colleagues had to take a year off because the emotional stress of going through a substantial drawdown forced him to make irrational decisions regardling position size -- which eventually made him lose even more money.

He ended up having a string of panic attacks that eventually forced him to step away for nearly a year. He suffered from a fast heart rate, light headedness, breathing difficulties, extreme emotional swings, etc. There was nothing 'wrong' with him from a high level standpoint -- it was just a mattter of mental and emotional stress.

This type of anxiety typically stems from using a trading method that endures too much risk, or simply does not work at all. In other words, it eventually blows your account.

That in itself leads to other emotional distress, and it becomes an endless cycle - until one day you decide to throw in the towel and bark up yet another venturous tree.

My advice to you is this:

Walk away until you 1) gain a grasp on your emotional toughness, 2) identify a proven profitable trading method that's "evergreen" and not affected by changes in volatile market conditions, and 3) can stomache losing trades on your way to securing winning trades.

I had to undertake a similar approach myself when I was once in your shoes. Believe me, you CAN do this -- it's just a matter of learning from your experiences and applying that knowledge in future situations.

Hope this helps.

Marty
-martymr

 

[Jocunivem]

Stressed.

 

[samirdu16]

I advise you to take breaks time to time and get far from the screen for a while , also if you trade for long continuous hours it will only stress you .. so give your self some break time

 

[NVP]

what a good thread....

excessive Trading stress comes from 3 things

1) not understanding market dynamics
2) not understanding yourself
3) BOTH !

1) and 2) may take many years to achieve......and for many are never achieved at all :smart:

N

 

[TobyDoyle]

Does listening to music or having an outlet release the stress for you guys? For example, I'll jump on the drums or guitar or lock myself with headphones and go for a walk to clear the mind. I just recently had a son, so I've been putting the headphones on more lately, but I can't imagine consistent and constant stress doing good things to the ol' ticker.

 

[Club]

Makes me fat(ter).