Everyone trades differently. There are traders who follow certain price action patterns and technical analysis, some prefer to make their trading decisions based on fundamental analysis, others trade on sentiment indicators, some trade short-term, and others trade long-term. Depending on our age, gender, social status, and experience, we trade less or more aggressively, with or without patience.
But one thing lies beneath the surface of all of us. We are all humans and with that comes the deeply engrained so-called ‘FIGHT or FLIGHT’ response whenever we experience danger (no matter if the danger is real or not) which can lead to short-term ‘brain-freeze’ and an “AHA!” moment once the (perceived) danger is over.
That fear and uncertainty puts our body in an alert state, the so-called fight or flight mode. Our brains release adrenaline and cortisol, both hormones that heighten our awareness, drive up our heart rates, and cause our muscles to tense. Blood flow is reduced to the brain and pumped into the legs…all very useful if we need to run away from a bear, but in trading and investing these responses can work against us.
The fearful trader gets tunnel-vision focusing purely on getting out of the perceived dangerous situation, comprehending only things that seem to do just that (e.g. focusing on upticks in a long position). All the fear and negative emotions make the trader not see other factors that would be readily available. After the trade though, it seems all clear.
What just happened? Click the picture to start the video to listen to legend Mark Douglas explaining it (min 19:40-23:55).
Monitor. Learn. Improve. By actively monitoring your heart rate and your HRV, the two best indicators of increased fear, we can avoid tunnel vision in the first place.
Traderistic automatically alerts you, so you can remind yourself to take a step back and take a breather BEFORE a trade. Then you will trade calm, aware, and with your full mental capacity. Traderistic also records the HR and HRV automatically and constantly, so you can analyse your performance in combination with your physical state after a trading session and learn from your past trades.
Actively monitoring your heart will help you to become calmer over time, and help you be more often in the right zone, so fearful trading will be a thing of the past. Instead, you can focus on developing your edge.
Apple’s beta testing rules require you to download its proprietary beta testing application called TestFlight first. Traderistic will run within that. Just click on the button below, and it will guide you through the process. Thank you for your time!
After you have installed the app, don’t forget to download the TWS Connector Desktop application or the NinjaTrader AddOn from the Download section (without them, you will not be able to see your trade executions in the app, and you can’t use the reports for analysis).
After you have installed the app, don’t forget to download the TWS Connector Desktop application or the NinjaTrader AddOn from the Download section (without them, you will not be able to see your trade executions in the app, and you can’t use the reports for analysis)
