The mental game of trading: score execution, not money
On a single-day scale, money is close to noise — and noise is a terrible instructor. It teaches superstition and makes you distrust the setup you followed properly.
Is this you?
- —A green day makes you feel like you traded well.
- —You change your approach after two losing sessions.
- —You cannot say whether last week's execution was good.
- —Size goes up after profit rather than after clean sessions.
Two or more of those and this is the state costing you the most, not the strategy.
What it actually costs
Scoring by P&L rewards whatever you did on green days, including the oversizing and the chase, and punishes the discipline you showed on red ones.
The protocol: The State-First Checklist
Trigger — Before the first trade, and after any loss larger than your average.
- 1.Ask one question: what is my state right now? Pick from tilt, fear, greed, FOMO, loss aversion, boredom, shame, or fatigue.
- 2.Write the state and the evidence — one physical sign and one behavioural sign.
- 3.Name the protocol that matches the state, not the one you like best.
How long — Ninety seconds.
Read the full protocol, success test and what to do if it fails →Do this in your next session
At the close, score three items out of two each: entries inside plan, exits where written, size at plan. Six is perfect and can still lose money. Below four, size does not go up.
Not sure this is your state?
The quiz takes two minutes, needs no sign-up, and names your top three protocols out of the fourteen.
Keep reading
Work it through with the Coach
Describe your last bad trade. It names the state, picks the protocol and gives you the exercise to run before the next session. Free to use.