Maintaining a professional and disciplined approach in trading is crucial, as it helps to eliminate emotional decision-making. While it's impossible to completely eradicate biases, you can establish rules, models, and criteria to guide your trading decisions.
Pay close attention to every aspect of your trades by observing, researching, and recording what happens before, during, and after each trade. Analyze the time periods when errors occur and examine all the details: triggers, thoughts, emotions, behaviors, actions, changes in decision-making, shifts in market perception, and trading failures.
Before entering a new trade, reflect on your past experiences. This will help you avoid repeating previous mistakes. The moments after completing trades provide an excellent opportunity to reflect on how you arrived at your decisions, including the thoughts and emotions that were present. The act of recording itself can help defuse your emotional state.
Your primary objective is to develop a comprehensive trading strategy that covers every minute detail. Continuously document your behavioral patterns in great detail until you identify the initial triggers and analyze them as part of your trading preparation. Throughout your trading session, try to capture new details in your notes. Afterwards, combine and analyze your notes to better prepare for future sessions.
Once you have identified the details associated with your trades, pay attention to the early triggers that precede each trade. This will allow you to spot minor errors or subtle changes in market perception. For instance, you might notice that you spend too much time on irrelevant information or make trades that don't align with your trading plan's criteria.
Establish a structured daily schedule that aligns with the market sessions of your chosen instruments. Set a timer to go off at regular intervals during your scheduled breaks without disrupting your workflow. During these breaks, take a few minutes to observe your thought process and understand your emotional state. If you notice any signs of potential issues, make a note of them.
Gain an understanding of the intensity of your emotions. While anger and frustration may seem like separate emotions, anger is essentially an escalated form of frustration. Recognizing how emotions intensify will help you identify patterns in your behavior, including the initial triggers.
Remember that trading is a business, not a game of chance. It's crucial to maintain a professional mindset and adhere to your trading plan. By doing so, you can approach trading with a disciplined and strategic mindset.