What makes you sabotage your discipline?

[DitterPD]

Every one of us have some kind of system. We set usual stop losses & take profits, we like one or another EA, we use our signals and have our own opinion on entries..

But time from time I (and as I know - others) make unjustified actions.

For example, recently I didn't set any SL/TP and was trading whole session in what is called "naked trading" style, what is surely not my style.

And all that, because I had a bad day with my beloved one and got a little drunk and thought it was a right thing to do..


So what about you? Do you have your stories or weaknesses, which throw you discipline out of window?

 

[Pharaoh]

Greed, fear, and revenge trading.

 

[GOR FX]

That never happens in my case.Except that I cannot trade over my weekly target even if I see an
excellent opportunity.

 

[PhilRichards]

I have passed through a time when I seemed unable to avoid taking reckless trades on impulse that were outside the parameters of my strategy.
I found it quite distressing when it happened even more so when it happened repeatedly with me thinking at the very time I did it that it was crazy.
I believe I had to do this as many times as it took to feel enough pain to accept that if I continued it then I would fail.
Once I accepted the insanity of continuing allowing these impulse trades to ruin me I needed tools to help me get over it. At first I got a bell which I rang instead of clicking the buy/sell button, better to ring the bell than trade. I also used an elasticated band on my wrist which damm well hurt when I twanged it instead of clicking the buy/sell button. But these actions cut the cycle from continuing and enabled me to feel the impulse desire without acting it.
I also used mathematics to give me the facts. My strategy has a mathematical positive expectancy over a series of trades, and I can rely on it and my risk management to profit consistently. What I needed to accept was that the impulse traders ruined the mathematical probability of success because they were trades outside my strategy and so could only lead to failure.
Finally I committed to a mantra "Successful trading is always trading by my rules" ; this is because when I trade by my rules and a trade is profitable I can of course be happy, and if it loses I can also be happy because over time I know I will be profitable.
If I break my rules and the trade wins then I know I have cheated and this is never a true, enjoyable winning feeling. If the trade fails I feel even worse as I know I have caused my own loss.
How I feel about my actions is paramount to my trading ability, and so this is in my control only by staying disciplined.

I am looking forward to reading of others experiences about this.

 

[FreddyFX]

I eliminated ALL above problems by having a robot I designed over time do the trading for me.
So reading the forums is now passing time without any anxiety over taking trades anymore.

 

[iwillsurvive]

I eliminated ALL above problems by having a robot I designed over time do the trading for me.
So reading the forums is now passing time without any anxiety over taking trades anymore.

Yea I agree a robot will help but the human trader is usually more profitable, if he has mastered his emotions