Latest Journal Entry

Handwritten trading notebook showing an early exit marked before the final take profit, with a note reading "should have held"

Why you can’t hold your position to the final TP

You had a final TP. The trade went your way. You closed out the whole position before it got there and watched it carry on regardless. If this sounds familiar, the problem usually isn't discipline. It's the same thing as position sizing — just working in the other direction.

Your nerves are a position size indicator

Knowledge

Most of what gets called a psychology problem is really a sizing problem wearing a disguise. Here's how I think about position size: the one risk lever that decides whether you survive long enough to get good.

Should you trade on the 4th of July?

Reflections

The US markets stay technically open on the 4th of July. But thin volume, unreliable structure, and the frustration that builds on a slow holiday session make it one of the harder days to trade well. The better question is not whether you can trade. It's whether you should.

Calm wooden desk with three yellow sticky notes reading "Win = data, not proof", "Same size next trade" and "Set the limit first", beside a notebook, blue Bic pen, coffee and a laptop showing a candlestick chart.

Why a big win can wreck you worse than a loss

Reflections

Most traders brace for the losing days. Almost nobody braces for the winning ones. But a single big win can do more damage to a process than a string of losses, because it arrives disguised as proof that you were right.

A calm wooden trading desk with an open notebook, a blue Bic pen and a defocused candlestick chart on a laptop, beside two yellow sticky notes reading WAIT and CLICK.

Why you freeze on a valid setup but click instantly on a bad one

Reflections

The clean setup forms and you sit on your hands. Twenty minutes later you're in a trade you can't even justify. The freeze and the click look like opposites, but they're the same problem wearing two masks. Here's what's actually happening, and how to take the moment out of it.

A flat-bound notebook open on a wooden desk with a handwritten pre-session check headed 'Should I trade today?', four warning-sign questions, and 'flat day' circled, a blue Bic pen on the page.

Burnout, screen fatigue, and knowing when not to trade

Reflections

Some days the best trade is the one you do not take. Burnout and screen fatigue rarely announce themselves, so they get blamed on the market instead of the trader. Here is how I learned to read the signs and step away before they cost me.

What Trading Did to My Marriage (Mostly Good)

Reflections

My partner can now tell when I'm about to lose an argument: I go quiet and start waiting for a better entry. Trading habits leak out of the trading room. Mostly that's a good thing for family life, occasionally it's deeply annoying for everyone around me.

Two yellow sticky notes on a warm wooden desk labelled CONVICTION and REVENGE, beside an open trading journal with handwritten notes and a blue Bic pen, laptop with candlestick chart in background, natural daylight.

Revenge trading dressed up as conviction: spotting it in yourself before the account does

Reflections

After a losing trade, the next setup always looks cleaner. More obvious. More deserved. The problem is that this feeling isn't always analysis - sometimes it's your account balance talking. Here's how to catch the difference before you place the trade.

Open trading journal on a wooden desk with handwritten notes under the heading "No news day": safer from spikes is not easier to trade, no catalyst means more chop, be careful the day before CPI.

Are no news days good for trading?

Knowledge

Most traders scan the calendar, find nothing, and read it as a safe day. But a no news day is a different kind of session - not necessarily easier. Here's what actually changes when the calendar is clear, and why the day before a big release deserves the most caution of all.

A trader’s worst habits

Reflections

Most accounts don't die from one bad trade. They die from one bad habit, repeated until the balance runs out. Here are the worst offenders, some genuinely costly, some just a bit ridiculous, and most of which I've been guilty of myself.