This is expensive, but spending about three hundred dollars now and saving thousands later is worth it. I would advise getting a punching bag, a stand, assuming you don’t have a sturdy enough beam to hang it from, some wraps, and a pair of gloves. When you start getting angry, put on your wraps, gloves, and beat the hell out of the bag. I have mine in my room right behind my desk!
It’s a fantastic stress reliever and works out many muscle groups in your body so you can get healthier, and gain muscle with it–or even cancel that expensive gym membership if you have one! Not only that but because it’s in your house, it takes far less effort to get started–you don’t have to drive there, etc.–so you’re more likely to use it and subsequently get healthier which will make you feel better and likely able to regulate your emotions better! Plus, wraps take 5-10 minutes to put on and require your attention, so it’s particularly meditative. I’ve had times where by the time I’m done putting on my wraps I’ve been able to cool down and clear my mind, and I don’t even have to use the punching bag!
One other method–if you don’t like the idea of using a punching bag–if you live in a place where it’s legal, smoking some weed can be a great fix–or edibles, etc.! Obviously don’t get completely blasted, but it helps me out because it lets me put things into perspective better, as I’m no longer stressing and panicking about the right now, and can calm me down so I can pay more attention to the bigger picture and realize that my trade is either a temporary pullback, or a true reversal and act accordingly. Being high isn’t anything like being drunk, as you are far more coherent–obligatory don’t drive or do anything dangerous which high–although a tool like a punching bag can be preferable due to its physical benefits and while you are nearly just as coherent, your reaction time can be slowed so this method is not preferable for scalpers.
Finally, an important way to combat impulsivity is to change your trading mindset. For example, you need to enjoy the process of trading, the profits should just be a bonus. If it’s the process, the game, the algorithm so to speak, that you enjoy, then it isn’t psychologically devastating to take a loss and you’re able to take a loss as a learning opportunity rather than a demoralizing personal failure. Also, if you panic you might be either risking more than you can–only trade with what you can afford to lose, and try to limit it to a hard cap of 2%–or you could be trading on too low a time frame. If you are scalping on tiny time frames, but can’t handle your emotions, you can quickly throw all TA, FA, SA, etc. out the window and just start gambling without even realising it! I blew multiple accounts doing that before I realized I simply couldn’t handle trading lower time frames, and I kept moving up until I found one that worked for me!
If you found yourself drifting off constantly and having a really hard time reading this or other answers, and this is a common thing–especially for things you don’t enjoy–you may want to talk to your doctor about ADHD. ADHD is due to a low presence of dopamine in the brain, or poor reception of it, causing you too look for stimulus, be it in the form of an exciting action movie, video game, drugs, or commonly gambling. People with ADHD often have poor impulse and emotional control skills leading them to gambling addiction or being adrenaline junkies due to an inherent addictive personality. Obviously, take this with a grain of salt, do your own research, and never self-diagnose, but it was something I myself struggled with for years and caused me to have my initial short-term trading problems. If you don’t like the idea of being on ADHD drugs, there is always CBT or Cognitive Behavioral Therapy which can produce astounding results.
Whew, here we are at the end of this ridiculously long post! Emotional control is a complex topic in any stressful field, be it the military or day trading, and can stem from many sources or be resolved with many tactics that I haven’t even touched on here! If you are interested and would like details on how to buy a punching bag, any clarification, etc., feel free to PM me, I’ve got plenty of time to help out a fellow trader!
Trade safe!
