Trading psychology: discipline, routines and your journal

Two traders with the same strategy can get very different results. The difference is usually not the setup but how consistently it is traded. Psychology in trading is mostly about routines that make good decisions easy.

The three classic traps

• FOMO – jumping into a move that has already left without you.
• Revenge trading – trying to win back a loss straight away, often with a bigger position.
• Overtrading – taking setups that only half match your rules, out of boredom or impatience.

A routine before the session

• Check the economic calendar for important releases.
• Mark the key levels: higher-timeframe structure, zones, previous day and session highs and lows.
• Write down which setups you are waiting for – and nothing else.
• Set your daily loss limit and the maximum number of trades.

Rules that protect you

Decide your rules while you are calm, not in the middle of a trade. A fixed risk per trade, a daily loss limit and a pause after two or three losses in a row take the emotion out of the moments that matter most.

Your trading journal

• Date, market, timeframe and session
• Setup, entry, stop, target and the result in R
• A screenshot before and after the trade
• How you felt and whether you followed your rules

The weekly review

Once a week, go through your journal. Which setups made the most R? When did you break your rules? Small adjustments based on your own data are what make a trader steadily better.