How are you all tracking and then analyzing your emotional state in your trading journal?

To date I just use a 1-5 scale to track important emotions like:

• Confidence
• Anxiety
• Excitement
• Frustration
• Fear

But to be honest I’m not always seeing obvious trends between specific emotions and my trading results so I’m wondering if there is a better way, whatever that means. How else do people record and use emotional findings in journals?

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[Joseph]

Do you record what might be triggering your emotions? I record events that spark a particular emotion. For instance, a sudden market dip can trigger anxiety while a row of successful trades can give me overconfidence.

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[Alfora]

I haven’t been doing that so far. Has that been helpful? Do you find it easier to spot trends taking that approach then?

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[Christian HarrisParticipant]

You may not like this reply, but if you regularly feel most of those emotions you’ve mentioned when trading, you will likely fail in the long term.

You need to reach a stage where your trading becomes mechanical.

Mechanical trading relies on a predefined set of rules to make trading decisions. These rules are often based on technical indicators, mathematical models, or statistical analysis and are implemented systematically without any subjective judgment or emotional interference.

The primary goal of mechanical trading is to eliminate your human biases and emotions from the decision-making process, ensuring consistency and discipline.

By relying on a systematic approach, mechanical trading will help you achieve consistent results over time. It will also reduce the influence of emotions like fear and greed, which can lead to irrational trading decisions.

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[Author]

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