When you’re just not sending your best

2 rules for safe trading

“I’m just not on my ‘A’ game today.” I said. “Heck, I’m not even on my ‘B’ game.”

“Yeah,” my dad replied. “You’re reactions seem a little slow.”

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“No ... it’s ... not!”

😂

All right.

So, what’s going on?

Well, as part of my vacation this week I’ve been doing a little traveling with my parents.

Now, I’m a homebody. More Baggins than Took (for any Hobbit fans out there). And that’s not just a preference thing, because I have motion sickness.

I’m quite envious of people who can read in a car ... or walk around on an airplane ... or travel, in general, without even thinking about it.

Me?

I have to plan ahead to make sure my body is in a good space for traveling, and I usually have to take some medicine to help keep me vertical without the vertigo.

Something else of note:

Most motion sickness medicine causes drowsiness.

And since I woke up at 3 am last night with motion sickness — a day after traveling and sleeping in a warm & cozy bed — I was not feeling my best today.

I started my morning with some coffee and some Dramamine.

Not a good start to an indoor day.

And the effects were quite easy to see because both my “A” game and “B” game were gone.

I was effectively a zombie.

What can this possibly have to do with trading?

To answer that question, I want to first share one other story.

About ten years ago I was steeped in the world of tech support. Removing viruses from computers and helping save files on crashed pc’s.

One day I started feeling sick.

I didn’t know it then, but I had the flu.

As my work day progressed, I kept feeling worse and worse. My game dropped far away from the “A” & “B” levels. I ended up accidentally deleting some customer files off of their computer that I should not have deleted.

Luckily my coworker was able to save the files — and probably my job.

But I walked away that day carrying a critical lesson:

Don’t make big decisions when you’re feeling “off.”

When it comes to trading my money — which is my livelihood & business — it’s critical that I have a clear head when making decisions.

Otherwise, the chances are just too great that I’ll make a bad decision, one that might be tough or even impossible to reverse. So, I set up some parameters around my trading.

1. If I’m too tired or too sick, I’ll either not make a decision at the moment, or make the safest, most benign decision I can.

Usually I can afford to wait a day and not worry.

It’s better for me to rest up.

But if I can’t really risk waiting, then I’ll just “buy” myself time by rolling.

Simple.

2. I don’t open new trade ideas when I’m “off”

It’s hard enough making good picks when I’ve got everything on my mental game working for me. There’s no reason for me to risk my money on a stupid trade idea when I can just be patient and come back to the markets another day.

For sure, there are times of the year when the technicals line up and great trades can be made.

But if I’m feeling off, I know it’s better for me to just be patient and come back when I’m back “on.”

A new day brings new trades.

I almost never have to make a trade right now.

I can afford to be patient.

I believe you can too.

— Ricky Ketchum