Trading is relatively more of a mental game than say football. A couple of football pros I know have been telling me how they work to play without thinking. Clearly one has to think to trade.

But that doesn’t mean trading IS NOT a physical game that demands a plan for physical and emotional energy. Trading without a plan for said energies (or what I like to think of as PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL) is the same as one of those NFL guys playing without working out or practicing their playbook. The trader or the athlete is setting themselves up for injury.

Trading results derive not just from some probabilities or even from some price actions patterns but from those “realities” combined with the trader’s ability to execute – particularly on the exit. Executing (well) on the exit requires some fancy psychological footwork.

Your brain is compelled to make a judgment call. It is not at all compelled to follow a pre-determined plan. You can’t shuck and jive your way around this, it is in your neurology. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have one, it means that you have to leave room for judgment and in doing so you will do well to plan how to put yourself in the best position for making great judgment calls.

That position is a combo of training and experience yes – but in the moment it a result of reading the people of the markets and your physical and emotional energy. What kind of plan do you have for that? “Discipline” won’t do it. If it would or did, a much greater percentage of traders would be making a lot more money.