Trade Calm · Chapter 10
The Flow State Trader
Flow at the trading desk, built on Csikszentmihalyi's research. The chapter describes the conditions that produce absorbed, high-quality performance and walks through the triggers that make flow more likely, along with the honest limits of chasing it. It treats flow as a byproduct of good structure rather than a state to force.
From the chapter
The highest-performance state available to a human being, why it almost never shows up at a retail trading desk, and what to do about that.
A trader I'll call Anna emailed me, about a year ago, with what she described as "the strangest trading question you'll ever get." On a Tuesday in March, she had had what she called her perfect day. Not her most profitable day (it was modestly green, plus $1,200 on a $50,000 account), but the day on which everything had felt right. Time had moved differently. Decisions had appeared in her mind already made. She had not, for any of the six trades she took, experienced the usual wash of anxiety, doubt, hope, and fear that normally accompanied her clicking. She had simply seen the setups, taken them, managed them, and exited them, with what she described as "complete clarity and zero noise." When the close came, she had been shocked that the day was over. She would have sworn she had been at the screen for ninety minutes. It had been six and a half hours.
She wanted to know what it was, and how to get it back. She had been trying, for nine months, to recreate it. Same setup on her desk. Same coffee. Same playlist (she had even noted what was playing). Same instruments. Nothing had worked. Most days were the usual mix of okay trades and saboteurs and noise. The Tuesday had been a one-off, and she could not get it back, and the inability to get it back was now itself a source of distress.
Keep reading.
The full chapter, and all twenty, are free to read with an account. No subscription.
Read the full chapter free