[Bannor]

I think we can agree that maintaining a stable emotional response/reaction to market events is critical to making effective decisions in the moments of trading.

How many of us have looked back at our trading decisions during the course of the day, and asked ourselves "why did I make that decision?" knowing full well what we should have done etc.

For lack of a better word, lets agree that "emotions" are why we made the incorrect decision. The heat of the moment, greed, fear, use the terms you want, but I know of ZERO traders who successfully use emotional responses. In fact, most traders I know that have blown up his/her account and moved on, specifically did so because they never harnessed their emotional responses.

SO then, if we can agree to that, then we may also agree that there has to be a way to harness this response. Call it emotional IQ, call it Trading In the Zone, call it whatever you want, but I for one refuse to believe my emotional responses are a black box of unchangeable response. Instead, I believe I can work with my beliefs, focus on my skills, and control my emotions effectively.

To suggest that emotional control/understanding concepts like "Emotional IQ" are garbage is like driving a broken car down the highway, stating "I dont know why the brakes are making that noise, so I am going to pretend they arent, and keep driving". The rest of us must just try to stay out of your way for when you inevitably crash into a barrier.

Trading is not a game, is not gambling, and if you allow your emotions to rule your approach, you will be destroyed by the market. Anything I can do to be more successful with it is my goal, and I would strongly suggest that be the goal of every single person out there trying to be a professional at this.