Traders - How do you take the edge off?
Title says it all. I work as a market maker, so I’m not subject to the same stress that those in prop trading experience, however, I’ve gotta know. Every single decimal counts, and there’s so fucking many and they move so often. Trying to find that perfect price that generates good PnL but also doesn’t piss off clients. Constantly monitoring the market, hedging, - at the end of the day, I really enjoy the job and get a lot of excitement from it, but I find it extremely hard to wind down. When you train yourself to make markets as fast as possible, I’ve found it becomes quite hard to suddenly act like a normal, casual human being after markets close. Am I not built for this, despite loving the job itself? I just find the only concern I have is I can’t find a way to detox and calm my mind from the intense, high stress days I can have on the desk.
Would love to hear from other MMs, prop traders, anyone in a trading seat really. Even if pnl is good, anyone out there use to have the same problem when they were earlier in their trading career?
This is a great topic. Personally, I find focussing on the process rather than the results helps remove stress and allows me to make fewer mistakes. Then I enjoy complaining about the job with other traders, it makes you feel that your struggles are not just yours. Third, I don't look or think about markets when at home, I stay focused on my family and friends.
Thanks for your response- I think that’s a great mindset to have that i’ll definitely apply to my role, focusing on the process rather than the result. I think it’s quite easy to worry more about making errors or if you’re speed isn’t up to par, rather than just perfecting the process.
Awesome response
Then any parts of the process that could potentially create errors fix or automate. Example, link numbers rather than manually type.
most junior traders go thru this...it just takes time...eventually you won't view the job as so exciting and adrenaline inducing.
think of trading like playing in a live basketball or tennis game in front of a crowd with high performance expectations....at first you are not only playing the game, but in front of an audience...that's a very stress inducing activity environment...but eventually, after many years of always playing live in front of a crowd, the novelty wears off and its just another day at the office.
so, try to exercise, drink lots of water to stay hydrated...read a book written on paper (nothing electronic)....it helps relax the brain....get outside in nature and take a walk in the woods and find a quiet place to just sit, and take a nap under a tree...that's how you take the edge off.
Really great response, thank you. I definitely think in time I’ll get more “used” to playing the game, but you couldn’t have put it better. As an extremely new trader I couldn’t put my finger on it but it’s exactly that- playing with high stakes and high expectations (with the crowd.)
I’ll definitely try all of those suggestions, I have noticed a quick workout in the morning before orders flow in definitely helps clear the mind
1) Do something that requires your absolute focus at the moment after work (perhaps something like wall climbing)
2) Meditation
I love this advice because my initial first reaction after work is to do as little as possible and just “chill” but i’ve noticed it doesn’t help relax me at all, i’m still in that high frequency, high stress mindset. Really interesting and it makes a lot of sense that engaging in something right after will help with the de stress process. Thank you!
Get lots of sleep, makes a giant difference in your mental outlook and i find i get way less pissed off when things don’t work out . Also agree with focusing on the process and having reasons for why you did a trade. There’s No worse feeling than entering a trade impulsively cause you “feel” the market will keep going
Not a trader but used to work on a fairly high stress desk. Going to echo everything people said above, then add one. In order of importance, but it doesn't mean that you should trade them off, you should try your hardest to do all of these everyday (I don't have kids yet so this might be easier for me). 1) Meditation is key. 2) Right behind meditation is reading (like the guy above said with a real book - no kindle or ipad stuff). 3) Exercise - get the heart rate above 150bpm for at least 20 minutes a day (people who work long hours in high stress enviro's were the first people that I thought of when I saw apple's new workout thing - give it a whirl if you dont have a routine) . Even if it is getting up 20 minutes early and doing burpees in the apartment. 4) My addition: a strict morning and nightly routine. The power of routine is something that everyone should master. Get a bit superstitious with it if you dare. I never really had a routine because I was kind of go with the flow for a few years, but once shit hits the fan and the stress is way higher than the everyday 'moving average', it reaps rewards, big ones.
I’m completely with you, it is tough to turn off. All you think about is markets, you stare at your Bloomberg until you go to bed, and you have senior traders breathing down your back about the “kind” of risk they want you to take, it’s killer. I’ve found that being comfortable with risk takes times. I’d also recommend limiting the amount of coffee you drink, it only makes things worse. So just view it as a phase, you will get used to it, but just know the more senior you get the more risk you’re going to be expected to take so if you don’t nip your negative behaviors in the bud now they’ll only be worse down the line.
Thank you for the advice and for the note about the level of risk you take along with seniority. I definitely have been focusing on communicating with my team as much as possible and not being afraid to ask questions to nip any negative habits in the ass before they become a part of how I do the job. Overall i’m happy to hear others can relate and that itl be something I get used to, I guess trading is such an interesting and unique role that there’s some things (like carrying work intensity into my life after hours) that I simply couldn’t have predicted.
Lift heavy every day after work.. west coast so hours make this more manageable before dinner and whatnot. Allows me to blow off steam and work through the frustrations of day to day life. Not sure if you've ever followed a somewhat routine split, but would be more than happy to help you get started in the right direction if you're interested.
I’ve never followed a routine split but I‘m definitely interested in learning more about how to implement this into my life, thank you for the offer!
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1) Fitness and gym for me
2) Lay the pipe to my gf
3) Meditate and chill out with some tv
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