One of the most common rule violations that novices and some experienced traders make is inappropriately moving a hard stop when the price-action is inching toward it. The first signal that you normally become aware of is an emotion that is other than positive or neutral; such as in this instance fear or anxiety as you watch the price-action. That emotional signal is not the first thing that happens however. The first response is an internal dialogue that for the most part is out of your awareness, which is why you must attend to the emotional signal as the first stimulus that comes to your attention. When the fear/anxiety is felt immediately “stop” what you are doing in order to interrupt the emerging pattern, which would culminate in moving the hard-stop, increasing your risk and in most cases ends in a greater loss than you would have experienced had you maintained the hard-stop. By stopping you take a deep breath which will initiate a relaxation response; then change your physical posture and assume a position of power, for example, standing up straight and unclenching fists or teeth. By doing this you are not only interrupting the emerging bad pattern, you are also exchanging a forthright intention for what a moment ago was frustration, frazzlement and fragmentation. Then you “challenge” yourself by asking 3 important questions:

1) What must I be thinking or believing to feel this fear or anxiety? The answer in this instance might be, “…That price-action is going to hit my hard-stop and that means I’ll lose, and that means I’m a poor trader, and that means I’m stupid…” You get the picture. 2) What is the objective reality? In this example the reality is that the price-action may or may not hit your hard-stop; and in actuality it doesn’t matter because your initial plan calculated the best hard-stop placement according to the risk assessment. 3) Is there an alternative interpretation?
After asking the three questions then it’s time to “choose” a response that is in keeping with your highest and best goals for the trade and that would be in this instance to be patient and allow the process to play itself out. You’ll not only maintain your A-Game at the platform, you will have gathered more mechanical and internal data; and trading is all about the data.

Stop, Challenge and Choose is a simple and highly effective “edge” for interrupting emerging bad patterns and placing yourself in a position to not only follow rules and keep commitments, but to maintain a position of increasing your skill levels. Additionally, it works quite well with your journal to memorialize the process in order to track the instances of emotional turmoil so that you can identify the bad patterns of thinking, feeling a doing as they take place. In this way you are poised to anticipate the occurrence and become proactive and pre-emptive in the process thereby greatly enhancing your ability to sustain your highest and best trader at the platform.