Silence after a big winner

[Fairman]

Silence after a big winner

A large winning trade creates an odd state. The account is up. The pressure is lower. Concentration drifts.

Many traders report that the trade after a big winner is poor. Standards slip. Size grows. The feeling of having money to play with leads to carelessness.

Experienced traders sometimes stop for the day after hitting a daily target, not out of discipline alone but because they know their judgement is compromised.

Whether to stop or continue depends on the person. A look at the log, comparing performance after large winners with the rest, gives the answer.

Some traders handle it with an automatic rule: after a winner above a set size, the next trade is half size or the session ends. Others take a ten-minute break. The rule does not have to be perfect, just fixed in advance, because the mind that needs the rule is the same one that would talk itself out of it mid-session.

How do trades immediately after the biggest winners compare with the average?