Time dilation in the middle of a session

[Fairman]

Time dilation in the middle of a session

Two hours pass in what feels like thirty minutes. Or thirty minutes crawl like two hours. Time perception during intense short-term trading is unreliable.

The consequences are practical. A trader who loses track of time overshoots the planned session length and trades past the point of fatigue. Another underestimates how long a position has been open and misses a time-based exit.

Because attention is narrowed to the screen, the usual cues disappear: the light changes, hunger builds, the body stiffens, yet none of it registers.

A visible clock helps, and so do timers. A reminder at the ninety minute mark prompts a pause. A countdown on a time stop forces an exit regardless of how the trade feels.

Some traders use a physical timer on the desk, because the screen is already crowded and a separate object is harder to ignore.

A cheap trick is a timer that chimes every fifteen minutes. It does not demand action. It only restores awareness of how long the session has really been.

Has a session ever run far longer than planned, and what did the last stretch look like in the log?