Caffeine, clicks and shaky hands

[Fairman]

Caffeine, clicks and shaky hands

Coffee affects scalping more than most admit. A third cup before the London open produces faster reactions and also more jitter.

Higher caffeine intake is linked to increased impulsivity and reduced fine motor control in some people. On a platform where a mis-click means a wrong-direction order, it matters.

The effect varies by person. A few swear by it. Others notice they take more trades and hold them for shorter periods after heavy caffeine.

One way to find out is to log the intake alongside results for a few weeks. Patterns usually appear. A small experiment, such as skipping the extra cup on alternate days, provides cleaner data.

Sleep matters even more. A tired mind produces slower reactions and worse risk judgement, and short-timeframe trading is less forgiving of both.

Hydration and food timing get similar treatment in the log. A session that runs through lunch with nothing but coffee tends to show more impulsive clicks after the second hour. None of this is glamorous, but the body is part of the trading equipment, and a few weeks of notes show which habits help and which quietly hurt.

Does performance differ between days with different caffeine intake or sleep?

[FXS London Scalper]

A third cup before the London open produces faster reactions and also more jitter.

The third cup before the London open is a recognisable habit. Some traders keep coffee to before 7:00 and switch to water during the session to keep the hands steady.

[Amanhasnoname]

This one hit home for me. For a long time I drank strong coffee from waking until mid afternoon and assumed it was helping my focus. When I finally started marking each session with how many cups I had had, the pattern was clear within three weeks. On the heavy days I placed noticeably more trades, closed winners earlier, and twice sent an order in the wrong direction because I clicked before reading the button.

I did not quit completely, because that made me groggy and slow for the first week. What worked was one cup with breakfast and nothing after the session started. I keep a bottle of water on the desk instead, and if I feel restless I take that as a sign to step away rather than reach for another mug.

Sleep turned out to matter even more than caffeine. A night under six hours shows up in my journal almost every time as a sloppy morning, so these days a short night means a smaller size or a day off.