Boredom is a risk factor

[Fairman]

Boredom is a risk factor

Between setups, a scalper waits. A good system produces a few high-quality entries per hour, and the rest of the time is empty.

Boredom is hard on the mind. The temptation to do something grows. A marginal setup begins to look acceptable. Rules get bent. A small trade to pass the time becomes a habit.

Many accounts are damaged not by big mistakes but by a large number of mediocre trades taken out of restlessness.

Some strategies for managing the urge include setting a maximum number of trades per session, using alerts in place of continuous screen watching, and doing something else between setups.

Another is to define in advance what counts as a valid setup and refuse everything else.

The metrics usually back this up. When trade counts are analysed by quality, the lowest-rated third produces most of the losses.

How many of last week's trades were taken purely because nothing else was happening?