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Trading performance depends on the trader as much as the setup, and a few pre-session numbers can show how much. A simple method: before each session, log hours of sleep, cups of coffee before 08:00, and a 1 to 5 rating of how you feel. Then compare them with execution errors: wrong size, missed stops, impulsive entries.

What to look for:

• Error rate on short-sleep days (say under 6 hours) against normal days. Sleep loss is well documented to slow reactions and weaken impulse control, so this is the most likely effect to show up.
• Coffee: one cup versus three or more before the open, especially for impulsive entries in the first 30 minutes.
• Whether your own mood rating predicts errors at all. People are often poor judges of their own impairment.

Two cautions. Sixty sessions is a small sample. And there's an obvious confound: short sleep and more coffee often happen on the same days, so separate them before concluding anything about coffee.

Rules people use once they see an effect: on short-sleep days, half size and only the main setup. Second coffee after 09:00.

Has anyone tracked something like this? Did your own mood rating turn out reliable?

A poorly rested brain reacts more slowly, misses details, and takes more risk. In a field where decisions come in seconds, it matters more than in most.

Studies on sleep deprivation show effects comparable to mild intoxication: slower reaction times, lapses in attention, impaired judgment. A scalper who stayed up late then trades the London open at 3am New York is dealing with those handicaps against participants who are alert.

The subtle part is that the impairment isn't obvious from the inside. Tired people tend to think they're fine. The mistakes feel like bad luck.

Forex runs around the clock, which tempts some into irregular schedules. Trading Asian hours one day and London the next, with broken sleep between, wears down performance. A fixed schedule with consistent hours often beats a flexible one.

A log that records hours slept before each session gives data. Compare the results after seven or eight hours with those after five. The gap may be larger than expected.

If the data shows a difference, skipping a session after a bad night isn't laziness. It's risk control.

Chronic short sleep produces something sneakier than slow reactions: emotional volatility. A tired trader is more irritable, more impulsive, and more sensitive to losses. The same loss that would be shrugged off on a rested day triggers a revenge trade.

Studies show that even a few nights of restricted sleep degrade performance on tasks requiring sustained attention, and the person tends to underestimate the impairment.

Timing matters too. Forex's schedule invites odd hours, and some scalpers trade Asia at night and London in the morning on a single sleep. A consistent block, even if it's not the "best" session, tends to beat a fragmented schedule.

A simple tracking method: note sleep hours in the journal, and a score from one to five for how alert the session felt. After a month, a plot of results against sleep often shows a pattern that nobody argues with.

Where the pattern shows, the rule is easy: no trading after less than six hours of sleep.

What do results look like after short nights compared with full nights?