Rehearsing the worst case before it happens
Posted: Sat Oct 31, 2026 7:25 pm
Most traders think about success scenarios in detail and about failure vaguely. When a serious problem arrives, a platform crash, a spike through the stop, a margin call, there is no plan.
A worst-case rehearsal lists the possible failures and the planned responses. What happens if the internet drops with open trades? If the broker's platform freezes? If a stop slips by 50 pips? If the account hits the daily limit by 10 AM?
For each, write the actions: who to call, which backup device to use, which orders to place, and what to do afterward. Verify that the backup methods work: logins tested, numbers saved, passwords accessible.
Run a drill occasionally. Disconnect the main machine, and see if positions can be managed from the phone.
The exercise also reveals vulnerabilities that can be fixed in advance: stops that are missing, margin that is too thin, single points of failure.
When trouble comes, the response is a routine, not an improvisation under stress.
Which failure scenarios have been rehearsed, and which remain only theoretical?
A worst-case rehearsal lists the possible failures and the planned responses. What happens if the internet drops with open trades? If the broker's platform freezes? If a stop slips by 50 pips? If the account hits the daily limit by 10 AM?
For each, write the actions: who to call, which backup device to use, which orders to place, and what to do afterward. Verify that the backup methods work: logins tested, numbers saved, passwords accessible.
Run a drill occasionally. Disconnect the main machine, and see if positions can be managed from the phone.
The exercise also reveals vulnerabilities that can be fixed in advance: stops that are missing, margin that is too thin, single points of failure.
When trouble comes, the response is a routine, not an improvisation under stress.
Which failure scenarios have been rehearsed, and which remain only theoretical?