When War, Trading and Morals Collide!
One of the stresses of being a trader that is rarely discussed is the moral conflict that often comes with doing the job. Now is one of those times with lots of traders holding long Oil and Gas positions as chaos ensues in the Middle East.
Indirectly that means you are only going to make money today if the deadline passes, Trump doesn’t TACO and lots of civilian infrastructure is blown to pieces, thousands of innocent people are killed in the crossfire and millions if not billions suffer the consequences for months and years to come.
In a good year where everyone is making money, the above is less of a problem and offers a bit of a win win scenario (however grim one side of that win win might be). This year isn’t a normal year though and lots of traders and trading companies are having a bad time in extremely tricky markets.
That leaves the real possibly of traders losing their jobs if peace ensues, while weighing up the unimaginable consequences for mankind if Trump follows through with his threats.
The above feels like a pretty horrible lose lose and would be a difficult situation for most decent humans to deal with (most traders I have met and worked with are decent, I promise!!!)
The obvious advice is to try and split your work life and your home life, but that is easier said than done. We are constantly being told from all sides that we need to be our authentic selves to be happy and also to perform at our optimum. I agree with that totally and often speak with my clients about finding a process, system and trading style that fits who they are and not trying to be someone else.
Thankfully circumstances like the current Middle Eastern mess don’t come around that often and when they do you have 3 main options:
1. You need to split yourself in two for a limited time only and recognise there is a trader you and another more compassionate human that takes over when you turn off your computer screen for the day. Remind yourself that if you weren’t doing it, someone else would be and that this job can offer the genuine freedom for you to actually make a bigger difference in the world when you finish (I always told myself the above and it worked to an extent and I am now a wonderfully moral human, doing no end of good :>)
2. You can decide this job isn’t for you anymore, hand your notice in and walk away.
3. You can cross you fingers and toes, short the granny out of Gas and Oil and hope to God/Trump that there is a peace deal. You walk away with the sweetest win win in history with morals and bank balance in perfect positive alignment.
Looking at option 2, its an extremely noble solution, but would require extreme bravery and a very big bank balance. Option 3 relies on hope and hope alone very rarely produces the results that we want and need in trading. That leaves option 1 as the most practical and so I will finish with a few handy hints on how to achieve this difficult balancing act:
· All traders should be completing a trading journal anyway, but make sure you write some words about your thoughts and feelings as well as market commentary:
o Morning Journal example – I had a lovely night with the family last night, the meal was great, really enjoyed watching telly with the kids and it was the perfect way to unwind. I have football tonight and then dinner with friends, so plenty of good stuff for when today is over. Now is time to get into game mode and perform. This is the best job in the world sometimes, I get paid very well for it and I just need to get through this difficult spell. I know what my process is in these situations and so it’s time to get into auto pilot, strip the emotion out of it and get into game mode.
o Evening Journal example – I traded well today, followed my process and made money, well done trader Rob!! Now its time to switch off, enjoy footy and have a good evening with my friends.
· Once you have left the office, do not look at the market again until the next morning. I appreciate this will be even more difficult with 24 hour trading, but it has to be done. Our capacity and abilities to function as humans are limited and being switched on for too long, just negatively affects performance and will literally ruin you life outside of the office.
· Don’t watch the news or anything else that affects prices after you leave the office.
· If the above is difficult for you (it is me), put your phone/tablet in a lockable box, so you can actually enjoy dinner, time with the kids or friends or the TV programme you are watching without any temptation.
· Try and get a morning routine that helps to signify that switch from human you to trading you. What worked for me was either riding my bike to work or doing a quick 20 minutes in the gym before work. I would then pick my coffee up on the way in, don my superhero trading cape and I was primed and ready for action.
· I used to have an alter ego called “The Captain” !! The Captain was trader me and Rob was normal me. Unfortunately “The Captain” tended to show up without an invite on occasions, especially when I had been drinking, but mostly it helped me to manage things. A great book on the subject is called “The Chimp Paradox” and helps us to understand how our brain works and how we can deal with that nagging voice that is always trying to disrupt us.
· Have someone within the company or at another trading house to talk to about the market and grab a coffee or a beer with. You can’t possibly expect your partner or family to have a clue about whats really going on in the market, so taking trading baggage home with you is only likely to increase your problems.
· Gym, sleep, don’t drink too much and all the other stuff that we realise is hugely important, but that we tend to let slide when we are stressed.
· Make a firm arrangement to donate part of your bonus to a charity.
· Set a firm deadline for when you will leave the market, whether it be time related or a financial target. I did this and stuck to it and it really helped me get through the troubling times.
The last and potentially best option is to get a really great coach like me!