Sleep and trading: how does rest affect your decisions?

Traders who chase Asian-session trades on four hours of sleep make worse calls than they realise. Tiredness shows up as impatience, revenge trading and skipped checks.

Sleep and trading: how does rest affect your decisions? — trading sessions clock diagram
The four forex trading sessions across a 24-hour day

Be honest:

  • how many hours you sleep on trading days
  • the mistake you most make when tired
  • how you schedule trading around sleep
Sleep and trading: how does rest affect your decisions? — risk-reward diagram
A risk-reward ratio of 1 to 2

The psychology threads are full of losses that were really sleep debt.

Background: Revenge trading and overtrading: how to spot them and stop

Trading to win back a loss, or trading out of boredom, are two of the fastest ways to damage an account. Learn the warning signs and the rules that interrupt them.

What is revenge trading?

Opening a trade to win back a recent loss rather than because your trading plan gives a signal, often with a bigger position than usual.

How do I stop overtrading?

Set a maximum number of trades and a daily loss limit in advance, require a written reason from your plan before each entry, and check in your journal whether the extra trades have helped or hurt your results.

Read the full guide

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