I didn’t trade this morning.  I had ever intention to do so when I left the office last night.  I like the opportunity in FB TWTR SRPT SPY IWM for today’s trading session.  So this was not a decision of a lack of trading opportunity.  I, personally, was not in an optimal state to trade.  And therefor, I benched myself.

First, for those of you who have children, you might empathize with this next anecdote.  Three times last night, while in a dead sleep, my son approached my bed, leaned directly into my right ear and said, “DAD………”.  There were different iterations of what followed after DAD!, but each awoke me from a deep slumber.  The fourth time he entered our bedroom he got my wife, and then caused a stir waking his sister.  That set off a whole new round of sleeplessness.

Second, the night before Merritt and I traveled to Stamford for dinner with a former Hedge Fund trader, firm trader, Dr. Steenbarger.  It was a great time.  We got back very late back in NYC 🙂  So I started last night needing to catch up on some sleep.

Further, I had a very bad night of eating.  I got into some foods that do no lend themselves to moderation.  I know my performance wanes when I am not feeling optimally fit.

Finally, a European trader just starting to have success reached out to ask a trading question.  He was finally positive on his balance sheet, yet experiencing hesitation pulling the trigger with some trades.  And we were exchanging ideas as to why this was so.  I shared with him what holds me back:

I need to feel very comfortable that I have put the work in and deserve to succeed.