ELECTION GAME DAY THREAD

I wrote this for my clients and thought it would be useful here...

This is about as political as I'll get on here, yet I wanted to post my thoughts on the "big game" tonight.

Unless you're trading futures overnight, you should stay far away from the markets through the night.

I'll go so far to say that you shouldn't even stay up for the outcome of the election.

Here's why...

For about half a decade, I've talked about the two kinds of capital in speculation:

1. Financial
2. Psychological

Every time you put money at risk, you will take a hit out of your psychological capital "bank."

This is normal and can be managed, but we are limited by the monkey brain that resides in our amygdala.

There are other times where you can deplete your psychological capital without affecting your financial capital.

The best example would be getting stuck in a losing options trade and rolling down and out for months. Sure, you may have turned a loser into a winner but you lost focus on all the other opportunities out there.

If you don't guard your psychological capital for the next 24 hours, even through the rest of the year, then you will not be prepared to effectively speculate in the markets.

This election is being treated as a binary event.

If you have any political leanings at all, then you will be happy with one outcome and very sad/angry about the other outcome.

The outcome is going to take hours to figure out, and may extend out for a few days. Yet during that entire time THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN DO TO CHANGE THE OUTCOME.

If you voted, then that's all you can do.

It DOES NOT HELP to be glued to the TV and watching the markets overnight.

Unless you are an incredibly talented futures trader, then it's going to be low liquidity.

A land of wolves.

Not worth it.

I'd encourage you to think of ways you can PRESERVE YOUR PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL through the rest of the week so you can be energized and focused for the best trading opportunities in the near term.

Me personally, I'll be going screen-free after dinner and will spend time with my family and read some books.

Then I'll be up in the morning, check the outcome, check the futures market, and be ready to go.

Hope this helps!