What does it mean to become a more mechanical trader?
A few years ago, if someone asked what being mechanical meant in trading, I would have responded that it was about having a trading plan, knowing the plan inside and out, and following your rules to a T. And yes, you need all of the above, but now I understand this other layer beneath it all.
Your plan and your rules define what you need to do. But knowing what you need to do and being able to do it consistently are two very different things.
The way I think about it now is that in anything we are trying to get better at, there is always a gap between knowing, awareness, and embodiment.
Knowing is understanding the mechanics.
This is my rule. This is my setup. This is where I exit. This is what I’m supposed to do.
Awareness is knowing the mechanics, but then noticing what happens internally when it is time to execute. Can I still take the correct action when I feel fear, anxiety, urgency, regret, hope, or the need to fix something?
Embodiment is what happens after enough reps and course corrections that the action starts becoming automatic. It becomes part of you.
That, to me, is the deeper layer of becoming mechanical. It is not about being a perfect rule follower, it’s about training yourself to stop making decisions from the most activated part of you.
Trading is not black and white. There is context, discretion, experience, and then the different parts of us that get activated by different triggers. So there is not one magical realization that fixes an issue instantaneously or forever. Sometimes you resolve something in one environment, and then a new environment shows you another place where you still need more practice.
Awareness does not automatically become embodiment.
One example from my own trading was my inability to cut losses at my defined levels.
Years ago, this was one of my biggest struggles. I would stay in trades past my stop loss, wishing and hoping they would turn around. I had a stop loss, I knew where I was supposed to exit, but I couldn’t always bring myself to do it.
At that point, I didn’t understand what was actually keeping me from exiting when I knew I should. I started identifying the reasons like: not wanting to take another loss, not wanting to accept that I was wrong again, making it mean I wasn’t as far along as I wanted to be, and probably one of the biggest reasons was knowing that if I cut the trade and it immediately reversed, I would feel even dumber.
I was making the outcome mean something about my identity.
But understanding why I was doing it did not magically make the behavior disappear. It just showed me what I had to practice.
Getting the reps in.
My next evolution with cutting losses was sitting in that awareness.
It was seeing the underlying battle, staying present with it, and working to take the correct action while that internal resistance was still there.
At first, I would catch myself after the fact. Then I started catching myself while it was happening. Then eventually, I closed a trade when I was supposed to. Then the next two times I didn’t. Then the next three times I did…And the more times I closed according to plan, the easier it became to do it again.
The more I interrupted the old pattern, the less authority that pattern had.
Now, I cut losses on a dime. And yes, at times I still get this “ugh, I have to take this L,” but I do it. It is not a whole internal event anymore. It became mechanical because I got the reps in.
What the progression looks like:
Knowing
I know what my rule is.
↓
Awareness
I understand why I have not been following it.
↓
Awareness in action
I can catch myself doing it while it is happening.
↓
Repeating the error
I can see it happening, but I still take the same action.
↓
Interruption
I did not take the same action this time.
↓
Repetition
I did not take the same action again.
↓
Agency
I can feel the urge, but it does not have authority.
↓
Embodiment
I take the correct action consistently now.
↓
Automatic
It is not even a thought anymore. It is just how I operate.
Same process, different trigger.
Currently, I’m working on another area where I’m going through this same process: staying in a trade that has not been invalidated (meaning the trade has not reached my stop loss, or has not met my exit criteria).
What’s interesting is that I don’t struggle with this all the time. When I’m not near a milestone, I can stay in a trade according to plan. But when I get close to a number that my mind/body has deemed significant, I get jumpy and want to protect what I’ve grown.
So now I can see that this is a circumstantial trigger. I know staying in valid trades according to plan is part of what is going to level me up, but this is the area where I need more reps right now, especially when I inadvertently/subconsciously start to attach meaning to my profits.
Everything is information. That’s it.
Errors, losses, wins, early entries, late exits, missed trades, all of it is information. There is no shame in information. It is just a reflection of where you are.
And I get it, because I still get frustrated when I take an action that is not according to plan. But I have grown to the point where I do not really feel shame, guilt, or embarrassment around it anymore. That frustration is just showing me the gap. The gap between what I know, what I am aware of, and what still needs more reps before it becomes embodied.
Knowing > Awareness > Reps > Mastery
To me, this is what becoming mechanical really means. It is not removing emotion completely, but building enough agency that the activated part of me does not get to run the trade. I take in the information, make the next adjustment, and keep getting the reps in until the action that used to feel hard becomes part of how I operate.
SPX Review and Outlook
SPX has been rotating between two levels right now, roughly 7,336 on the lower end and 7,555 on the upper end. These levels give us the area price has been reacting around and are meant for awareness, not always action.
On Friday, SPX closed above the upper part of that range. So now I want to see if buyers can build on that and push price back toward the all-time high, or if we just drop back into the same rotation.
SPX Daily Chart
SPX Hourly Chart
Scenarios
Push Toward the All-Time High
price holds above 7,555 and starts pushing back toward the all-time high near 7,620
if buyers break through 7,620 with momentum, more upside opens up
I would still be treating this level to level, maybe just an outlier, instead of assuming we go right back into a strong uptrend
Drop Back Into the Rotation
price fails to hold above 7,555 and drops back into the range
if that happens, 7,336 comes back into play
this keeps SPX rotational, even if we get strong moves inside the range
Break Below 7,336
price loses 7,336 and starts moving lower
from there, I’d be watching whether sellers build on that break or if price quickly reclaims the level
if sellers do break through, then we may start looking at a deeper downside environment
One thing to note is that we could see a strong push above or below one of these levels and still eventually come back into the range, or even form a slightly different range from there. So I’m not assuming that a push higher automatically means we are going into a sustained uptrend, or that a break below means we are entering a bear market.
And just as a reminder, this is the market chart. Individual names inside the S&P can still move in their own direction and at their own pace, so I’m still looking at each chart based on where it is in its own structure.
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