Behavior & Discipline

A scatter or correlation analysis between trade duration and trade profitability, revealing whether longer or shorter holds are producing better outcomes.

How to use it: For options traders, this can directly answer the question of whether early exits (e.g., closing at 50% of max profit) outperform holding to expiration. It also reveals whether you are cutting winners too short or, more dangerously, holding losing positions far longer than your initial plan — hoping for a recovery that doesn't come. If longer-held trades consistently underperform, your profit-taking rules may need to be more aggressive.

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A comparison of position size (notional value, number of contracts, or margin used) against trade outcome — answering the critical behavioral question: are you sizing up on your winners or your losers?

How to use it: A healthy pattern shows no systematic correlation between size and ROI — or better, that larger positions tended to earn stronger percentage returns (indicating good conviction-sizing discipline). A negative pattern — where your largest trades produced lower ROI — is a warning sign of behavioral overconfidence: taking outsized risk when emotionally elevated or overcommitting to trades that "feel" like certainty. This is one of the clearest signals of sizing discipline breakdown.

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A breakdown of aggregate P&L by day of the week, revealing whether your results are consistently stronger or weaker on specific days.

How to use it: A persistent pattern of losses on a specific day — for example, Monday opens or Friday expirations — is a signal worth taking seriously. It may reflect structural market behavior (weekend gap risk, low Friday liquidity), your own behavioral patterns (rushing Friday entries, distracted Monday trading), or a strategy-specific timing mismatch. If a day shows chronic underperformance across a large sample, consider tightening rules or reducing size on that day rather than ignoring the signal.

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