Loss pressure
“It’s only a wick.”
Stops get moved. Losers get added to.
All free tools
The Pressure Map
You trade as two different people.
One writes the plan on a calm Sunday. The other has to follow it at 2:14pm on a red Wednesday. They want different things, and only the second one is holding the position.
This free tool shows you where the two of them disagree, in about five minutes. No sign up, and your answers stay on your device. It shows you where to put your rules, not what to trade.
Same trade. Two voices.
“If price hits my stop, I take the loss and move on.”
then the session starts
“It’s only a wick. A bit more room won’t hurt.”
Loss pressure
Five places the two of you disagree
Tap a pressure. Hear what your live self says, try a short exercise, then rate how often that voice beats your plan.
Tap a node to try the exerciseGold ring: how often it beats your plan
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The five pressures, in brief
Each one has a voice, and each one quietly rewrites your plan.
Recency
“I’m in the zone. Time to press.”
Size creeps up after wins and shrinks after losses.
Boredom
“One small one won’t matter.”
Trades appear with no setup behind them.
Noise
“I should probably do something.”
A calm plan gets overruled by the loudest input.
Identity
“I called this one. It’ll come back.”
Exits get delayed because leaving feels like losing.
Why the map ends in rules
Knowing a pressure exists does not stop it. A rule you write in advance does more, because you write it while you are calm.
Step 1
Name the pressure
Be specific about where it shows up for you: a stop, a streak, a slow session, a noisy feed, a trade you told people about.
Step 2
Write it as if, then
One sentence: if this happens, then I do that. Write it when the market is closed, not when it is moving against you.
Step 3
Keep it in front of you
A rule only works if you can see it when you need it. The free Weekly Plan keeps your rules in view while you trade, then asks you to review them on Friday.
If my stop is close, then I leave it where I wrote it. If I want to add to a red trade, then I stay out of that market for the rest of the session.
Writing an if, then plan like this is called forming an implementation intention. A large meta-analysis of studies found that it helps people follow through on their goals.
Continuum Community works through the week together: the market context, the process work, and exercises like this one. Continuum Education is the full process in one place, as a one-time purchase with lifetime access.
The research behind it
- Kahneman, D., and Tversky, A. (1979). Prospect theory: An analysis of decision under risk. Econometrica, 47(2), 263-291.
- Odean, T. (1998). Are investors reluctant to realize their losses? Journal of Finance, 53(5), 1775-1798.
- Gilovich, T., Vallone, R., and Tversky, A. (1985). The hot hand in basketball: On the misperception of random sequences. Cognitive Psychology, 17(3), 295-314.
- Wilson, T. D., Reinhard, D. A., Westgate, E. C., Gilbert, D. T., Ellerbeck, N., Hahn, C., Brown, C. L., and Shaked, A. (2014). Just think: The challenges of the disengaged mind. Science, 345(6192), 75-77.
- Oskamp, S. (1965). Overconfidence in case-study judgments. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 29(3), 261-265.
- Staw, B. M. (1976). Knee-deep in the big muddy: A study of escalating commitment to a chosen course of action. Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, 16(1), 27-44.
- Gollwitzer, P. M., and Sheeran, P. (2006). Implementation intentions and goal achievement: A meta-analysis of effects and processes. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 69-119.
The Pressure Map is an educational tool. It is not trading advice, and it is not a diagnosis of any kind. The simulations use made-up, fixed odds so you can see an idea, and real markets behave differently. Trading involves risk.
