Overthinking Your Entries? Try What Tennis Players Do

6 days ago

3 min read

Line drawing of a messy speech bubble labelled 20 minutes of this, with an arrow to a clean speech bubble that says yes or no

I see this in a lot of traders I've worked with. A simple setup turns into a 20 minute debate with themselves.

"Am I missing something here?"

"What if it reverses?"

"Just wait for one more candle..."

By the time the debate's over, the trade has either gone without them, or they've talked themselves into something they never planned to take.

The tennis drill that quietens the noise

A good example of how to quieten it is an old drill tennis players use. You say "bounce" when the ball lands and "hit" when you strike it. Nothing else.

It keeps your attention on the ball, so the little voice in your head has less room to talk. And the body tends to just get on with it.

Why does it work?

That voice lives in the future. What if, what about, what next.

Describing what's actually in front of you pulls your attention back to now. And it's hard to worry and describe at the same time.

We can do the same thing in our trading. It's exactly the same idea.

There's no need to fight the thoughts. Your attention just has a better job to do.

Watching the chart and arguing with the chart are two different jobs.

Why simple strategies mean less overthinking

This is where your strategy comes into it.

Every condition you add is another question that voice can ask. Is the trend strong enough? Is that a proper retest? Does this candle count? With seven or eight things that all need to line up, there's always something to argue about.

I learned that the hard way. My own strategy grew to seven-plus conditions, and every session felt like a tug of war in my head.

That's why I trade the way I do now. A small number of rules, each with a yes or no answer, and about 10 minutes on the charts before the daily close.

When the rules are simple, there's nothing left to debate. The setup is either there or it isn't.

If your rules don't answer the question, your emotions will.

And simple rules make the tennis idea easy to use. You're not trying to quieten a voice that has twelve things to say. You're just checking three.

How to try it in your next session

When you look at a setup, just name what's there:

→ Price at the level

→ Candle closed

→ Rule met, yes or no

No commentary. Then act on the answer.

If you can't answer one of those with a plain yes or no, that's worth knowing. It usually means the rule needs tightening rather than you needing to think harder.

Give it a week

The doubts might still show up. That's normal. But give it a week and the debates tend to get shorter, and the decisions start to feel a lot lighter.

Less to think about means less to argue with. And that's when trading starts to feel calm.

Quick answers

How do I stop overthinking my trade entries?

Give your attention a simpler job. When you look at a setup, just name what's actually there, like price at the level, candle closed, rule met yes or no, then act on the answer. It's hard to worry and describe at the same time.

Why do traders hesitate even when the setup is there?

The voice in your head lives in the future: what if it reverses, what if I'm missing something. And the more conditions a strategy has, the more that voice finds to argue about.

What is the bounce-hit drill in tennis?

It's an old tennis drill where you say "bounce" when the ball lands and "hit" when you strike it, and nothing else. It keeps your attention on the ball, so the little voice in your head has less room to talk.

Do simple trading rules help with overthinking?

Yes. When every rule has a yes or no answer, there's nothing left to debate, because the setup is either there or it isn't. If you can't answer a rule with a plain yes or no, it usually needs tightening.

Have a good week,

Alan Edward

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About Alan

Alan Edward (The Divergent Trader) is a full-time trader. It took him about five years to get consistent, and he now teaches a simple, low-screen-time way to trade, plus the mental side that goes with it.