Tilt is borrowed from poker, where a player "on tilt" plays badly after a painful hand. In trading it is the state in which a loss, a missed move or a bad fill leaves you frustrated enough that the next decisions stop following the plan. Tilt rarely starts the losing day; it turns a normal losing day into a large one.

Signs you are tilted

  • Taking a trade that is not in your playbook, or skipping the checklist.
  • Increasing size to "get it back".
  • Re-entering the same market right after a stop, without a new signal.
  • Moving or removing the stop.
  • Trading faster: more trades per hour than any normal session.

Common triggers

Two or three losses in a row, a stop hit by a wick before the move you predicted, a large winner given back, outside stress, poor sleep. Triggers are personal; the journal finds yours.

A rule that works

Decide in advance, with numbers: after two full losses, or after a loss larger than 1.5R, stop for the day or take a 30-minute break away from the screen. A daily loss limit is the hard version of the same rule.

Measuring tilt

Tilt is easier to see afterwards than in the moment, so record your state when you enter, not when you review. Rate calm at entry from 1 (tilted) to 5 (calm), then compare:

Calm at entry Trades Share with a mistake tag Expectancy
1 to 2 14 64% −0.62R
3 31 29% +0.05R
4 to 5 52 12% +0.31R

A table like this (illustrative numbers) turns "I trade worse when I'm upset" into a cost per trade.

In SetupBook

Every trade has a "calm at entry" rating from 1 (tilted) to 5 (calm) in step 1 of the form. Analytics shows the mistake share by state at entry, and the "Revenge trade" and "Moved stop" mistake tags put a money cost on the most common tilt behaviours.