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The Daily Trading Coach summary: 5 habits to coach yourself

Most psychology books tell you what's going wrong. This one hands you small exercises, one at a time, so you can become your own coach.

Beginner guide · 6-minute read · Updated 2026-10-21

The book in one line

The Daily Trading Coach: 101 Lessons for Becoming Your Own Trading Psychologist is by Brett N. Steenbarger, a psychologist who has worked with traders at trading firms. It was published in 2009.

It's built as 101 short lessons. Each one is a few pages long and usually ends with a small exercise. You can read it in order, or open it anywhere.

The 5 ideas worth keeping

1. Find what you do when you trade well

Steenbarger leans on a "solution-focused" approach. Instead of only digging into what went wrong, look closely at the times things went right: you followed your plan, stayed calm, took a clean setup.

What were you doing differently then? More sleep? A shorter watchlist? Waiting for the close? Then do more of that, on purpose. It's simple and surprisingly powerful.

2. Change is built from small steps

The book doesn't ask you to become a new person. It asks for small, specific changes, practised often. One habit, one week.

Example: "This week, I write my stop on paper before every entry." That's it. When that's automatic, add the next habit.

3. Your journal is your coach's notebook

A coach watches and takes notes. When you coach yourself, your trading journal does that job.

Steenbarger suggests tracking more than results: your mood, your focus, whether you followed your rules. Over time, the notes show patterns you'd never spot trade by trade. Our journaling prompts give you questions to start with.

4. Emotions are information

The book treats feelings as signals, not enemies. Frustration might mean the market changed and your setup doesn't fit today. Boredom might mean you're about to force a trade.

The skill is noticing the feeling before acting on it. A simple habit: before each trade, name how you feel in one word. If it's "rushed" or "angry", step back. See revenge trading.

5. Review on a schedule

Steenbarger encourages regular reviews: a quick check at the end of each day, and a deeper look each week. What worked? What didn't? What's one thing to work on next?

Without a schedule, reviews only happen after a painful loss, when you're least able to think clearly. Put it in the calendar like any other appointment. Our guide on building a trading routine shows where it fits.

How to use it as a beginner

Don't try to read all 101 lessons fast. Use the book the way it's designed: a little at a time. Here's a simple weekly plan:

1. Monday: read one or two lessons. Pick one exercise to try this week.
2. Every trading day: note in your journal whether you did it.
3. Friday: a 15-minute review. What were your three best-followed trades? What did they have in common?
4. Next Monday: keep what worked, and pick the next small habit.

You can do all of this on past charts or a Paper trading account before any real money is involved. The habits are the same.

Who it's for, and who should skip it

It's for you if you've done some practice trading and want concrete, bite-sized ways to build better habits.

Skip it (for now) if you haven't started practising yet. Many lessons assume you have trades and habits to reflect on. Come back once you've logged a few weeks of practice. Also, the book is long; readers who want a short, single message may prefer Trading in the Zone.

Read it with…

• Trading in the Zone: the big-picture mindset that Steenbarger's exercises help you practise.
• The Psychology of Money: short, warm essays on how behaviour shapes money decisions.

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