Gamification of Trading: Set Your Trading Goals to Stay Focused

As a trader, your income relies on strategic thinking, focus, and problem-solving skills.

Trading is one of the most lucrative ways to make money online. And once you invest in the right stocks- an easy way to make passive income.

But with that can come high levels of stress.

If you’re struggling to stay focused and keep your stress levels at bay while trading, gamifying your trading might be the solution.

In this article, we’ll go over what gamification of trading is and five ways you can use it to make your trading career feel like your favorite hobby.

What Is Gamification of Trading?

Despite all the advice on mobile trading out there, gamification is one of the most underrated tricks to keeping traders focused and preventing burnout.

“Gamification” means turning a tedious task into something fun by applying the same elements video games use to make people want to keep playing.

Point systems, leaderboards, progress bars, badges, awards, and streaks are just a few examples of elements you can use to gamify anything.

5 Ways to Gamify Trading

There are several ways you can apply gamification to trading. We’ll explore five of them now.

1. Set Goals and Daily Objectives with Points

Start by setting three sets of goals: long-term, short-term, and daily goals.

Your long-term goals are more career-focused and where you see your future with trading. For example, maybe trading is your side hustle right now, but your long-term goal is to make it your full-time job.

Short-term goals might be to sell a stock at a specific ROI, invest a certain amount of money in the market, or meet a monthly income goal.

Finally, daily goals are the small tasks you do every day to get you to your short-term (and eventually long-term) goals. Like logging onto your computer when the market opens, spending X amount of hours trading, etc.

To gamify the goal-setting process, assign each daily objective and short-term goal a point value. You receive these points once you check off the goal or task. Once you’ve achieved a certain amount of points, you can “cash them in” for a reward.

2. Reward Yourself for Maintaining a Trading Streak

Keep track of the days you achieve all of your daily goals and try to maintain the longest streak possible.

Once you’ve hit certain milestones in your streak, reward yourself.

For example, once you’ve maintained a seven-day streak, treat yourself to dinner. After you reach a fourteen-day streak, give yourself a three-day weekend by taking a day off.

3. Track Your Progress with a Trading Journal

Take yourself shopping and buy a nice, well-designed journal that you dedicate solely to trading.

Write down your long-term, short-term, and daily goals in this journal first. Then, use each page as a log for the daily goals you reach each day you trade.

You should also use one of the first pages of your journal as an index for your point system, rewards to unlock, and any other award-type metric you want to use to keep you motivated.

Take your time setting up your journal. You’ll be opening it daily and it’s supposed to keep you inspired. So get creative with designing your pages and use unique trackers, like progress bars you can color in every day.

If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, Google “bullet journal page ideas” or “trading journal ideas” and go to the images tab to find hundreds of examples for inspiration.

4. Join a Trading Group to Compete with Partners

If you’re competitive, joining a trading group can be the solution to beating burnout and keeping you focused.

Trading groups give you companionship with like-minded people who have the same hobby, side hustle, or career—whatever trading is to you.

And with that companionship comes a healthy sense of competition and accountability to your goals.

5. Post Your Trading Achievements on Social Media

Consider starting a social media account just for your trading career.

Post your achievements, follow other traders, keep your followers up-to-date with your trades, and document your progress.

Not only is this an excellent source of accountability, but it’s also an easy way to make new friends.

Conclusion

Feeling at ease and focused is essential to your career as a trader, and your income depends on it.

Use these five tips to gamify your trading, and watch yourself fall back in love with this unique and profitable way to work for yourself.