Well... I trade futures which are open 24/6, but then again, my strategy mostly trades around specific dates when economic reports are released so, when there a

Well... I trade futures which are open 24/6, but then again, my strategy mostly trades around specific dates when economic reports are released so, when there are no new economics reports I don't have anything to do... but it certainly varies from person to person and from strategy to strategy. But you are right, trading certainly makes one A LOT more aware of risk/reward just in general life, which can be good or bad. Also, it is very easy to gamble instead of speculate, that is to trade something one "hopes" would work vs. trading something that has a statistical percentage of working, and the difference between the two is purely emotional, because one can convince oneself of quite literally anything! Come with a bullish bias and everything looks bullish... take a step back and reconsider and see how easy is for one to see what one wants to see.