Glossary

A composite score from 0 to 100 that measures a trader's behavioral stability in real time during a live NinjaTrader 8 session. PSI is calculated by aggregating seven independent behavioral signal dimensions — each tracking a known failure pattern from behavioral finance research. A score above 87 is considered Stable; 55–87 is Caution; below 55 is Critical. PSI updates in under 100 milliseconds after every execution, stop move, or sizing decision.

A session-quality metric calculated at the end of each trading session. Unlike PSI — which is a live real-time score — Composure reflects how much of the session was spent in each PSI zone, weighted by psychological cost: Stable time is weighted 1.0×, Caution 0.3×, and Critical 0.05×. A long session in the Caution zone will produce a low Composure score even if the PSI looked acceptable at any individual moment. Composure is designed to capture session-level discipline, not just end-of-session state.

A trader's personal reference profile built from their own historical session data. Meridian uses adaptive baselines rather than fixed population averages, because what counts as an anomalous entry speed or unusual hold duration differs significantly between traders and strategies. The baseline calibrates continuously — the more sessions recorded, the more accurate the signal thresholds become for that specific trader.

The seven independent behavioral patterns Meridian tracks to compute PSI: (1) Revenge Entry — re-entry after a loss with elevated size or speed; (2) Stop Manipulation — widening stops against the position in adverse conditions; (3) Size Spike — position size exceeding declared rules; (4) Hold Bias — abnormal hold duration relative to the trader's own baseline; (5) Position Overstay — holding a losing trade beyond the trader's 90th-percentile hold time; (6) Rule Violations — trading outside declared session rules such as time windows or instrument limits; (7) Overtrading Pace — entry frequency accelerating beyond historical norms. Each dimension runs independently and contributes to the composite PSI score.

A behavioral pattern in which a trader enters a new position immediately after a loss, typically with increased size, reduced analysis time, or reversed direction — driven by the emotional urge to recover losses rather than by market logic. Revenge trading is one of the most documented causes of compounded drawdowns in active trading. Meridian's Revenge Entry signal detects the behavioral fingerprint of this pattern in real time.

A state of emotional and cognitive dysregulation in which a trader abandons their planned strategy and makes decisions driven by frustration, fear, or the need to recover losses. The term originates from poker psychology and has been widely adopted in trading. In Meridian, tilt is not a single event but a progressive degradation across multiple behavioral dimensions — reflected as a falling PSI score before the trading account is materially affected.

A behavioral pattern characterized by excessive trade frequency beyond what the trader's own strategy or session rules prescribe. Overtrading often accompanies emotional states such as boredom, frustration, or overconfidence. Meridian's Overtrading Pace signal compares current entry frequency against the trader's own historical baseline, firing when acceleration is statistically anomalous — not against a generic market standard.

A commitment device built into Meridian Guard that automatically enforces rules the trader defines during a calm, pre-session state. The Guard System operates across two dimensions: (1) Trigger conditions — six behavioral and P&L thresholds that activate the Guard response; (2) Action levels — five escalating responses ranging from a quiet alert (L1) to a full automated broker disconnect (L5). Critically, the L5 disconnect ends the trading session but never automatically closes open positions, preserving the trader's risk management agency.

A mechanism a person sets up in advance to constrain their own future behavior — named and studied in behavioral economics. The classic example is Odysseus having himself tied to the mast to resist the Sirens. In trading, a commitment device is a rule or system established when the trader is rational and calm, which then activates automatically when emotional pressure is high. Meridian Guard is designed specifically as a trading commitment device: the rules are written during setup, not during the heat of a losing streak.

The post-session analysis layer in Meridian that records and surfaces behavioral data after each trading session ends. Each session is stored locally with PSI trajectory, Composure score, trade statistics, and detected signal events. Over months, session review enables a trader to identify persistent behavioral patterns — such as consistently lower PSI on Tuesdays or elevated revenge entries after gap opens — that are not visible from P&L data alone.

An analytics feature in Meridian Guard that aggregates session history into actionable intelligence. It includes: Monthly Digest — a behavioral grade and trend summary across the prior month; Weekday Patterns — which days of the week historically show higher or lower PSI for that trader; PSI × P&L Correlation — whether Stable sessions produce better trading outcomes than Critical sessions for this individual; Today's Risk Brief — a pre-session summary generated each morning from the trader's own historical data.

A discipline that applies behavioral finance research to the real-time management of trading risk. Traditional risk management focuses on position sizing, stop losses, and account drawdown limits — all of which are lagging indicators responding after losses have occurred. Behavioral risk management addresses the upstream cause: the cognitive and emotional states that lead to rule-breaking, oversizing, and revenge trading before the P&L is affected. Meridian is built on this principle.

A third-party software module that extends the functionality of the NinjaTrader 8 trading platform. Add-ons are distributed as `.zip` files and imported via NinjaTrader's built-in import mechanism (Tools → Import NinjaScript Add-On). Meridian is a native NinjaTrader 8 add-on, meaning it runs directly inside the NinjaTrader process on the trader's Windows PC — accessing live order fill data, position data, and account state in real time, with no data leaving the machine.