Trading Psychology

[intuitrader]

This thread aims to gather various psychological experiences of forex traders around the globe as he or she engage the market. The philosophy behind is to help each other become a professional trader through a sincere, open and unconditional sharing. Kindly post your trading experiences, mental strategies, or methods in overcoming the following:

(1) The Ego of Trading
(2) Fear of Trading
(3) Greediness to gain more pips
(4) Hope of turning lossers into winners
(5) How to develop Trading Discipline
(6) The stress of fighting the market direction
(7) Forecasting the market instead of being attuned with the market flow

[intuitrader]

The ego of a trader is connected to the self-concept a trader may have. This self- concept is little voice that paints a trader as a gifted trader when making successive wins in the market, and also paints oneself as a worst trader when one is enduring successive losses. Both self-conceptualizations are ego manifestations, and mislead the trader to take wrong market decision.

The best way to eliminate the ego is to empty the mind and avoid making self-conceptualizations.. When one losses, it only means one is not in sync with the market flow. And when one wins, he is just attuuned with the market flow. Both wins and losses has nothing to do with the trader, so one should treat win and loss with equanimity

[vmcd62]

Originally Posted by intuitrader.com

The ego of a trader is connected to the self-concept a trader may have. This self- concept is little voice that paints a trader as a gifted trader when making successive wins in the market, and also paints oneself as a worst trader when one is enduring successive losses. Both self-conceptualizations are ego manifestations, and mislead the trader to take wrong market decision.

The best way to eliminate the ego is to empty the mind and avoid making self-conceptualizations.. When one losses, it only means one is not in sync with the market flow. And when one wins, he is just attuuned with the market flow. Both wins and losses has nothing to do with the trader, so one should treat win and loss with equanimity

These are good insights, intuitrader...sorry you are not getting more responses here. I do try to view things the same way you mention, such as wins and losses equating to being "in tune" and "out of tune"...it's not just intuitively obvious..it's literally true..you can't make money if you are not in synch with the market using whatever plan you have.."you" are part of your overall market trading plan..and YOU can bring things out of sync with an otherwise profitable methodology...

[genghisclown]

I'm addressing this one by trading via a demo account. I took my time and played with it until I was comfortable with the interface, and now I am trading several thousands of dollars (in play money) per week without fear. When I am properly trained, I will begin trading with real investment capital.

We fear the unknown. We fear failure. If we fear trading it is only because we know that our lack of experience (what we don't know) will almost surely lead to our failure in the short term. Robert Kiyosaki, in his book "Rich Dad, Poor Dad", says that he doesn't know of any rich people who have never lost money. Think about it. Rich people lose money. Yet they still succeed in making it. They challenge failure and, though they lose money sometimes, they succeed at what they do.

Except, of course, for the losers who break a gazillion federal laws in the process and get sent to prison for two hundred years!

The fear of trading can be addressed by learning how to trade, and how to manage our risks while doing so. With a demo account, the only thing I'm risking is my time. And the only way I'm losing that time is if I don't learn from my mistakes.

[rhodytrader]

Originally Posted by intuitrader.com

When one losses, it only means one is not in sync with the market flow. And when one wins, he is just attuuned with the market flow. Both wins and losses has nothing to do with the trader, so one should treat win and loss with equanimity

I may agree in general with this statement, but not completely. It is totally possible to be "in sync" with the market and to suffer a loss, just as it is quite possible to be out of sync and to make a nice gain. Ask any experienced trader and you will definitely hear them say that chance plays a major part in any given trade. That's where the part about treating them both equally comes in, though.

[elang]

Originally Posted by rhodytrader

I may agree in general with this statement, but not completely. It is totally possible to be "in sync" with the market and to suffer a loss, just as it is quite possible to be out of sync and to make a nice gain. Ask any experienced trader and you will definitely hear them say that chance plays a major part in any given trade. That's where the part about treating them both equally comes in, though.

I Second that!

[intuitrader]

Originally Posted by rhodytrader

It is totally possible to be "in sync" with the market and to suffer a loss, just as it is quite possible to be out of sync and to make a nice gain. Ask any experienced trader and you will definitely hear them say that chance plays a major part in any given trade. That's where the part about treating them both equally comes in, though.

Yes rhodytrader, one can loss while being in sync in the bigger trend, or one can win while out of sync with the trend. One good example is for intraday traders, who may have an adverse position while in sync with the bigger weekly trend or gain at a retracement trade while out of sync of the weekly trend.

But whether one is in sync or not, what will separate the successful trader from the rest is DISCIPLINE.

[shadow]

I would say that for fear, you just need experience - as the saying goes "do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain". For Discipline I think that it has to do with your personal psychology. Thus, you must be disciplined in other situations in your life. So, as an exercise you can be disciplined in something which you don't particularily like, then being disciplined in trading comes easier. However, I think that fear/greed is also tied with discipline, so you have to over come these first, then you must become disciplined. Anyways just my thoughts.

Stay Cool, Take it Easy!