We’ve all been there, you look at the charts and you say to yourself “Why the hell did I not take that trade?! I would’ve been 100 pips up if I had!”.
Now, I know it’s a psychological flaw… but what do other traders tell themselves to quell this instinctive outburst. How do you reassure yourself it’s part of the game.
If it meets your criteria, enter. If not, don’t. Everything else is irrelevant.
Experienced traders know that after missing a good trade another good trade will shows up eventually and for them it is not a big deal. That should be a part of any trading strategy; trading with no emotions.
As Rambo said, another will present itself. Forget it and move on.
2nd everything said so far.
-Don’t bother even using mind-speak like that. Hindsight is 20-20, and thinking “damn, I should have taken that trade” is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. It damages your confidence, and messes with your ability to remain neutral while trading.
-Most rookies have a problem when it comes to decisiveness and trading. They don’t understand that there are different strength and quality signals which the market can provide, ranging from weak, weak-medium, medium, medium-strong, strong. Each signal/quality strength must be managed differently. You wouldn’t go full risk on a weak-medium position. Just like you wouldn’t go “all-in” pre-flop on 9, Jack off-suit (for you poker folks out there, you’ll understand this most). But, money can be made with all types of signals- just like you may be able to nail a card on the river which gives you a straight. Sometimes signals can look to be strong, but evaporate and become weak (and vice versa).
-Like Pete said- you need to almost be robotic. If an instrument gives you a signal according to your appetite, then you need to trade it, every single time. This is what brings consistency. You need to manage your risk though alongside this notion. (Any individual with less than 1 year live trading experience should never risk more than .05% on any single open position. Period. This is my opinion.)
Jake
I try to think of it in a logical way, I say to myself - I know if I enter those types of setups I will in the long run loose more than I win.
You must accept that you cannot predict the market, even when you win, it’s not because you’ve predicted it, it’s because you entered you’re setup and the market happened to move in the right direction, it’s probabilities.
Very well said! Oftentimes it can be damaging to your trading psychology if you dwell too much on missed opportunities, makes you prone to just keep on taking setups for fear of missing out instead of focusing on high-probability wins.
And because this is what forex all about handling the results of risk. isn’t it?
After some time(or a few years) in the game you get used to missing potentially good trades.
No big deal another chance will come up in future.
Stopped doing post mortems long time ago.
I am always missing trades even when I am in a good trade. The fact is you will always miss a trade but the market never dies it will out live us all.
I don’t care there will be many more tomorrow.
Yep, trade the next day or when the next opportunity comes…
Nothing. I know there will be another one. CHILL.
I tell myself that the market never ends and there will always be an opportunity for a good new trade. Otherwise I’d get too bogged down in negative emotions.