Emotional AID

Trading Discussion
124

Thanks Mr Gone, your advice is very helpful ! I also have started to recognise patterns in the charts, for ages everyone here has said mondays can be slow and fridays after lunch are general no-no but i see it today, that tues - thurs are best.

So far i have seen on EUR-USD a few trades i could of made about 10 pips a time from and a few my system would not of avoided.

Its annoying that i can’t trade, but im glad im forcing myself to watch the charts and learn the movements of my system and learn more about candlebar etc.

Your advice is golden !

I think 2 months ago i would of been over confident, but the more i make myself wait the more respect i have for the market and the more i understand the market will do what it wants ! So i think my first day of trading will be a tuesday rather than monday, but i am glad i had the right feeling about my gut. So far i have generally ignored it and either just traded my system and only by my system or if my gut is too strong i just walk away from trading and end my trading session for the day.

But i have had a few bad demo days when i was stressed and frustrated and i kept loosing again and again, which was not my systems fault, it was me not following it 100%. Im not saying my system is perfect, it does loose if i follow it 100%, but i think if i follow the news more i can reduce the chance of having a loosing trade, but im glad i had those loosing trades when i was stressed and frustrated, now i know if i feel like that i just don’t trade !

125

If you have a lot of loses in a row it does not mean your system does not work, it means the condiditions are not set. Just rattach to logic and don’t change it, for example it is logic that if gdp rises, it’s currency will raise too but it does not mean it always be the same. In fact if you have a system that gives you at least 30% of good trades, that is a good system. Just remember to have a risk/reward ratio of 1:3. Also is helpful to have a maximum quote of loss. Sometimes a little vacation helps. If you are a daytrader a one week vacation is fine, but it is easily said than done, once you can overcome you first fx vacation without even opening MT4, the next will be easier.

Regards.

126

Let’s say now you have a system and now you realize that there is no need to trade compulsively. Now something happens, there is not a single valid entry point for you and you know if you take a trade it will be a loss. This happens specially in trended markets when there is optimism in one currency and pesimism in the other one. So the price goes up for example but is rising up slowly, making non trustable candlestick patterns. SO what to do? This not happens everyday but happens, there is a market sentiment in one hand and in the other there is some certain sense of “let’s be a little careful”, the price goes on and on but also there is a little fear that makes price moving according market sentiment but not scaling up to a profitable level. WHat to do? Answer: Stay away from the market, for a couple of days, just let yourself lettting lose that opportunity. Trading in after stuck markets is not safe and when price finnaly moves it does abruptly and with no logic and for worse SL orders might not close at set level.

The bottom line: If you are desperate for an entry point, others traders might be desperate too, so who blinks first loses all.

127

Hey Mr. Hows trading today?

Cheers

128

Good in fact, thanks for asking.

129

Someday you will have that great feeling of being a great trader. Let’s define what a great trader is: a great trader is a person who can aproach to the market unbiased eventhought he or she is desperate for an entry point. A great trader is someone who do as systems oders to do and trust more in system itself than guts, no matter the situation, no matter how trader feel, as a last resort trader decides not to trade if not feeling good, there will be more oportinities anyway. A great trader i the one who can trade on a demo or live account without telling a difference, in fact a great trader is more careful with the demo.

A great trader is a person who practice emotional control all day long, inside and outside of FX. The great trder realises that emotions comes and goes, and just acept it like it was a chronic disease the trader must carry with, the great trader accept the fact it will be an everyday struggle, cannot be happy forever.

Now we have clear what a great trader is, i can tell when you reach that stage it is a great feeling, sometimes i look back and i wonder why in hell i did not do those days the stuff i do today, it would spared me a lot of troubles and painful pain. Once you reach that stage you will see everything in different ways that you used to do, you will think in everything and will care about everything without even having an idea. Your brain will star thinking so fast that things just happens in slow motion arround you and the most weird thing is you will forget the main reason why you did get into this crazy thing called forex, you will forget about money itself, did i’ve mentione money in my definition of the Great Trader? No. So is an ironic thing, in forex to make money you must forget about it.

Regards.

130

how to develop a more ‘dispassionate’ way of trading for science to help me?

now im trading weak currency against strong currency but the currency flip sometimes everyday so the information becomes late when you trade the next day a weak currency yesturday may not be a weak currency today

a strong currency yesturday is not a strong currency today how does one predict the future to be profitable? the emotional sensation caused in the heat of the past has ruined my account once again i may not add more any longer to my account and leave FOREX for goood.

131

i agree i have been using a demo account to practice scalping because when i did it on real account my funds disappear so quick my emotions would not be controlled

it is easier on demo as my emotions are free to run wild and i lose no money at all while i practice scalping it is a great pass time

until i am no longer like an animal and can control my emotions i will lose money this i have learned.:17:

132

In response to Sman trouble.

Well, first you must attach to a risk management, chose a time frame, determine the maximun pips you think it will be the “wrong direction” for you to accept and then apply the necesary amount of lost that fits into the risk level so it is no higher than 1% of the total amount of your account. Tha is the Stop Loss level. Accept it, mos of times it will be activated. Never leave a position with no SL. If you are going to lose your account, how do you prefferd, little by little or just once and for all?

You must trade blindly without thinking into moving SL. If you can tolerate at least 50 loses in a row that is a begining.

Also you must set a target point, that is the Take Profit order, the profit level must be 3 times the risk, so you lose 1 or gain 3. That simple game of numbers if powerful but understimated bye the big majority. Risk little, gain Big, that is the key (but not the only key). If you open a trade and let’s say you use 100 pips of sl and obvioulsy 300 of TP, let’s say you open a trade and you see it closing because of SL over and over again, there is where most traders fail, they trust so blindly into their strategy that they forget about markt itself and anything can happen. I normaly have 5 or 6 loses before a win occurs, sometimes with the best probability posible it loses but i remain confident because i know that my theory is logic and independant and hence someday market will act as i say it will do. With the magic number 1:3 with one gain i get back three loses, three gains i get back 10 loses, 33 gains i get back 100 loses, so you only need to be right 33% of times, nothing more, you don’t need to be the best, get used to it, trying be the best in forex is a bad idea.

So, another thing that might be happening to you is when you open a trade and you see it winning you close it only for seeing going more and more into your direction and you decide to reopen the trade just to see it pulling back eating your pips away. Somethin similar is when you see it just 5 pips near to TP profit level but later on pulls back and activate SL, what initialy was an almost done victory now it turns into a big f****ing pain. I understand, i’ve been trough it. There is not an easy way to explain what to do, you must trust in yourself and keep trading responsabily without moving SL and avoiding to close trades manualy because you are affraid to lose what is already earned, FORGET ABOUT THE MONEY. Keep trading, make a journal, a trading journal first, you will see a little enhance but you will notice there is a lack of something. After making a trading journal obviously you will notice you suddenly are into green points but after a while you get back into the red zone again, there is when you need an emotional journal, something like a confessionary, you must record your emotions during the day and what you do about it.

I just open my trade, set SL and TP levels and forget about it, the rest is up to the market, period, if maket takes, let it take, if it gives, let it give. Just that simple.

One thing you might not be doing is reading, you must read about forex and forex psicology all the time until the day you die. I’ve read DOuglas, Elder, the first version of Babypis and so on, now i am reading Van Tharp, Norman Hallet, Ari Kiev and after it i will search for more. I know is almost the same but is the only way to keep myslef reminding me the basics, mind is so fragile, besides, form one book to another there is a 1% of difference, and that 1% worth it.

The bottom line: You cannot be right 100% of times, you cannot control that, but you can control how to feel and react about it. Just like “The Dog Whisperer”, if you have bad energy the dog will bite you, in this case, dogs bittings are just a scratch compared to markets bittings. You mus be neutral when you open a trade but optimistic when it closes no matter the result, start with that little thing and the scale it up.

Regards.

Regards.

133

Thanks mister gone the problem is i want every trade to be right 100 percent of the time and I want to get rich quick.

I do not have patience to lose many trades for 1 : 3 risk reward ratio because the stop is not big for normal market swings In my opinion

That is why i lose my account many times rather than many trades but you are right I must accept small loss or continue to suffer it is good advice.

134

just do your trade, let it close by itself. No matter how many loses in a row you have, remain faithful to your system, eventualy your few wins will beat up the many loses ande then you are breakeven, once you reach that another f******g stage begins, this is the most dangerous stage, this is the moment, fight or flee, here is when traders become overconfident and start trading back to the red again, if it happens to you don´t worry it is normal. Concentrate in record every trade and after a year (because you must test it in all condidions an these changes over the year) yo will have enough samples to analyse an try to seek for a pattern. There is not another way to test a system, do it at least a year, a year of learning and taking samples, forget about success or failure, stop seeing things as black and white. Just take it as you are in college and you are having a work practice, sometimes you must do a period of practice with no salary. You must gather enough information to know if your system and you really works. You will see in time that some adjustments must be made, but please do it gradually, don´t change your system just overnight.

Regards.

135

Just follow Mr Gone’s advice!! I have and he has helped me alot i was like you months ago but now i am at the point where i know my system and i know me which is more important. I have realised my patterns that when i am annoyed, fruatrated, ill, i a bad mood or anythibg neative i geberally screw up somehow with my system an have a small loss before i realise my mistake and close the negative trade.

Just trade on demo and watc the charts, and watch yourself, like Mr Gone has said do a journal so you can identify when you do best and worst. If you do best in a quiet environment with the radio on in the bqckground but always failing when the kids are runnibg around, loud tv dog barkibg etc you know when to trade and not to trade!

Thanks to Mr Gones advice i am ready to try my system live on a micro account and see how i do. This is a big test for me and i am preparing my environment this weekend to do it tues morning and then i will probably spend a day or 2 looking at what i did good, bad and how i can improve. My aim is to be in profit by 1 pip by the end of my trading session.

If i can do it so can you!! Just treat your demo account like live!! Also think why you want to do forex? For me the money is a second reason my main reason is so i am working for myself and no one else, if i want a day off i can take it. Also my other half is from spain so with forex trading i can work from her place if we decide to go to spain for a few weeks / months etc

Just dont think money!!!

My real goal is 50 pips a day from day trading, thats what i want and i know once i have myself in control i can do it as i have been doing well on ademo account just like Mr Gone i think i am sinilar maybe about 30 to 40% success but the losses are about 5 pips wins are about 10-15 with te occosional 40-50 pip win which is a nice bonus

Just practice makes perfext :slight_smile: good
Luck!!

136

Great thread. A lot of good advice. I definitely have to keep reminding myself of this stuff every day because it’s so easy for the little greed demon to take over. My main problems are entering too early to make sure I get filled, setting targets that are too ambitious and don’t get hit, and worst of all, sitting there and watching price move, which makes me crazy but I still do it. At least consciously being aware of these problems helps me to avoid them. I wonder if they’ll ever get ‘fixed’? I dount it but I believe I can get a lot better at dealing with them.

137

Have you ever known someone dealing with alcoholism or drugs? It is not a nice thing to bear, there is not a definite cure for it. The subject can go Anonymus Adicts and will find some help, but after leaving the center the subject might fall again, the solution? Go back to AA over and over, it is a everyday fight. Our drug begins with money then it twist into a weird thing mixed with the ego telling us that failure is bad, We get adicted to perfectionism. The narcotic adict has an advantage over us, as long as the subject is driven away from substance he mgiht get a change, we carry with the drug inside our minds. So, fighting our egos is kinda difficult. We must accept this is not a football game, when i was in school soccer games were kinda violent but with the members of the same team who wanted to win the game but the cost was to high. In professional soccer, players are paid millions to do extraordinary tasks, to enhance the probability of winning not to win the game for themselves. Lionel Messi, for example or Beckham, they are paid for playing extraordinarily but not to win every game. If they lose some encounters but they are still on the team and they keep making millions of it, that means they are still having a good performance, one single player cannot be blamed for the result of the game. The same with trading, one single loss is not the end of the world.

Once you forget about the obsession of perfect then the obsesion of money is not so hard to overcome but we fall again. Everyday i have to convince myself that the process is more important, you can lose all battles but you can win this war.

Regards.

138

There are many systems wich are not using take profit orders because their targets are higher than 1:3, the target is determined by market itself and most of these systems use trailing stop. Using this sort of systems is a real test, because it demands patience wich i don´t have in that quantity that is why i am a swing, i don´t have the nerve for daytrading or scalping. For those who want to become day traders, to eliminate the pressure they must begin in daily charts, at least for three months, then scaling it down to match the propper chart because starting directly with 15 min charts will blow mind. That is one way to approach daytrading. Other excercise daytrading aspirants is to seek on hour of the day when they can do it with no distraction, trading mandatory from hour A until hour B, the hour ends, trader must go away, after a month of this enhance now to two hours and so on, just get sure you don´t stay all day long in front of the computer that is bad too.

Regards.

139

Today i was about to start the same old fighting with my wife, asking for divorce and stuff, i was just seeking for any excuse to do so. Then i started to think ok, if i wait it will go away, and well, it did. I was too dam hungry, my meal was not arriving and when hungry anything can happen. Well, i cannot stand hungry for so long.

Overeating is Bad too. So if you have overweight in any level you might feel depressed because of it time to time. Well the solution for it is not the diet, diet doesn´t work, the only reason i would do that is under medical prescription. Is not what you eat, is how much you eat, and don´t say is your metabolism, that is BS. Do you know someone skinny but not patological skinny? You say, that guy/girl eats more than pig but they remain thing, oh that is because their complexion. No, that is an excuse for you to not trying being thin. Have you ever considered the posibility of coincidence? That guy only eats like a pig when you are around? There is not a single scientific proof of metabolism is the cause. We all are made of the same.

What you can do? Well, firt, start eating only what you like in this folling steps:

[B]1. When you are hungry just Eat.[/B]

Sounds like is what we normaly do but do we really know when we are hungry? In fact no, three daily meals every day of our live has turned off our hungry sensor. It takes time to recalibrate our stomach. When you go to work you must carry snaks with you, belive it or not skinnys eat all the time but eat little, fat guys eat less times but eat more each time. You must keep yourself moderately full and moderately hungry all day long otherwise you will be extremly full or extremly hungry, the last one will make you eat too much.

[B]2. When you eat do it conciously.[/B]

Eat what you like and do it slowly, taste every chwing, try to distinguish every component of the food. While you eating leave knife and fork over the table and pay atention to what you are eating. That is the big secret, never chew with cutlery in your hands, that makes you eat faster.

[B]3. Whe you think is enoguh just stop.[/B]

When you think you have eating enough just stop, there is no need to continue, if you carry snscks with you, let know to your brain that there will always be food, you are not in a survival situation nor lost in the desert so there is no need to rush. and that lead us to step 4.

[B]4. Always leave something.[/B]

Never finish all, leave something over the dish, always, even if is little, make it a habitt for you. Just like the daily coin on a piggy bank, like turning off the unused lights, the sum of the little things makes some difference. That ole story of “think of the poor people who has nothing to eat”, well, that is BS, killing yourself overeating won´t help these people, if you wanna help make a donation to a charity organisation. In some italian districts is an offense to the cheff to eat it all. My friends hates that habit of me, well, if you don´t like it don´t ask me to dinner, if your image of me is more imprtant then don´t be my friend anymore.

The bottom line hre: You must accept that eventually you will make mistakes and you´ll get back some extra pounds, just accept that tummy and trust eventually it will fade. My wife used to treat me like hell whe it happened untill i had to say “Well dear, go and marry with someone who remains thin all year long and leave me alone, you are not helping me.”

Regards.

140

:59:

Today i’ve opened the platform just to take a peak. Friday it was in a 200 pips gain, today it pulled back to 60. It demoralized me for a few seconds but i’ve let my inmune system just to act and it faded in matter of seconds. It is normal to have pullbacks and it is normal to feel demoralized. The only thing you can do is wait and keep trusting your system, market has the final word anyway.

Regards.

141

its interesting you say about the pull backs, i know my trading wont go + or - 200 pips, but i do get the same when i get a nice steady stream to +10 pips and then it dives back to - 3 then +4, back to -2 back to positive lol. Its taken me quite a bit of practice not to close it when its doing this, but i am prepared for when i have to and i have had to close a few trades that did not go my way, but hey the market does change and i accept no system will have a 100% success rating, but i am getting better at identifying risky trading times and as such just not trading during them or being prepared for low profit or a loss.

But hey can’t win them all :slight_smile: how did your trade go in the end Mr Gone, your a day trader arn’t you?

142

No, i am more a swing trader, i don’t have time nor patience for daytrading. Maybe when i retire from my actual job i’ll do some daytrading.

Regards.

143

Today with no reason i’ve just sent everything to hell, wanted to change my system. Decided no to trade today. So i’ve reviewed all, bussines plan, mission sheet, book of rules, and so on. I’ve found out that efectively a change is needed but not in backroung, at least it must not be sudden. Well, my own system avoided me to change it. So today i’ve made little changes and yes, structural cahnges must be done but i’ll save it for later, a sudden changes wil be catastrofic.

If you wanna change your system do it step by step, plan what you are going to add and what are you going to remove, but one thing at the time, maybe one per month. Do it gradualy, you hate the indicators you use, well sorry but you must not wipe all em out, do it one by one. Sudden changes = Sudden Loses.

Oh, once you stablish you system you will always have the feeling of changig it, don’t, it is a daily fight, don’t forget it. You wanna quit your job but you don’t, maybe it sucks but you don’t do it because you have not much choises. The same with trading, switching the system won’t set things right, little amends instead, done gradually might be good just like when you put things in order in your office and throw away all papers that only occupies necesary space.

Regards.