A trading psychology problem: help me please!

Beginner Questions Trading Psychology
1

Hello everyone!
First of all, I’d like to apologize for my less than perfect English. I’ve been trading live since the first days of April with a semi-discretionary system based on the famous “London breakout” on some GBP crosses: my results are quite encouraging right now, I’ve been consistently getting about a hundred of pips per week, which is perfectly in line with my targets; also I’m using a very strict money management system based on compounding, and I don’t enter a trade if the R/R ratio is less than 1.5
My system requires me to open the charts about an hour before the start of the London session (I live in Italy so there are no problems for me), to study them, to wait for the opening and then, if the conditions are good, to enter a trade, max one per day; my trades usually take from ten minutes to two or three hours to hit their TP or SL, so I have the rest of the day free to do all my other things and duties. A perfect system, in theory, no? Problem is: during the rest of the day, when I’m not trading, I cannot move away my eyes and my mind from the charts! When I’m home I often stop my things to take a look at the charts, when I’m out with my friends or with my girlfriend every once in a while I take my smartphone to take a look at the charts… This is getting really unbearable, first of all because I have other things to do, I created my system with this thing in mind, but also because, being that the trends that I spot usually go way beyond my TP during the day (early this morning, for example, I shorted GBP/NZD at 1.9800, took my profit at 1.9750, and right now it is at 1.96274…), I’m starting to think that maybe I’m not exploiting all the potential, that I could be a little more greedy and aggressive and things like that, and I don’t want to think this way, cause I know I’m not ready to consider forex as an H24 job, and I’d lose all my hard earned money in a few weeks.

Well, I hope I’ve been able to explain my problem in the clearest of ways… Anyone can help? Is this really a problem? How can I overcome it? Thank you very much to everyone, you are a terrific community!

2

I think your addicted to be honest to trading and the potential gains. It should never interfere with your personal relationships and creep into your personal life. Your being seduced by the trading arcade environment and the slot machine like feeling of possible winnings. You created your system to fit your schedule, stick to it.

3

I think it is perfectly fine to be stuck on your computer for a good amount of time especially when you are starting out and learning how to trade. When you pass that learning curved and finally start seeing your profitable results and your trading system/strategy is working on your favor to the point where you do not need to be at your computer 24/7. When you get to that point, you can start finding balance in your regular days. Anything too much is not a good thing. Creating balance in your regular routine will help. Maybe do work out in the morning, do some hobby on the side, maybe take classes of the things that you’ve been wanting to learn but you didn’t get a chance to do it… Anything that you can think off that will help you to step away to the computer.

There is more into life than just trading. Don’t let trading take over your life. Start controlling it by creating balance…
Hope this will help…

4

[QUOTE=“Noiseviolation;499512”]Hello everyone!
First of all, I’d like to apologize for my less than perfect English. I’ve been trading live since the first days of April with a semi-discretionary system based on the famous “London breakout” on some GBP crosses: my results are quite encouraging right now, I’ve been consistently getting about a hundred of pips per week, which is perfectly in line with my targets; also I’m using a very strict money management system based on compounding, and I don’t enter a trade if the R/R ratio is less than 1.5
My system requires me to open the charts about an hour before the start of the London session (I live in Italy so there are no problems for me), to study them, to wait for the opening and then, if the conditions are good, to enter a trade, max one per day; my trades usually take from ten minutes to two or three hours to hit their TP or SL, so I have the rest of the day free to do all my other things and duties. A perfect system, in theory, no? Problem is: during the rest of the day, when I’m not trading, I cannot move away my eyes and my mind from the charts! When I’m home I often stop my things to take a look at the charts, when I’m out with my friends or with my girlfriend every once in a while I take my smartphone to take a look at the charts… This is getting really unbearable, first of all because I have other things to do, I created my system with this thing in mind, but also because, being that the trends that I spot usually go way beyond my TP during the day (early this morning, for example, I shorted GBP/NZD at 1.9800, took my profit at 1.9750, and right now it is at 1.96274…), I’m starting to think that maybe I’m not exploiting all the potential, that I could be a little more greedy and aggressive and things like that, and I don’t want to think this way, cause I know I’m not ready to consider forex as an H24 job, and I’d lose all my hard earned money in a few weeks.

Well, I hope I’ve been able to explain my problem in the clearest of ways… Anyone can help? Is this really a problem? How can I overcome it? Thank you very much to everyone, you are a terrific community![/QUOTE]

Hi,
I have spent over a year sat staring at my computer, soaking up any information I can in order to learn how to trade. So much to learn for a newbie ! If you read my ‘fear of loss’ post, I think I have many of the same problems as you. I am attempting to conquer my mistakes, one by one by reading up on mind control techniques and discipline. I suppose for your problem and my own these self control lessons are very important. Mastery of yourself. Try taking the chart app off your phone for a while whilst you are out with friends. When you’re at home, discipline yourself to only check your computer once an hour or at set times. If you can discipline yourself to set a trade and walk away, you are one step better than I am to start with !
As for maximising on a trade after it has hit your target and the price continues, I too try to catch these moves. However, I am told by other traders, to be content with the trade you have made, don’t be greedy. If your win to loss ratio is good and you are hitting your pip win target, then be happy with this. Good luck.

5

It sounds like you are fairly new to trading. What you are experiencing is pretty normal. But know and recognize that it is not healthy. Always think about how professional traders do things. Usually they do opposite of what newbies do.

I have been trading for several years now and I’ve gone through this phase.

Here is the bad news: There is no magic formula to fix your issue. The formula is you and inside of you. If you follow a trading system … then follow the rules. Always be focused on the rules, forget news, forget charts, forget pips moving up/down, forget losses, forget profits. Your sole objective is to improve discipline.

I hope this helps. Lack of discipline is one of the biggest reasons why would-be traders drop out.

Good luck!

6

Hey Noise. You definitely have the hallmarks of an addiction peeking through. How severe they are can end being will be an entirely different matter. Pretty much everything that has already been said is very pertinent to you. I would also advise uninstalling your charting apps from your smart phone. Pick your chosen times to do your trading and stick to it. You will undoubtedly find yourself going to sit back down, but you have to be the one to remind yourself to not dive into the charts. Or if you live with your girlfriend; ask her to remind you if she sees you on the computer.

And if you’ve ever had any problems with gambling in the past; this can wind up very similar to a gambling addiction. So be careful with it. No one wants to see you torpedo your life if you have a psychological problem related to the rush of risk taking.

Good luck to you.

7

Just reduce the amount you are trading until you are ceased to be bothered about it. I’m sure at one stage (eg: one microlot) you will just ignore it and let things go. Then you can slowly increase that amount until you feel that you have to watch. You don’t want it ruining your life so don’t let it.

8

First of all be happy that you are able to be at the profit edge by making hundreds of pips each and every week and be satisfied with your work and look at the other part of life for which you are earning this money.

9

Hi everyone,

I can totally relate to the sentiment in the first post. There is nothing more addictive than watching those candlesticks do their little dance when you first get into trading, especially when you have some time on your hands. It seems like such a no-brainer but the more you trade the less you end up taking home with you. Over-trading is the enemy, especially when you’re new to the game. The thing that helped me was forcing myself to connect more trading activity to the idea of greater chance of failure. The reason people tend to stay glued to the charts is the opposite of this. They feel like every pronounced movement is a lost opportunity to profit. A few years ago I came across a study in a JSTOR journal which proved just this but I can’t for the life of me remember the name of it. It focused on the differences between the sexes when it comes to trading and had something like “Boys will be Boys” in the title.

Recently I found an article that paraphrases the research but doesn’t list any sources, if anyone can link me to the original research I’d be very grateful. Here’s a quote from the article I found recently and a link to the full piece, it’s about binaries but equally applicable to all types of trading…

[I]“As a trader you should be ever-vigilant for all the seemingly uncontrollable aspects of your psychology that can affect your trading. Trading psychology is certainly no new thing but so many people still overlook it in favour of what they perceive to be more solid areas of research. The problem with this is that you can be a wizard at technical analysis, or some kind of idiot savant when it comes to reading the underlying sentiment of a particular market, but if your mindset impinges on your ability to translate this knowledge into rational trades, then your advantage over a gambler who just locks-in random trades for the sake of it will be negligible. Your psychology is the epicentre of your world, and markets are driven by the aggregated psychologies of all buyers and sellers, so as a trader you really do overlook it at your peril.”[/I]

Source: Binary Options Trading Psychology - Binaryoptionswire.com

10

Actually I don’t think that it is a addiction beacuse your are making pips a lot frequently and you are satisfied. But your mind are always trying to analize chart patterns. In this case you can sue your new thinking into a demo to realize that does your calculation work or not.

11

My suggestion would be to ask yourself what would you feel if you are unable to trade (except at the time you’re system allows). This will help you figure out what is going on for you and may help with finding a solution. So if you could only trade in the hour prior to the London open and then no more ( not even checking the charts) what would you feel. Would it be anxiety that the trade might be going wrong. Or feeling a need to be more in control of the trade. Or what? For me when I’ve been in the same situation ive felt an emptiness. The trading fills a bit of a hole in me. Then ask yourself what this feeling reminds you of eg if the feeling has any memories associated with it. And aldo how else does it play out in your life.
For example, for me I was reminded of when I was a kid and my brother kept telling me I was nothing and worthless. It plays out in my life by sometimes me getting addicted to other things such as tv. Just being aware of these things can help you overcome it by being more aware of where the impulse to overtrade comes from. You will probably have different things driving your behaviour than me so it will be good to explore. I’m now at the stage where I can just go ‘Oh it’s that emptiness feeling again’. I will go and do something more fulfilling and not buy into it so much.

12

Wow xxxxbabe,

That’s a kind of honesty I’m not used to coming across on forums such as this one. Thanks for sharing, and I think your comments are very helpful. Keeping track of all your blind spots when trading, i.e the facets of your personality that are subconscious and that you can’t control just by thinking about them or trying to reason with them, is vital. So ultimately a self-aware trader is one who has a natural psychological advantage. Also what you say about picking a session is a great piece of advice. Just 'cause the markets are open 24/5 it doesn’t mean you need to trade on them at all hours of the day and night, picking a session and sticking to it creates boundaries that you then have to observe and this feeds in to your discipline as a trader. Anyway these are my thoughts. Thanks for the post and keep them coming!

13

And another bump. Am going through the archives and see some posts with topics that didn’t pop up lately.

14

hey… I hope you’re still there. Trading is not gambling. And I think you already go deeper in to. I wrote this post few moments ago, and will paste it here. hope this helps.

[B]20 questions to measure your trading habit[/B]

In trading, somehow, we started with winning money. We became excited and betting more money. Then we started to lose. This gave you anger to revenge and, put another lot of money, bigger this time. And those anger combined with rush feeling, loosening your risk management. You want to play big, quick, and thats that. Expectedly, you keep losing money.

This viscous circle forms what we call with compulsive trading, aka gambling addict. Every single trader out there is just an edge from becoming a compulsive one. We have been there and done that. But we got up and not getting ****ed up. We keep our butt and gut to become the one who consistently profiting from the market.

We don’t want you to be at the worse side. Thus, these 20 questions should be your meter, to measure your trading habit. Taken from “The Compulsive Trader” by Van K Tharp, PhD, a trading psychology specialist, here we go.

  1. Do you lose time from work in order to trade?
  2. Does trading make your home life unhappy?
  3. Do your trades negatively affect your reputation?
  4. Have you ever felt remorse after trading?
  5. Do you trade to pay debts or solve other financial difficulties?
  6. Does “trading in the market” cause you to feel less ambitious or less efficient?
  7. After losing do you feel you must return as soon as possible to win back your losses?
  8. After winning do you feel a strong urge to return to the market to win more?
  9. Do you often trade to the point of losing your last dollar?
  10. Do you ever borrow to finance your trading activity?
  11. Have you ever sold real or personal property to finance your trading activity?
  12. Are you reluctant to use trading money for normal expenditures?
  13. Does trading make you forget about the welfare of your family?
  14. Do you ever trade longer than you’d planned?
  15. Do you ever stay active in the market to escape worry or trouble?
  16. Have you ever committed or considered an illegal act to finance your trading activity?
  17. Does trading cause you to have difficulty sleeping?
  18. Do arguments, frustrations or disappointments give you an urge to trade?
  19. Do you ever celebrate good fortune by trading?
  20. Have you considered self-destruction because of market losses?

If you answered yes, for point 7 and 8, then beware. You have to start wash yourself and initiate healthy discussion and refresh. Based on our experience, these started from two main factors. First, unprepared knowledge. And second, because you start trading by yourself without any direct guidance and surveillance.

The second one is arguably the most dangerous one. We just remember on addiction cases, where any addiction, somehow caused by the discontinuation from inter relations. Retail traders tend to start it by themselves, alone. And when they started to lose, they came even deeper on a loneliness. And thats dangerous. You must seek help. If you want to still do trading, start learning with a healthy group trading discussion who are willing to guide your trading journey.

15

We need to look forward and see where we are standing right now. If we will make some efforts then we will be able to learn and also make a progress so that we can become successful :slight_smile:

16

Thank God you pointed that out: I don’t know how the thread would have survived without it. :rolleyes:

I see you’ve done something very similar with a huge number of threads in this part of the forum. What I can’t understand is [I]why[/I].

17

Trading psychology is not always the problem. The reason for failure in Forex trade is quite obvious, Lack of trading plan! The big Forex traders take the psychology out of the way they place their trades. They have a well strategized trading plan, and they stick to it. Think about it.