Fear of short trades?

Beginner Questions Trading Psychology
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Hi there! I have recently realized something about myself and I come to you to ask your opinion and advice.

Here is a bit about my background: I have a normal 9 to 5 job. My dream however is to trade for a living so that I can leave the workforce and enjoy the freedom of being self employed working from anywhere. Since first discovering forex back in 2016, I have completed the BabyPips school twice and read whatever trading and trading psychology books I could get it hands on. I have kept a demo account for about half a year, then opened a live one to practice super small trades. The objective of that was to gain experience and I definitely have. Most of all, I have learned a LOT about myself. Although I haven’t been successful with profiting as I wasn’t consistent with practicing forex (few months off here and there), I have learned the lessons I’ve been looking for and was able to process them at my speed. I am immensely grateful for everything I’ve learned so far because otherwise I wouldn’t have ever been so aware of my own psychology.

This year I have decided to bring up my game and devote time to the forex market everyday. This week it has hit me like a ton of bricks, that I fear shorting the market. I feel it’s weird of me to feel this way because I can’t give you a reason as to why. I don’t have this issue with going long, but I fear I’ll lose instantly if I’ll short. Like - I’m on the edge-of-the seat-holding-my-breath type of fear.

The funny thing is, I see a downtrend, I see it’s potentially very profitable, but I fear that as soon as I will enter the trade it will turn on me. I don’t trust it even though the signs do not point to that. What is wrong with me?? How do I overcome this ridiculous fear?

If you can share advice, a book, an article, or anything that can help me understand this and possibly point a way to grow from it - I would sincerely appreciate it :heart:️

PLEASE HELP :grimacing:

3 Likes
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hi, what kind of trading do you use? (discretionary or automatic?) Regards Greg

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What was your purpose of demo trading? Did you achieve it?

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Shorting is a weird sensation at first.

Maybe your chart software has an “Invert” button hidden somewhere. Might help you to see things more conventionally, and then just flip it back again. Though I must admit that gets a bit mind-boggling when you’re scanning 28 forex charts and you don’t remember to flip them back…

But shorting is counter-intuitive. I suggest shorting lots of what might / might not be good short opportunities with minimal position sizes - Al Brooks called them “don’t care trades” - they’re so small you just don’t care if they win or lose, but they are great practice.

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I can see you achieved your purpose of demo trading. But you need to achieve one more which is demo trading to test a system and becoming confident at trading your system

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i gave up shorting completely one of the best decisions I ever made.

the price action on short side is totally different on the long side (in my opinion but maybe I’m wrong).

I just found it difficult flipping from long to short, in FX it really isn’t a big deal trading from one side only.

The best money I ever made was short, but it was very sporadical so it was a tough call.

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I trade the indices alot, and I’m always scared of a bear market but i also trade gold which sometimes works out when stocks sell off

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This time demo trade to test your system performance on both long and short trades. It will give you the confidence to trade short

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Hi, Greg! Definitely not automatic. I judge each trade opportunity individually - so discretionary.

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Blockquote My purpose was to not wipe out my account and get used to the slippage/interest and managing my risk - basically everything that can shock a new trader when migrating from practice to live. There were lots of ups and downs and lots of losing trades. But overall, yes, I feel I have achieved my purpose.

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Thank you for that advice! This is what I was thinking as well - just do super small shorts until I get more comfortable. Seeing a chart just take a dive makes me feel like it’s failing in some way, if that makes sense? So I guess you’re absolutely right that trading shorts at first may seem counter-intuitive.

I have actually wondered if there is a way to flip the chart. I use MT4 and fxTrade platforms - Oanda is my broker. I haven’t been able to find a way to do that yet. I think flipping it even for a few minutes to have that mental clarity and verification that everything is as it should be, would be of immense help.

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Thanks for your input! I totally understand your point of view.

My objective is to ride the market like a wave. Go with the flow with cool emotions no matter what the market is doing so that I can focus on collecting the pips. I have gotten very far emotionally - compared to where I was when I started. I’m a lot more calm and composed. I don’t let the emotions carry me like they used to. But at the same time, this pops up and I feel like I’m right back where I started LOL

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@Aya_7777 when trading Forex - If you think about it - you are already “short” one of the currencies - by definition so the fear of “going short” is not really logical in Forec as it is in the trading of DOW S&P etc - you will note the observations of @Johnscott31 apply mainly to Indices and is very valid in those markets.

@tommor - You’ve read Al Brooks ? - I’m impressed mate !

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No, no - got it from a 3-minute video clip yesterday…

1 Like
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Lol ! You just destroyed my illusion :disappointed_relieved:

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Makes lot of sense. I tell my mates to know their system and then give their system the practice time to know them. It’s a cordial relationship buildup and during that process your system will reveal it’s bad side and good side, just like a man and woman relationship, you try to get somethings right and then you adapt to the bad ones. During the cause of your relationship with your system it will tell you its market setup likes and dislikes that you need to strictly stick to. It will give you assurance that you need not bother when the market is going against you. It will give you a calm relaxing feeling that you will be profitable at last. Only then will that feeling of failing vanish. I know this because I’m currently in this stage of know my system and making it know me in return. It took me 6months to know my system (discover a system) and it will currently take 12months for my system to know me in return (relate with the system on demo). The feeling of this Cordial relationship is out of this world.

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Wow! That is a really great way to look at things! Thank you so much for sharing. I’ve never considered my system to be my partner in this trading relationship. I may actually give this a try :slight_smile:

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Very true - thank you! I have to shift my perception.

I need to look into Al Brooks as well!

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:sweat_smile: I actually have the exact opposite. I mainly trade FX and am so reluctant to go long on any pair. I don’t hesitate to short and am usually very confident about my short trades but i can’t really get my head around to trade long.

Almost 90% of my trades are short Trades!

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Short trades are better when you constantly know what to do and long traders are for those who have the patience but short trade is what most users use.