Yeah. I have a hard time thinking straight when i’m in a trade. 
You trade the 5m charts? Imagine trading the daily’s. I have the same emotions but for at least a day, sometimes over a week. I make my trade and sleep well and the next day I go to work. At my morning break I check my trade. I think “I could close now and it would make money”… at lunch I check my trade. “I could close now and it would be only a small loss.”…my only solace is knowing that if I follow my rules, in the long run, I will be profitable.
If you’ve done your homework, you should be fine. If this trade is a loser so what? There’s another one around the corner. Positive expectation is key. Don’t get in the way of what you know will be beficial IN THE LONG RUN.
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money invested should be money you can afford to lose
your trade should be based on a strategy that is based on sound calculations and not on some gambling feeling
you have 150% thrust in your strategy
set your stop loss (that is how much you are willing to lose)
and let go and keep following every half an hour
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For me once a get my trade alert and I get my retest I enter once it meets my trading rules
Go away from the screen and only check in to bring my stop loss to BE
If it wins brilliant
If not take the loss and journal both outcomes
I have a set of rules for an entry, I check supply and demand, currency strength, higher and lower time frame and a couple oscillators.
I have four different indicators that show the trend on all MT5 time frames, a look at those is what makes the final decision to enter or stay out
I trade 4 hour or daily, mainly daily charts because they have better data points. To me, a 5 minute chart has too many ups and downs and requires too much time for trade management.
I am pretty picky as to entries. There are a lot of instruments that we can trade, missing a few entries is no big deal, there will be many more good ones coming.
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I like the question so I will answer from my 7 years of experience.
Don’t risk more than you are uncomfortable losing on any one trade. For me, this seems to be 2% of my account.
Don’t try to be a robot without emotions. Feel those emotions and note how you react to them. This is where a trading journal can be handy. Note your emotions of every trade. Next time you feel those same emotions know that you are a so insignificant in the market that most likely, nobody is watching your trade. You sitting and warching your trade after placing a TP and SL is a waste of time. If your strategy doesnt have a positive outcome at the end of week, month etc. which is totally subjective to your expectations and trading style, find a new strategy.
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I’m not so keen on using an EA for now but thanks for the suggestion. 
Hey CoinLady… Emotions truly are something that can be toxic even to the best traders and overcoming emotions can be toxic.
Identify what can kill you now and what can kill you later.
As a trader when you look at a chart or trade the first thing that can kill you is not the trade going in the opposite direction, but the first thing that can kill you is getting emotional about the trade. Remember, you have feelings about the trade, but the trade doesn’t have feelings about you. So you shouldn’t have any about it either
Look at the trade for what it is and not what it seems to be.
I personally trade the Daily charts and it allows to chase trends better and i mostly just check on my trades once a day and that lessens my chances of sabotaging myself. I look at what at what my algorithm is telling me and make adjustments accordingly or make no adjustments at all (which takes about a minute) and look at other charts when i’m done i browse throw different charts to see if my algorithm is telling me anything. Then i spend the rest of the time trying to see if i can improve me system and make it better and then i back-test.
So basically all you have to do is create a system that works, gets you more wins than losses, chases trends, gets you optimum entries and exists and allows you to chase trend and get those juicy pips and keeps you out of taking losing trades (not losing is winning).
And once you’ve done that you get to trust your system and kill the emotion.
Oh and don’t risk more than 2% of your account. And you must learn good Money Management and great trading psychology, cause these to thinks are even more important than technical analysis. Cause you can have the best system and still blow out your account with terrible money management and trading psychology
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I think you’ll find this to be a game changer.
Once you’re in the trade and have set your stop loss and take profit. Then walk away… Go ahead… Walk away. 
Check the charts end of day, New York close if that’s appropriate for you. Then check them in the morning. If you want, you could check them at lunch.
Don’t sit in front of your screen watching time "tick"by.
Frandlost,
KC
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I’m a new trader dealing with the exact same issue. My journey thus far has led me to believe there are three main components of a successful, consistent trader:
- A robust trading system
- Strict money management rules
- Psychological/emotional mastery (the only Holy Grail in trading)
You can have the best trading system and money management rules on the planet, but they’re irrelevant if you can’t control your actions or your emotions while in the trade. Science has proven human emotions are created by our brain guessing why our body is experiencing a heightened biological state, such as a racing heart, sweaty palms, blurry vision, etc. Our minds choose the most obvious explanation, i.e. we’re clearly in grave danger. Queue the fight or flight response. The good news is emotions are not hardwired and you can be the architect of your emotional experiences. Keep these things in mind before and during a trade: 1) You don’t have to fear being wrong, because you have a predefined amount of risk set to test the success of your trade, 2) A single trade is a random event, i.e. you can’t control the outcome, so focus your energy on implementing your risk management, not on freaking out, and 3) Your trading plan was designed to protect you from excessive losses and to let your winners run. Your trading system and money management will protect you if you strictly abide by the rules.
If your anxiety gets the best of you during your next trade, make sure your stop loss is set, take a deep breath and get up and walk away from your computer to clear your mind and regain your composure. The worst thing that will happen is your stop gets hit, but who cares? You just showed your brain that you didn’t die by entering a trade.
Another idea is to trade the smallest lot possible for your chosen asset. I really began dedicating time to trading last year during the crypto crumble. I was trading 0.001 Bitcoin, not because I had to, but because I wanted to focus on my trading strategy. Making money at that point was inconsequential and I was comfortable losing 0.001 BTC ($6) on a trade. An updated version of that might be, making money is the by-product of a property executed trading system and I am comfortable risking capital per my money management rules.
I hope you’re convinced that mastering the trade is within your reach. Keep at it and get better every day.
Fearless trading!
I agree higher time frames H1 or adove, i started on H1 and then tried daily but I decided to switch and split the difference a little and use the H6, what helped me was to have a good plan for taking like 50-70% profit and moving stop loss to break even, then when conditions call for it I will take another small % and move my stop loss to where I took my first profits at 50-70% so no worries as long as the market goes according to my plan and I take that first 50-70 % and move to break even, after that its just watching. occasionally I always check once every couple hours that’s just me, but I always follow my rules that keeps me from closing to early at a loss or missing those big uptrends, good luck happy trading
CoinLady, I agree with the traders who are advising you to use higher time frames. I had to do this with my trading at the beginning of this year just to prove to myself that I could do it. The second suggestion I have is to read as much as you can about trading psychology. If at all possible find a trading psychology discussion and join it. If necessary stop trading until you have answered questions about your own trading. Find out what style of trader you are. Find and participate in a psychological profile to find out what kind of trader you are. I believe the Trading Dudes have this on their website but you might find others elsewhere. Good luck and keep me posted on your progress.
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I check a couple times a day, just out of curiosity. However I don’t really do anything except look, I let the settings do the work once it is open.
How do experienced professionals in highly emotionally charged situations keep their emotions under control? -
the soldier entering battle
the skydiver in the doorway of the plane
the classical actor about to take the stage
the surgeon about to make that first incision of a tricky operation
the F1 driver waiting for the start of the race
They’re all already trained so they know what to do. After that - practice, practice, practice.
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Just set up your trade and don’t let yourself look at it until a certain amount of time has passed or something like that.
Here is a great book that I read a number of times:
https://www.amazon.com/How-Start-Trading-Business-500-ebook/dp/B015M4UQFW
Of course you’re not going to start a trading company with 500 dollars and the author says as much. But, He addresses the emotions of trading a small forex account, has a great excercise for cutting losses and managing trades.
Explains why forex is one of the better markets to begin a trading journey in and that it really is a journey that takes time to become proficient at.
I found some real gems in it. YMMV! BTW, no affilliation etc…
Good Luck @CoinLady!
FRANDLOST,
KC
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Accept the possibility that you can lose money in trading account completely. Can’t do that? Train yourself to accept this and then you will be indifferent to trading gains because, you will take it as a game where you can lose.
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I guess this is my problem sometimes. There are times when I don’t pay too much attention on how much I’m risking vs what I could potentially get. 
this is great wisdom here…how many people candle watch? everyone would have done it in the early days on their trading journey