Well, the problem is not really your emotions, but your behavior when you experience those emotions. Extremely putted, if you would tie yourself to a tree while in a trade, to prevent you doing stupid things, you are fine!.
You cannot fully kill the emotions, you have to learn not to pay a lot of attention to it. I trade for years now and I still feel frustrated when a trade is a loss, but I hardly feel it anymore. Now it is just a thought that pops up in my mind, where in the early days I would torture myself to watch the further development of that losing trade.
It is a matter of exposing yourself to those emotions and to conciously decide not to act upon when you feel it. This learns you a new behavioral pattern when you experience a loss or a win. You HAVE to experience losses and profits to learn that, you cannot reason it.
It sounds that you should adjust your tradeplan if you see that it goes in the opposite direction all the time and that is not in to your advantage.
In the 80s it was all the way up all the time. Being a stock trader required no more than the skill to place a buy trade. But when that was over in the 90s, the traders were flabbergashed! They were making losses and coulnd’t understand why. They were not able to accept that things changed, because they didn’t know what they were doing and never experienced differently. Well, a lot of those traders didn’t make it because they were emotionally attached to their trading plan and were not objective enough to alter it addressing the changed rules of the game.
If all your trades go wrong, document your trading rules and work opposite… Seriously, don’t do that blindly. I am just trying to create a paradigma change. If all your trades fail, you have an excellent system, but you need to look at your plan upside down and see if that improves your system performance.
That is not true. I know it looks like it, but it is not the case. I started years ago with $200 and am still running on that money, but earning my living now with it for a bout a year. Those small gains become big gains, as long as you plan your trade and trade your plan. Because that is KEY in FX. Let the trade do its work and let the plan do its work. If you still loose, your plan is not good. But the edges are out there.
My tantra:
Plan your trade and trade your plan!
Don’t act on your emotions!
Don’t trade the news, because you are last in line hearing from it!
Once I worked for the state casino as an auditor. We investigated the profits from the roulette table and compared it with the static profit plan. As the game is based ons tatistics, the long run profit can be predicted. Well there was a 17% difference in the favor of the casino. After investigating (checking the tables) we could only conclude that it was based on cthe emotion of the guests… The guests had set rules and it was transparant, but they played according their own rules making silly decisions, hence losing more. Moral of this little story, there is money lost when you act on your emotions.
Understanding and Controling emotions is essential in limiting loss and maintaining health. If we can’t control emotions like anger and regret, discipline suffers, so its important to learn to leave those emotions at the door. If you find yourself cooking with anger at a loss or missed opportunity, you walk away. Go for a walk or run in the park, listen to some music or have some time with friends, anything just to get away from your trading station at the point when you have lost control of yourself and your trades.
I can’t deny that I am an emotional person, but when it comes to trading I try my hardest not to let my emotions get the best of me. I usually set my expectations low, that seems to help a lot. Just be patient and stick to your plan. Take a break when you start to get frustrated, that helps out a lot too.
We need to wise up, there’s no money here for us. This is for the 5% insiders. One of them admitted it’s all about “relationships” and was still making phone calls during the interview. Cheater !!! I trade only one penny and even that is too much. The best thing we can all do is walk away.
That is not possible. The better is to recognize your mental and emotional state and act in consecuense. It is hard to become self aware. The best trades I’ve made were those that I decided to take going out of my comfort zone.
I do agree with this statement. It is really hard to become self aware. Sure, it’s easy to see how other people get emotional or how they’re affected by their emotions but it’s really hard to be aware of what you truly feel and how those emotions control the way you behave and how you make your decisions, not just in trading but life in general.
For me though, it’s not a matter of abandoning your emotions or being detached from any emotion when you trade, it’s how you deal or what you do with you emotions.
I totally agree with this statement. As humans, we cannot be void of emotions, it’s how we redirect those emotions and use them for something productive.
Its always the traders trading attitude that will have great influence on the trading result and thus its always suggested for the traders to avoid destructive emotions such as greediness, revenge trading, over trading, fear, doubt and so on for better trading performance.
Well said. I think that naturally, once you start dealing with your emotions appropriately while trading, you learn how to be somewhat “mechanically emotionless” when you do trade. It is definitely an acquired skill, however.
Seriously, don’t do that blindly. I am just trying to create a paradigma change. If all your trades fail, you have an excellent system, but you need to look at your plan upside down and see if that improves your system performance.