the more I trade the more I realise that mastering your setup or your strategy is only a tiny part of the forex battle - well atleast that is my realisation after two years - i am more than capable of making 100pips a session…however…i am still nowhere…
I am losing my mind battle - i am acutely aware of a losing mentality that surfaces, at a certain point i reach were doing things right becomes too hard and i give up -self destructing, and this psych point is a point i have reached previously in other pursuits in my life. Its a point were despite maybe week, 2 or 6 weeks of doing things right - i reach that psych point of giving up, placing huge positions were margin calls are instantaneous and placing trades counter to my strategy and just self destructing and blowing up my account in front of my own eyes…
Only to pick myself up again 24hours later, from a near zero balance with my pledge to myslelf to maintain the discipline and building my account to only repeat - the same thing over and over and over.
Ok its a confession - maybe i will never be successful - i think that psycholgy is the hardest thing for a person to change - a person has to believe in itself forever - which i do and can for a certain time only to reach this tripping point that kills me…Now this psych point might only rear its ugly head for an hours once a month or week and the rest of the time i am well maintained and disciplined.
Thats why it hurts cause trading is hard work and takes up a lot of time.
The other thing is i cant stop trading, cause i love it and perhaps cause i am addicted, and my real job and life means i am always around a laptop and can have my charts open - i think forex 24/7 - maybe that is the part of the problem too.
i am so close to being master trader but at the same time i am so far - if this cycle continues for much longer - well i shudder to think.
What can i do? - reading a book doesnt do it for me, ie mark douglas et all, it is something within me - IT IS ME!, how can i make ME better/different to erase this part of my psych and break the cycle
[B][I]pipsnorter[/I][/B]
It is more than strange to see such a post of yours on a public forum.
I don’t know what to make of it to be honest.
If you are serious and the situation you’re in corresponds to reality then you have definitely overextended your psychological comfort zone and need professional help immediately.
The best advice I can give you…go and see your doctor.
Good luck.
Sounds like you need a “trading buddy”, kind of like a gym buddy that makes sure you don’t skip the last reps.
I have no idea where to find a honest and trustworthy person for you to team up with (mentally, not financially - never let anyone into your wallet!), but it sounds like that might help.
Another option is what Cas hinted at - go see a psychologist, you have nothing to lose by trying it.
Good luck to you
cheers and thank you for the advice, i think a psychologist would be a good idea but a trading buddy as you mentioned would most probably be the solution - though i doubt i will find one.
Another thing i am considering just know is to set an account up for trading for my parents or my brother and then trade that account so as to make me responsible to that account, handing them ownership and for me to just trade it…not sure really but i need to change something
Agreed psychlogy is 80 percent of the battle(imo).The thing i dont understand about peoples accounts is they always say i blew them up.Then you are not using any money management principles.If your careless or trade in anger but keep your trades to 1 percent of capital, you should be able to limit your damage?I agree trading buddy, mentoring. psychlogical lessons to practice on.Your idea is interesting about trading for somebody else making you responsible to somebody else for your actions.That sounds like you would be fooling yourself literaly, but might work.(good luck)
Whoa there Cas and o990l6mh!!!
Before I begin I’m sure that you BOTH know that it would never ever be my intention to offend either of you BUT: recommending a pshychologist is a bit harsh don’t you think?
I don’t find the post strange at all (MAINLY because I MYSELF have ‘poured my heart out’ on more than one occasion on these forums for ‘pretty much’ the same reasons). (Yeh OK: one COULD argue that I MYSELF should have gone to see a pshycologist a LONG time, and a LOT of money, ago)!!! LOL!!! (In my case I believe a psychologist would not ‘cut it’ i.e. it would have to be a psychiatrist)!!!
First (and it depends on HOW BADLY you want ‘this business’ to work for you): I’ve attached a poster that some very good friends of MINE sent to me last year (and the year before that, and the year before that). LOL!!!
Second: I think that o990l6mh’s suggestion of finding a ‘trading buddy’ is probably the best suggestion.
Third: I’m quite happy to be a ‘trading buddy’. All you need to have installed is Yahoo Messenger (unless you live around the corner from me which I doubt). Don’t get me wrong: you probably will not be aware of my SPECTACULAR ‘falls from grace’ (but I’m sure if you look around on these forums you’ll find the relevant posts) and I’m STILL learning myself (and I actually do believe that you will NEVER stop learning in this business which I think is ONE of the reasons that I will ‘never give up’. Well THAT is one reason and the other eason is that I owe a few people a LOT of money thanks to this business)!!! LOL!!! That said: I’ve been FORCED to ‘take one hundred steps back’ this year and I believe I’ve at very least learned SOMETHING that may be of benefit to you (and myself). (Don’t worry: I’m not going to ask for money or anything like that)!!! LOL!!! (And do us ALL a favour: don’t get ‘duped’ into PAYING somebody for ‘mentoring’ either i.e. that’s a ‘con’ in and of itself because there is NOTHING that a ‘mentor’ can teach you that you cannot teach yourself using ONLY the information available on this very site along with the help of some very good people around here LIKE Cas and o990l6mh)!!!
Let me know (AND PRINT THE PICTURE)!!! LOL!!! (You CERTAINLY don’t have to want ME as your ‘trading buddy’ BUT it’s nevertheless a good idea).
Regards,
Dale.
I am surprised to see senior members recommending “psychologist” for a newbie seeking help trading forex ?! All he/she needs is guidance to get going in forex period. Just my humble opinion.
Regards,
Muthu.
Since were talking about the mental game of trading.How about a hypnotist:p I heard of professional athletes doing it to improve there concentration and after every winning trade we can walk around quacking like a duck:p.Kidding a side they do pull on the subconscious side.
On the same note i just dug this up.
This session is designed to reinforce good trading habits and continually build your ability to allow yourself the freedom to be objective rather then emotional during your trades.
The deep relaxation will build muscle memory at the subconscious level, this dramatically increases your stress management during a trading session.
Abundance Consciousness
This is the part of the traders psyche that deals with feeling worthy of continuing to grow an account . This session is designed to bust any negative beliefs you may have at the subconscious level that may be working against all your conscious efforts to increase gains in the market.
You will get in touch with the part of you that knows that you do deserve to be successful.
I have also included suggestions to increase the traders awareness of their own unique style, in order to reinforce your ability to capitalize on this edge during market conditions.
Self Confidence increases consequently so does your consistency, a key ingredient to profitable trading. 
Ever spend any time on a trading floor and experienced a situation where the psyche of traders cracked because of overextending their psychological boundaries due to the pressures of trading…?
Not a pretty sight I can tell you. And not an easy way out for these traders whose psyche cracked, either.
It all comes down to what you have seen and haven’t seen in your life.
Pipsnorter, I understand how you feels. Have you read Mark Douglas’s Trading in the Zone? Amazon.com: Trading in the Zone: Master the Market with Confidence, Discipline and a Winning Attitude (9780735201446): Mark Douglas: Books It helps me alot and I’m sure it will help you too! Don’t lose hope yet, you loses when you quit :mad:
I don’t think going to a psychologist is a half bad idea frankly. Before you do that though I would recommend that you keep a detailed trading journal of every trade. I think that you may be able to identify some of those destructive trading behaviors and patterns that seem be a form of self-sabotage.
Hey pipsnorter!
I was going to stay out of this one but all this talk of phsychology…haha!
Okay, so here’s my psychoanlysis - free of charge! It sounds like you’re saying that you’re purposefully sabotaging your accounts when you get angry at failures that have occurred. If you’re angry, it’s from one of two directions - either you’ve ascribed some sort of persona to the charts to the extent that you feel it’s actively working against you and you are retaliating against it OR you feel the need to succeed so badly and you are angry at yourself for your failures (a culmination of other things in your life). Either way, you’re feeling very angry.
As with any other situation in which you feel uncontrollable anger, you need to redirect yourself. When you feel the anger, find something to do to distract yourself until you cool off. Whatever it is, make sure you don’t let yourself back to the charts until you do. AND, once you’ve calmed down, first, remind yourself that they are just charts and not even a required part of your life. Remember that this is something you do because you enjoy doing it. If you do not enjoy it, then you should not be doing it. YOU control the situation. Then think about what it was that made you so angry (the real reason, not just that the trade went bad) and think about what you can do to help yourself.
Anyway, I hope this helps a bit.
His post clearly states he’s been at it for two years and that he has an issue with following through on things in his life.
In light of that I don’t think my advice was strange.
Good point (and something that I think we all missed)!!! Sorry for that.
I’m still happy to provide assistance as best I can though. Who knows: maybe getting his TRADING to ‘come right’ would be the beginning of getting OTHER things to ‘come right’ (although that’s probably quite a ‘stretch’ of the imagination I suppose).
And Cas: good point also. Although I’ve not been privy to seeing floor traders ‘lose their marbles’ I believe I’ve come VERY close on at LEAST two occasions. Put it this way: I know what it feels like to watch a margin call happening right before your eyes KNOWING (or at very least BELIEVING at the time) that your entire life as you know it is over. ‘Getting up’ from THAT point is NO easy task. Still: you DO EVENTUALLY ‘live and learn’ I suppose. I envy your experience in this business as you know.
Be well.
Dale.
Recognizing that you are your own worst enemy at times, in your trading, is actually most of the battle with the mental side of trading.
Most people will not even admit it is them. They will not take the blame because of ego. They will either quit and say it’s impossible to win, trading is a scam or blame their method and move on to a dozen more.
You just need to pin point your own, “head gnome.”
If you don’t already I recommend a trade journal. The most important part of this journal will be why you actually took the trade, how you felt about it ect.
When I first started I did this for the first year. Without fail the biggest losses I had were consistent things I myself did wrong, almost like I had a evil twin taking over and making me do stupid things at the worst time.
Recognizing that you are your own worst enemy at times, in your trading, is actually most of the battle with the mental side of trading.
and
Most people will not even admit it is them. They will not take the blame because of ego. They will either quit and say it’s impossible to win, trading is a scam or blame their method and move on to a dozen more.
EXTREMELY well put!!!
Regards,
Dale.