Trading psychology: assessing a trading problem

[PipMeHappy]

Trading Psychology Diagnosis: Identifying the Root of Trading Problems

Lexy @lexys posted about this a while back,
but I thought that it would benefit people who had missed it.

[Nathaniel_Imas]

A forex trader requires to develop proper trading psychology so that he can achieve a winning trading voyage here. Again, without proper trading method no trader can understand how he will achieve his trading objectives in this dynamic market place of forex. Thereby it is required to ensure appropriate trading mentality.

[purtle]

What this means is that we begin the diagnosis by examining a meaningful sample of past trading, not just the last few days or trades. A frequent day trader making many trades a day might look at the month’s results and compare with results from the past year. A longer term trader might need to assemble data over a year or more before confidently identifying a problem. In other words, to identify a problem, it’s necessary to see that recent results fall short of past ones and that recent drawdowns are not similar to past ones. That requires a proper historical view.

I think once you see someone actually do this, that person is already ahead by a lot. This means the intent to get better is there and they’re willing to put in the work.

I’m not at this level yet but definitely see the importance of that determination and intent to improve. And this applies not just in trading but in anything anyone pursues.

[LauChoKun]

Thanks for sharing; I missed but now I am going to check this thread.

[PipMeHappy]

@purtle True.

With free tools like MyFXBook there really is no excuse not to engage with analysis of one’s own trading performance, especially given that that particular one links with demo accounts as well, allowing paper trading to be a worthwhile effort as performance can be assessed.

[PipMeHappy]

hey WinPsych… why did you delete your post? It was very good!!

[anon76360754]

I think once you see someone actually do this, that person is already ahead by a lot. This means the intent to get better is there and they’re willing to put in the work.

If you look at the earlier posts in this thread then there’s some good snippets of info that relate to this thread too.

Looking for a good trading journal template

Greetings everyone! I hope this question can be helpful to beginners like me. I’m looking for a good template to start my trading journal. My hunch is that starting with the right documentation habits will help me be disciplined from the get go. Is it a Google Sheets, .xlsx file or plain old pen and paper? Whatever the medium, what I’m looking for is a template for an orderly and well structured document that pins down the right information. Many thanks!

[purtle]

It’s crazy how the words we write here can affect someone’s journey. I myself have found inspiration around here to continue to learn how to trade. It’s the smallest things - words of encouragement you guys give or just cheering someone on when they’ve done something right/nicely explaining something if it’s off or whatever.

I hope I can do the same for others as I learn more.