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What do you do to remain calm and focused when you are in a trade? I am getting better. Running getting stopped out or getting out with profit in my head in detail images with funny music(Think this trick was from NLP) But still, emotionally, I am no where near I would like to be at. I can sense my pulse is going up and emotional changes against each tick movements.
I do know for a fact.
-My previous trades result has nothing to do with current trade.
-I do not have control over the market
-I am comfortable with my risk amount
-I can not get out at top or bottom.
-I believe my system has a good chance of winning over long periods of time.
Knowing all this, still getting emotional..any thoughts?
Thank you.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
Rising pulse still one of the main hurdles for all of us. Best two actions I have found for myself are consciously breathing slower and (don't laugh) moving further away from the screen once a trade is active..
I imagine you will still be emotional, at least until trading well become old hat for you.
Since this may take a while, I suggest not fighting your emotions, but still acting correctly, whether emotional or not. (Yes, easier said than done , but still something to try for.)
One thing is just to have clear entry and exits, stops in place, and then keep that hand away from the mouse. This reduces my impulse to Do Something.
Hand off the mouse... need to print that and leave it somewhere. I suffer the same thing so badly, in particular with winners. Enter bracket order with entry, stop and profit target. Watch trade move to 75% of target and then freak out and exit at market at first sign of weakness.
Are you a discretionary trader? If you are not then the simple answer is that it doesn't really matter how you feel provided you do not act on it. In other words, it will have no bearing on your profit or loss. That should help you to relax just knowing it. If you trade multiple contracts then simply trade a smaller size.
If you are a system trader, you might want to use that energy to brainstorm for ideas but instead of acting on them immediately, instead jot them down and program them.
All the following applies to discretionary traders
For a discretionary trader, the points you mention are all very valid. I think there are 2 things that help (1) recognize what you cannot control and (2) focus on what you can control. As for "cannot get out at a top or bottom". I tend to agree. However, a good trader can certainly get out at a peak or valley.
I think what might help is to visualize taking a loss and being calm. Visualize some various types of things such as taking a small loss and going on to recover. Taking a "bad loss" that takes you out to the tick. Visualize/focus on how you want to react to that. This is tricky but often a single aggressive re-try and then a shut down or slow down is most-likely to be effective and rational.
I have a somewhat related problem which is that when I trade multiple contracts (currently on tryout) I am often surprised at the size of the losses. The DOM doesn't show the value. Normally I can get in many trades without taking any risk but sometimes the market goes against me. So, I will take several trades with no risk but if I make a mistake with multiple contracts then the losses can be much larger then anticipated. I think I need to visualize the new tick value and size of losses.
In general for discretionary traders, what I find helps. I should take my own advice is to do a "personal/emotional self check" before trading. I will introspect my mood. If I am fearful then I will introspect that, as well. The purpose is to introspect all feelings and see if any rational action needs to be taken. I think like Dr. Steenbarger was saying it is the routine that helps. Normally, if I feel the market will do something then it does it. But, I will introspect different sorts of feelings and see how the market reacts. For example, I found normally if I get a feeling a trade won't work or is going bad or to get out, often that's the right thing to do. The market seems to move from highest uncertainty states though. So, it is never 100% clear if we are in an uncertainty state. However, if I am fear biased and not reading the market well then I notice my feelings may not have value. So there are different types of feelings. For an experienced trader, feelings are often valuable but not all feelings are equal. The more receptive or predictive feelings often derive in high awareness states while the less predictive feelings often have lower awareness associated with them. As an example, if I'm in a long trade and reading the market and get a feeling to get out of a trade then usually the market will fall. It might go higher eventually but will certainly fall. On the other hand, if I were to money fearful then that's a different sort of fear that is not based on the market dynamics. It is less predictive.
A discretionary trader is always introspecting. Most people don't like to do that because it is not pleasant. Again as a system trader, the psychology bit is really overblown.
Trading: Bonds of every country (AU/UK/CA/EU/US), Commodities (Soft, Hard, Metals), Currencies,
Posts: 24 since Oct 2016
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After 7 years inside a Prop trading firm I can tell you the answer is this;
1. People who know what they're doing will not get stressed and and remain calm
2. People who don't know what they're doing will be stressed out (i.e. trying to 'wing it' or being super 'adaptive')
If you have done the numbers and the research then you will be significantly ahead of the game in terms of mental fortitude and calmness.
When a market scenario happens outside of your studies and research, you will always be nervous. This is why I research (by hand) every 1-5min candle for my spread strategies for the past 5 yrs (Doing 10 is better but the volatility is different over time).
While the outcome of trading is money (plus, minus or flat) trading per se is not dealing with money. It is mechanics, it is time series, it is numbers in motion. That's it. We need to disconnect the money from these numbers in motion.
How do we do that? Detach or non-attach. How? Meditation is the slow and long answer. Brainwave entrainment is the quicker one. There will be trial and error as you progress; just stick to what you are inwardly happy with. Audio technologies also exist that help alter our beliefs and hence how we see things; including the numbers in motion.
, but still something to try for.)
