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Hello anyone, While trading my heart beat increases and my hands start shaking .This continues whole trading sessions every day. Could you please tell me whether you had similar experiences and how to prevent that? Thank you so much
Fear. Lack of confidence. Lack of trust in your system or process.
Trade sim until you have confidence in your system.
Trade micro when you have full confidence. Start small.
You are not comfortable with money you have on line, you are also likely to have anxiety issues, but you should talk that with real doctor rather than on forum/internet
I can only suggest trading small, keep reducing position size till you are comfortable. Usually this is the main reason.
This is actually a very common issue that traders have, including myself. It is inherently stressful to be in a trade as a human being. We aren't wired for it. Some people have better predispositions for trading by having low levels of neuroticism (they're less prone to anxiety, panic, negative emotions, etc.). It's natural and normal for you to feel some degree of stress while trading, but there could be different reasons for that, and your reaction shouldn't be heart-attack catastrophic. Here are some reasons why your heart is racing:
- You're under-capitalized and want to make every trade count.
- You have enough capital but you're betting big money for your standards.
- You took stimulants (coffee can act as a powerful stimulant for some people).
- You have panic disorder.
etc., etc.
The unfortunate thing is, you can become trained to panic after executing a trade after doing it enough times. You will panic without your permission. Luckily, even as adults we can unlearn and learn new behaviors. I highly recommend getting a heart rate monitor to watch after you enter a trade, then practice lowering your heart rate through breathing. You can do that by exhaling longer than your inhales. There's more on that here:
It might be useful for your to learn some Cognitive Behavioral Therapy techniques as well. I wish you the best.
There have been some good replies, and probably there will be more. Every single trader knows or has known this to some degree, or they will know it when they are trading actual money (everyone's sim trading is better than their live trading, by the way.)
The reason is that when you trade, you can lose. Simple enough. When there is nothing at risk, as in sim, it is possible to stay calm. But trading is largely about managing financial risk where there's an uncertain outcome. You can never know whether the trade you are in, or are thinking of taking, will win or lose. Managing that uncertainty is what will determine whether you succeed or not. It is very personal, and very necessary.
Some ideas might be:
- Actually know that your trading method works. "Working" really just means that it gives you decent results over time, not that it is always right. You can improve your method and your confidence in sim, but when you are out of sim, it will all be different. You'll need to be sure that your trades generally have a decent chance, before you have to face the uncertainty of whether this trade will work out.
- Trade very small amounts. Only have money at risk that you can shrug about if you lose it -- and this means, if you lose all of it. So if you are trading with an amount that is large enough that you care about the outcome, that is too much. This is a paradox, because we all want to get fabulously rich right away. But if the amount you are using is enough to seriously matter to you, you are going to have trouble keeping your head when it's on the line. You may have to save up for a while if your trading funds are small. Do that. When you literally don't care if you win or lose, because the amount you put on a trade is so small compared to your overall funds, that's when you can afford to trade it.
- Trade instruments like the micro minis, which have very low point values. This will let you trade small amounts but be in a real market, and most importantly, it will let you lose without facing disaster. You are going to lose some of the time no matter what. So be able to get through a loss without being too troubled.
- Do not ever let a losing trade grow. Kill it fast, once it is not doing what you need it to do. Traders go broke by resisting taking a loss and then letting it grow, hoping it will turn around. On the other hand, don't kill a profit too soon out of fear that it will slip out of your hands. Trade by some kind of money management rules that you have confidence in. It will be very hard to follow them while the trade is on, but do it.
- Accept losing as part of trading, along with winning. Try to keep losing small, but just take it when it comes.
Others may have other ideas too, but these are what come to mind.
And good luck.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Thanks for the video link, I listened to entire thing in one go, it was very interesting and helpful. I've also been meaning to see what's the fuss is about Wim Hof, will see if I can watch more on weekend. Thanks again!
You're welcome! I did too, the content is so engaging for me personally. Since I mentioned unlearning/learning behaviors, I think episode #6 on his channel would be particularly valuable for those who want to overcome bad trading habits, or really any sort of behavior. Being deliberate is key.
I practice this Wim Hof exercise when I have low energy from being sick or not sleeping well:
If you decide to do it, make sure you're already relaxed and sitting down. It's not for everyone, so please be careful.
I want to thank everyone who wrote their valuable opinions for me. I trade one contract and it is funding account so I don't really lose big amount money. When I try to use stop loss strategy, 90 % time it touches, But there is huge profit when I do without Stop loss but it comes with a great risk as I already closed 3- 4 accounts due to that.
I do ES mini and always one contract and try to catch 2-3 points which is good profit for me. But my shaking hands and heartbeat makes everything worse for me
Have you tried using the ninjatrader strategy builder to put your trading strategy into a mechanical backtest environment where you can see and adjust your stop loss to see what gives you the best overall results?
I know it helped me considerably to backtest my trading ideas to see just how viable they were over the long run.
I did too, the content is so engaging for me personally. Since I mentioned unlearning/learning behaviors, I think episode #6 on his channel would be particularly valuable for those who want to overcome bad trading habits, or really any sort of behavior. Being deliberate is key.