Detachment for Traders

Detachment-is-not-that

  • When you become fully and solely identified with a particular role (e.g. I am a trader), you can become depressed when it’s not going well. It’s hard to detach from trading results when you’re fully identifying with the role, and only that role. So make a list of the other things you do and are. Identify with the whole scope of your being. You are so much more than your trading.
  • Experiment with bringing different perceptual positions to your trading. Try placing a couple of chairs near your trading station. Let one represent a mentor. Let the other represent a neutral observer. Sit in the different chairs literally or in your imagination and look at the trading from those perspectives.
  • You cannot use the trading arena to prove your worth or your capability. It will just bring your trading and your self-esteem to new lows. To build your self-esteem, ask yourself “what did I do today that I’m proud of?”, and “In what ways am I improving?”
  • Anxiety is a forward looking emotion that tells you that there is something in your future for which you need to prepare. Ask yourself, “What can I do to prepare for this?” And do whatever you can. Then in your imagination, go out into the future to just after the successful conclusion of the event you were worried about. Imagine and visualize the successful conclusion of the event. Most people do just the opposite of this. Imagine instead that the trade goes where the probabilities tell you it will go.