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Focus & Anticipation

Focus: Once all of the little things are taken care of you can now focus on what is important, the market. This will dramatically improve your execution. You can only execute well over time if it is you and the market. You can take more intelligent risks because you have more of the RIGHT information. Have you ever been in a trade, then when you go back to review a trade, you realize you missed something important? More than likely that is a process problem. It is important to accurately attribute the importance of that information and realize that hindsight is a horrible recorder. I would rather make that decision when I can do something about it. This takes trial and error but a pattern will develop and once it does it is your responsibility to constantly monitor it for change.

Anticipation: Anticipation is key in trading because the market is always leaving cues to what it is going to do next or that what it is going to do next is not tradeable. We teach our traders to have a progression, much like a quarterback would. Anything can happen and having a progression will help you to take advantage of it.

Every mistake a trader can make

MISTAKES-TRADERSSymptoms:

  1. Trading with “scared” money

  2. Trading from a state of desperation and fear
  3. Ruled by emotions and unable to take a loss
  4. Changing her trading plan often
  5. Trying to be perfect
  6. Looking for medication to deal with emotional issues over trading
  7. Adopting a trading technique (scalping one futures contract) that is beyond her level of trading competence
  8. Attached to the outcome of each trade
  9. Not committed to the process of learning to trade—using trading as a temporary “stop-gap” source of income until something else becomes available.
  10. Acting out personal dramas in the financial markets

10 Tips For Managing Trader Stress

Traders should never underestimate the role that stress plays in their trading. Many more will succeed or fail based on their ability to handle stress than will have their winning and losing determined by a robust method, mentor, or risk management. It is even possible for a trader to win consistently and still not be able to win in the long term due to the fact that they can not get comfortable being uncomfortable with capital on the line with an unknown outcome. Others will simply burn themselves out stressing excessively while losing and also stressing when they win scared they will give back their profits. If you are  going to be a successful trader you will need to manage the weakest link in any trading system: the trader. Stress management is the traders weakest spot. You have to be able to handle the heat of trading so you don’t melt.

 Here are the ten ways to manage your stress in trading:

1). When you get over excited calm down by concentrating on your breath.
2). Never trade so big that one trade will make or break your account, trading career, or lifestyle. 
3). Only trade systems and methods that you fully understand and have faith in for profitable in the long term.
4). Visualize yourself being a success as a trader.
5). Slow down your trading to a pace that does not rattle your nerves. 
6). Connect with like minded traders that understand your battles and goals.
7). Study and do so much homework about trading that you begin to have unshakable confidence in yourself. 
8). Stop doing what does not work in your trading and start doing more of what does work for you and makes you money.
9). Do not let others shake your confidence, do not accept any unsolicited advice from anyone, stick to your game plan. 
10). Accept your losses quickly when stops are hit to avoid emotional damage and stress from big losses.

Do everything you can to prevent the damaging effects of stress on your trading and life. (more…)

7 Things for Traders

The definition of man·age:number7

  • To direct or control the use of; handle.
  • To exert control over.
  • To make submissive to one’s authority, discipline, or persuasion.
  • To direct the affairs or interests of.
  • To succeed in accomplishing or achieving, especially with difficulty; contrive or arrange.

1. Traders must be great risk managers.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing is how good are you at risk control.” -Paul Tudor Jones

2. Traders must manage their own stress.

 Trade position sizes that keep your stress level manageable, if you can’t talk calmly to someone while trading you are trading too big.

3. Traders have to be able to manger their emotions, we have to trade our plan not our greed or fear

“There is nothing more important than your emotional balance.” – Jesse Livermore (more…)

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