What you believe, consciously or unconsciously, propels your trading in its many directions. It might be so simple a matter as whether you believe a market is going up or down or nowhere. Traders have biases that distort their perceptions and effect their actions, and they need to guard against these with various protections and bias detectors.
Other beliefs are more veiled and ubiquitous. For example, you may consciously intend to make money, but you have a counter impulse that thwarts you due to unconscious beliefs that go against that intention. Perhaps you unconsciously believe that money is the root of all evil, or that rich people are corrupt, or that there isn’t enough to go around and so you shouldn’t be greedy, or that you should be laying up your treasure in heaven, and not on this earth. Perhaps on some level you believe you shouldn’t make more money than your parents.
When you want something, you have to really want it and not be ambivalent about it. It has to be your desire, and not some alien value set by your parents or society. The flower loves the sun, and stretches to receive its rays. The plant loves water and digs its roots deep seeking the object of its desire. If you want to make money trading, you really have to admire money and have good purposes for its use. If you want to be a master trader, you have to be comfortable with that role, and not see trading as wasteful gambling, or an unworthy profession.
Perhaps you believe that you don’t deserve to make money trading, or that you have to work hard for your rewards. Maybe you believe that only the big boys win, that the market is stacked against the ordinary trader. Maybe you believe that it’s impossible to make money in the futures markets or, worse, any market. Maybe you believe it’s possible to make money trading, but it’s not probable that you can keep your winnings. All such ideas run in opposition to easy and effective trading.
Just as insidiously you may doubt that your system really works, or that it won’t work this time. Some traders get superstitious: for example, they believe that they always, or tend to, lose money on Fridays, and so, of course, they do. When any of their superstitious factors occur, somehow they manage to lose.
Recently most traders probably have spent a great deal of time managing risk and emotions. I know I have. When it comes to correctly gauging and dealing with emotions it is paramount to analyze your reactions in a detached way. The best way to get objective insight is to imagine taking a step back and then ‘watching yourself.’ It’s as if you were your own mentor or trading coach. This is not an easy task. Good results require emotional detachment, a lot of experience and the ability to honestly assess the degree of trading proficiency you have attained. Ultimately it will tell you what those gut feelings you are occasionally experiencing really are worth. That’s exactly what G.C. Selden addresses at the end of his classic trading book : ‘Psychology of the Stock Market’ which was first published in 1912. Here’s an excerpt dealing with ‘hunches and gut feelings.’ Lots of additional and valuable insight for traders is provided. Enjoy! 
What you believe, consciously or unconsciously, propels your trading in its many directions. It might be so simple a matter as whether you believe a market is going up or down or nowhere. Traders have biases that distort their perceptions and effect their actions, and they need to guard against these with various protections and bias detectors.