Archives of “spiral” tag

rss

Consecutive Loses

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

loser-1

You go long and the market immediately goes down – you go short and the market immediately goes up.  That’s 2 consecutive losses AND you are getting a little ‘anxious’ so you don’t take the ‘next’ trade and it of course works.  BUT to make the situation worse you then ‘chase’ the entry and it immediately reverses – another loss AND this is 3 in a row.  Ok 1 more try – this can’t happen on every trade can it – pray mode?   
This time though you will be real clever.  You have at least noticed that the market is in a range AND it’s the bounce from the low/retrace from the high that is causing all the problems.  So this time the next trade you take will be a range extreme fade AND the hell with your trading method.  The market is at the range low AND per your new ‘on the fly’ plan you go long AND the range immediately breaks out giving you consecutive loser #4 – trading against a method trade that is going far enough to pay for the previous 3 losers and make you net ahead.   
Now what are you supposed to do – QUIT?  AND to be sure that there is no more temptation – your throw your computer out the window and dive out right behind it.  You are in a trading psychology spiral.

Ego & Nervous Traders

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #  #

There are a whole host of characters who regularly lose money in the market place, and most fall into two catogories:

False Ego Traders

& Nervous Traders The false ego mistakes come from a mixture of false pride and bravado and are the most dangerous mistakes to make. The trader, generally a beginner or intermediate — call him Tader A — gets an opinion in his head about market direction. His analysis may have even been sound, but his opinion keeps him from reading/seeing the signs that a change is occuring in the market he has targeted. He subconsciously see the changes, but false pride is the devil, and blocks the information from making it into his conscious decision making process. The change he needs to see may even be pointed out to him by a fellow trader –Trader B– but Trader A’s false ego blocks this because he knows “I’m smarter than Trader B…In fact I think its a good idea to fade Trader B”.

Trader A is also likely someone who is accustomed to being listened to. He may have been upper management in a company, or even owned the company. “People better listen to me” is how he sees it. He is likely more accustomed to talking rather then listening.

Despite trader A’s previous success’ Mother Market will bring him down quickly. Any early success he has in the market will only make for bigger losses down the road as he gets caught in the spiral of trying to make up for lost money and still make money. He doesn’t just want to get his money back, he wants that and then some. His time is valuable. He is going to make the market pay.

Well we all know how that works out, which is to say we won’t be seeing Trader A around for long. (more…)

Tips For Mental Toughness of trading psychology

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #  #  #
Here are three things you can do to keep your mind and body focused on the trading:
1. Be aware of what is going on in your mind, body and feelings. Slipping into an internal focus seems automatic because we aren’t fully aware of it as it is happening. Being aware of what the mind is saying and how we are feeling is the first important step in mental toughness. You can catch yourself before things spiral out of control.
2. Know what trading actions are important to take. These are high-value actions (HVAs) under the trader’s control. HVAs are relevant to trading and include identifying sound trade setups and solid entry triggers. You must know these cold and be ready to execute them.
3. Commit to high value actions regardless of how you feel. This means being willing to accept unwanted thoughts and feelings because trading well is more important than feeling good. Maintaining an external focus and initiating positive trading actions may not be easy when feeling down, but it’s certainly not impossible. Like all skills, it takes practice.

Tips For Mental Toughness of trading psychology

  
  Education
#  #  #  #  #  #
1. Be aware of what is going on in your mind, body and feelings. Slipping into an internal focus seems automatic because we aren’t fully aware of it as it is happening. Being aware of what the mind is saying and how we are feeling is the first important step in mental toughness. You can catch yourself before things spiral out of control.
2. Know what trading actions are important to take. These are high-value actions (HVAs) under the trader’s control. HVAs are relevant to trading and include identifying sound trade setups and solid entry triggers. You must know these cold and be ready to execute them.
3. Commit to high value actions regardless of how you feel. This means being willing to accept unwanted thoughts and feelings because trading well is more important than feeling good. Maintaining an external focus and initiating positive trading actions may not be easy when feeling down, but it’s certainly not impossible. Like all skills, it takes practice.
Go to top