When it comes to trading, one of the most neglected subjects are individuals dealing with trading psychology. Most dealers spend days, months and even years trying to locate the correct system. But having a program is just portion of the game. Don’t get us wrong, it’s extremely essential to have a system that perfectly suits the trader, but it can be as important as having a funds management plan, or to comprehend all psychology barriers that may affect the trader decisions and other issues. In order to succeed in this business, there must be equilibrium in between all essential aspects of dealing.
In the trading environment, when you lose a trade, what is the first idea that pops up in your mind? It would possibly be, “There must be something wrong with my system”, or “I knew it, I shouldn’t have taken this trade” (even when your system signaled it) But sometimes we must dig a little deeper in order to see the nature of our mistake, and then work on it accordingly.
When it comes to dealing the Forex market as well as other markets, only 5% of traders achieve the ultimate goal: being consistent in profits. What exactly is interesting though is always that there’s just a tiny difference between this 5% of traders and also the rest of them. The top 5% grow from mistakes; mistakes are a learning encounter, they learn an invaluable lesson on each single mistake created. Deep in their minds, a mistake is one more chance to try it harder and do it better the following time, due to the fact they know they might not get a chance the next time. And at the end, this tiny difference becomes THE big difference.
Mistakes inside the trading environment
Most of us relate a dealing mistake to the outcome (in terms of cash) of any given trade. The truth is, a mistake has nothing to do with it, mistakes are made when certain guidelines aren’t followed. When the rules you trade by are violated. Take for instance the following scenarios:
Initial scenario: The program signals a trade.
1. Signal taken and trade turns out being a profitable trade.
Outcome with the trade: Positive, created money.
Experience gained: Its good to follow the program, if I do this consistently the odds will turn in my favor. Confidence is gained in both the trader and also the system.
Mistake created: None.
2. Signal taken and buy and sell turns out being a loosing buy and sell.
Outcome from the buy and sell: Negative, lost money.
Experience gained: It is impossible to win each single buy and sell, a loosing buy and sell is just component from the business; our raw material, we know we can’t get them all proper. Even with this lost trade, the trader is proud about himself for following the program. Confidence in the trader is gained.
Mistake created: None.
3. Signal not taken and buy and sell turns out to become a profitable buy and sell.
Outcome from the buy and sell: Neutral.
Knowledge gained: Frustration, the trader always seems to get in trades that turned out being loosing trades and let the profitable trades go away. Confidence is lost in the trader self.
Mistake made: Not taking a buy and sell when the system signaled it.
4. Signal not taken and trade turns out to become a loosing buy and sell.
Outcome of the buy and sell: Neutral.
Knowledge gained: The trader will start to think “hey, I’m better than my system”. Even if the trader doesn’t think on it consciously, the trader will rationalize on every signal given by the program because deep in his or her mind, his or her “feeling” is more intelligent than the program itself. From this point on, the trader will try to outguess the system. This mistake has catastrophic effects on our confidence to the system. The confidence on the trader turns into overconfidence.
Mistake created: Not taking a buy and sell when system signaled it
Second Scenario: System does not signal a buy and sell.
1. No trade is taken
Outcome from the trade: Neutral
Knowledge gained: Good discipline, we only have to take trades when the odds are in our favor, just when the program signals it. Confidence gained in both the trader self and the program.
Mistake made: None
2. A buy and sell is taken, turns out being a profitable trade.
Outcome of the trade: Positive, produced money.
Encounter gained: This mistake has the most catastrophic effects in the trader self, the system and most importantly inside the trader’s dealing career. You’ll start to think you will need no program, you know better from them all. From this point on, you’ll start to buy and sell depending on what you think. Confidence within the program is totally lost. Confidence in the trader self turns into overconfidence.
Mistake produced: Take a trade when there was no signal from the system.
3. A trade is taken, turned out being a loosing buy and sell.
Outcome of the buy and sell: negative, lost funds.
Encounter gained: The trader will rethink his strategy. The following time, the trader will think it twice before getting in a trade when the program doesn’t signal it. The trader will go “Ok, it is better to get in the marketplace when my system signals it, only those buy and sell have a higher probability of success”. Confidence is gained within the program.
Mistake produced: Take a trade when there was no signal from the system
As you can see, there is certainly totally no correlation among the outcome of the buy and sell and a mistake. The most catastrophic mistake even has a positive trade outcome, made funds, but this could be the beginning of the end of the trader’s career. As we have already stated, mistakes must only be related to the violation of rules a trader trades by.
All these mistakes were directly related to the signals given by a system, but the same is applied when getting out of a trade. There are also mistakes related to following a dealing plan. For example, risking more money on a given buy and sell than the amount the trader should have risked and several more.
Most mistakes may be avoided by initial having a trading plan. A buying and selling plan includes the program: the criteria we use to get in and out the market, the funds management plan: how very much we will risk on any given trade, and many other factors. Secondly, and most important, we have to have the discipline to follow strictly our plan. We created our plan when no buy and sell was placed on, thus no psychology barriers were up front. So, the only thing we are certain about is always that if we follow our plan, the decision taken is on our best interests, and within the long run, these decisions will aid us have better results. We don’t need to worry about isolated events, or trades that could had give us better results at very first, but then they could have catastrophic results in our dealing career.
How to deal with mistakes
You can find many possible ways to properly manage mistakes. We will suggest the one that works better for us.
Step one: Belief adjust.
Each and every mistake is really a learning encounter. They all have something valuable to offer. Try to counteract the natural tendency of feeling frustrated and approach mistakes in a positive manner. As opposed to yelling to everyone around and feeling disappointed, say to yourself “ok, I did something wrong, what happened? What’s it?
Step two: Identify the mistake produced.
Define the mistake, find out what caused the mistake, and try as hard as you can to effectively see the nature of that mistake. Finding the mistake nature will prevent you from making the same mistake again. More than often you will locate the answer where you less expected. Take for instance a trader that doesn’t follow the system. The reason behind this could be that the trader is afraid of loosing. But then, why is he or she afraid? It could be that the trader is using a program that doesn’t fit him or her, and finds tough to follow every signal. In this case, as you can see, the nature from the mistake is not inside the surface. You have to try as hard as you can to discover the real reason from the given mistake.
Step three: Measure the consequences of the mistake.
List the consequences of making that specific mistake, both good and bad. Good consequences are those that make us better dealers after dealing with the mistake. Think on all possible factors you can learn from what happened. For the same example above, what are the consequences of making that mistake? Well, should you don’t follow the program, you will gradually loose confidence in it, and this at the end will put you into trades you don’t really want to be, and out of trades you should be in.
Step four: Take action.
Taking proper action is the last and most crucial step. In order to learn, you must alter your behavior. Make sure that whatever you do, you become “this-mistake-proof”. By taking action we turn each single mistake into a small part of success in our dealing career. Continuing with the same example, redefining the system would be the trader’s final step. The trader would put a system that perfectly fits him or her, so the trader doesn’t find any trouble following it in future signals.
Understanding the truth that the outcome of any trade has nothing to do having a mistake will open your mind to other possibilities, where you may be able to comprehend the nature of every mistake produced. This at the same time will open the doors for your dealing career as you work and take appropriate action on every mistake made.
The process of success is slow, and plenty of times it’s attributed to repeated mistakes created as well as the constant struggle to get past these mistakes, working on them accordingly. How we deal with them will shape our future as a trader, and most importantly as a person.
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