Trader`s Fears and Ways to Overcome Them

How do you feel tonight? Are you happy? Upset? Calm? Have you ever questioned yourself how your daily emotions may affect Forex trading? Definitely, this issue is worth considering in details. Evidently, the essential aspect of successful trading is a well designed trading strategy accompanied by trading discipline required to follow accurately a trading plan within the frames of trade execution and money management. However, choosing and then using a trading strategy requires a certain state of mind. You may be completely aware of market behavior. As well, you may be a specialist in fundamental or technical analysis. You may have a large insight regarding price actions peculiar to numerous successful traders. But sometimes it happens to be that even competent, smart, inventive traders may file for bankruptcy losing their funds being unable to cope with emotional signals that suggest probable wrong trading decisions. Signs of wrong psychological mood Position overholding, extremely early enter and late exit – these signals do not define a fault of your trading strategy, they indicate wrong psychological attitude towards trading. Though, these are four major fears: fear to commit a mistake, fear to lose money, fear to miss a trade, fear not to take profit. According to Mark Douglas, a famous Forex expert, “the best traders are those, who do not fear“. So, the given ways to struggle against mental fears are as follows: When analyzing every next trade just ask yourself “what have I done to limit the degree of risk?” Risk always brings fear. There are different methods to reduce the degree of risk. First, make sure that your entering price is the best currently available on the market. When trading on breaks, make sure the Stop-Loss is placed beyond the limits of a potential reverse. In the event of a reverse, hold on and wait until you get confirmation of the reverse. Definitely, deliberate usage of Stop-Loss orders is a necessary component of every risk management plan. Avoid overloading of any position. Divide your account into several positions and then diversify them in trading. After a series of failures reduce this number. Stay away from engaging into Forex trading if: • you are upset or angry; • you have financial debts and you worry about them; • you do not feel well physically; • you are not 100% sure about further market movement direction; • you feel yourself as a market victim. And finally, you should always repeat the phrase “Trade using your plan, plan your trading”. One of the ways to implement it is to have a diary of your trades with a complete analysis. Write down the reasons to enter the market even before opening a position. After each trading day refresh your notes. Manage your pending orders and targets as well. In their nature, markets are flexible requiring tracking of their evolutional development and not just waiting for market`s mercy. That is all. These pieces of advice are easy to follow. Stick to your trading plan. Make sure you eliminate your undesired emotions and you will be surprised by your trading results.