Do you need a better way to trade successfully?
Is it time to get rid of the old methods you have been using?
Are you at the point where you are feeling, it must be the methods you have been applying that is coursing you to fail? There are many more losing traders than successful traders, and it's seldom about the strategy or system.
Your psychological approach to the market is normally the determinant component in your success or failure as a trader. The majority of traders fail because of their lack of discipline, not their system or method. Your success or failure is in your hands completely, and to be a great trader you need to continually educate yourself in both the technical and mental aspects.
Firstly, do extensive backtesting or forward testing by paper trading your trading strategy. The more you test it the more assured you are going to feel, and when going live, you will have the confidence to trust the system and have the ability to follow the signals particularly during the rough patches. It is vital to keep your emotions under check.
You know that all traders take losses, but how will you react when trading live and you have 3 or 4 losses in a row. Are you going to be overwhelmed with doubt when you take a string of losing trades?
Do you know that it is not you who is the loser here, but your trades? Does your self image take a knock when you take losing trades?
Don't feel like a failure, don't take trading personally. This is the time to continue trading as the next trade will in all possibility be a profitable one. If it is not, then you have to take the next trade, because that could be the profitable trade..etc.etc.. In other words, you have tested your strategy so you have to take every single trade without hesitation. You know it works, why stop trading because you have had a few losses? Why change to a new method when you know it works?
There are many profitable trading systems, but unless you are able to trust in a system and take every trade without hesitation no matter what, you will never succeed.
The same cycle will continue over and over again, until you have tried and tested every method out there, and you are still losing all your money. If you don't remove these emotions out of your trading then you may as well give up now.
Once you have tried and tested your strategy you have to believe in it and enter your trades regardless, and do exactly what your tested system tells you to do.
You do not want your emotions to take over at any stage of your trading. Hoping and praying the market will go in your direction is not the way to go. You cannot control the market, you want to control yourself and thats all. Predictabley you will have losing trades, and you will probably make some mistakes too. Trading is a game of probabilities. There is always risk of loss and the trade going 'the wrong way' after you get a signal from your strategy. All we can expect to do is to tip the odds in our favour.
Linda Wainman is the author of the day trading book "Keeping it Simple".
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