Is Emotional Control the Tricky Aspect of Trading, or Is It Discipline? So, here’s what I’ve Uncovered!
Things are starting to flow back together for me concerning my trading. I was doing well, and everything was going as planned. Now that I’ve devised a successful trading strategy and have been pushing it through its paces.
With a massive list jam-packed with really viable scenarios, I have a distinct impression that now is the moment for me to begin apologetically to see some tangible outcomes.
When a buy signal exposed itself from one of the setups, I realised I needed to seize the moment and enter the market instantly. But unfortunately, what seemed to be an extraordinary situation ended up opposing, and I was forced to exit the market when the activity reversed on me and smacked my face with stop loss.
But, being a diligent trader, getting out with the least amount of defeat is a pleasant feeling.
In theory, this all sounds splendid, but now that I’ve given up, it switches itself and explicitly acts what I envisioned it would do in the foremost, plus more. And there’s nothing unusual with it since we are all conscious that not every trade will be fortunate. So we can only attempt to minimise our losses while allowing our winning transactions to continue unabated.
After a fresh start, I felt a little sour about my previous deal, which ended in a setback for me, only to see it skyrocket while I was on the sidelines. Awful, it does hurt a little. The NEXT setup begins to trigger an entrance as long as I don’t freak.
I choose to act on the signal and buy long positions, but like the transaction I encountered, this one swiftly moves in the opposite direction of what I had anticipated.
On the other hand, I make the call to stretch my boundaries a little bit, at least. Because I was still haunted by the incident of that previous transaction, this night before going to bed, I was confident I’ll be able to linger on my calmness and exploit this downturn to my edge. Yet, instead of evacuating the scenario, I chose to fortify my position, which wasn’t even technically a part of the original strategy to initiate.
But unfortunately, this brings me to the current matter and makes me question what ends up happening. Lingering questions are beginning to sneak into my thoughts as I sit there sulking in my self-induced stupor. Eventually, I have to concede defeat and sell at a much lower price than my original strategy hailed, which results in a much more heightened loss since the stock continues to descend.
After a long break, I convinced myself to return to the game, but my mental state deteriorated. Aside from the apparent desire to take vengeance, getting my money back is undoubtedly high on my priority list. But, despite my best efforts, I can’t help but notice something else that piques my interest as I stand in line.
I wouldn’t ordinarily take this risk, but I can see much room for growth. I think, “If it bursts out, it’ll be enormous!” Unconsciously believing that my two most recent losses would be offset by one more profitable deal, I got into that high-risk transaction, only to have it collapse and cause me to suffer perhaps another massive setback.
Once again, I was on the verge of becoming a big joke or real-eye opener. I started having second thoughts about my methodology and mistrusting my proficiency. My relative’s and friends’ words of warning reverberated in my head at that time like a broken record if they had been unsupportive.
By doing much introspection, I concluded that the best course of action is to get back into things and adhere to the strategy that, in my venture, has consistently produced favourable outcomes for me whenever it has been perfectly implemented.
Instantaneously, two configurations correspond to my parameters and look to be prompting entries to emerge on my checklist. Of course, the drawback is that I could only take a fractional stake in each arrangement due to my smaller-than-average investment funds. However, I concluded that one appears better than the other, so having a more significant stake in it increases my chances of scoring a substantial payoff in the long run, right?
Every time I move, the other tends to take off without a word I’ve ever seen in ages, but mine is perpetually stuck. Since it is evident that the deities of Forex seem to be against me, I concluded that I do not belong in the trading industry. I am in total train wreckage and a nightmare, and I am on the verge of a mental breakdown, which is a typical response at this point for many folks.
Many people do give up at this point.
My mentality can shift so rapidly in this industry. Of course, I must always retain a certain level of self-assurance but avoid being overconfident. A recklessness in my abilities led to a rash of poor deals due to breaching my rules and pushing boundaries I hadn’t initially intended.
Extremes include overconfidence and lack of confidence, now both of which are equally undesirable. Maintaining a delicate symbiosis between them is my purpose. There are moments when I need supreme faith, but I also need to be mindful of how ridiculously fast a lousy choice may cost me big bucks.
Even if this particular circumstance doesn’t apply to me, nearly every trader has experienced the kind of anxiousness that makes them question everything they do, but instead, as a result, their trust and fund balance plummets dramatically. Consider the previous instances once again; if I had effectively managed the psychological component, the outcome of that event wouldn’t even be almost as catastrophic.
Since I did not get out of the trade when it was appropriate and instead added to my losing position, the second transaction turned out to be far more costly than the previous two deals, which would have been relatively minor losses. Trading in retaliation was against the rules in the third transaction, which was never supposed to occur.
Regarding the most recent two transactions, given that they both satisfied the system’s requirements, it is arguable whether either or both should’ve been executed. A lesser investment, maybe. But it was catching the one that wound up sprinting that would more than likely have compensated for those small losses.
Even if my account went into the red, I wouldn’t have had a mental breakdown since I wouldn’t have blown it all up and gone bankrupt. So it wasn’t the system that collapsed; instead, it was the trader (ME).
Permit me to preface this by saying that experiencing things of this kind is quite natural. For the vast majority of individuals, it is essentially the only opportunity to understand how to maintain control over one’s feelings.
Even in the direst of circumstances, I could break free from them more potently than ever because of the countless occasions I’ve encountered them and the many stages of difficulty they bring with them.
As a general rule, I try to ignore what transpired and focus only on the task at hand: implementing my procedures in the same way I’ve done it before. ” I might never be refunded straight away, but I shouldn’t even be attempting that. There are times when it’s necessary to put your emotions aside to carry out a strategy that has shown to be booming in the long term.
I’ve woken up to the fact that regardless of how well I execute my methods, there will be times when I don’t bring in very much cash. It’s possible that I’ll have a string of losing trades, and given that I swing trades, it may involve lingering weeks without accomplishing any significant strides. Unfortunately, this is something I’ve had to accept.
To compensate for the sluggish trading intervals, I tried to stick to my trading strategy, avoid self-destructive behaviour, and always be poised for the next positive signal. Although I was far from perfecting any part of trading, the one area in which I have demonstrated the most remarkable constant growth is the ability to keep my morale high.
The way I trade hasn’t evolved much in the last three or four years, but the way I think about trading has. Undoubtedly, a technique or method gave me a favourable position over other traders. Still, many are offered, so success isn’t ensured by using just one of them.
Moreover, because of the significant role that a trader’s emotions play in determining the ultimate effectiveness of their trades, two market participants can trade using the same strategy yet still end up with quite different results over one year.
Therefore, would I say that the most frustrating aspect of trading is learning to regulate my emotional responses? My charting talents seldom caused me to question myself there at those stages, but I’m still struggling with the struggle to maintain concentration and self-assurance.
Sincerity compelled me to admit that maintaining command of this facet is one of the most difficult challenges I have ever faced. My observations of the troubles of other traders in the market have shown me that they are not alone. They prioritise one stock over another, which leads to the underperformance of the other.
They keep a close eye on stock for weeks but don’t react immediately enough when it eventually starts to fall out. Too lengthy holding causes a player to lose. Without them, the price rises considerably more quickly than expected.
Things like these are unforeseen; therefore, the only thing I could do would be to uncover, study, build and perfect a long-term strategy that works for me. If I examine the times when I had the most severe drawdowns, I will most probably determine that it wasn’t my system nor the discipline that let me collapse but rather that my emotions took control of the narrative.
If you can familiarise yourself with emotional control, practising your approaches will be nothing more than child’s play, in contrast.