Overcoming fear
- Thread starter rationaldaytrader
- Start date
I found myself full of fear and anxiety the last week or so while trading. Sometimes could not even breath correctly.
I found and implemented some solutions this week maybe these will work for other traders:
playing symphony music from computer at low volume, just use spotify or similar service
Guided Meditation BEFORE I start trading.. found great free app on phone called "Insight Timer"
This one is HUMONGO... keep charts minimized in the background, I get a audio alert when a trade has setup. What I have found is that to have the chart up and watch like a hawk all day is very tiring and exhausting, and I play the "should have, would have" game
Do not analyze performance while trading, do that after hours or on weekends
I stopped trading beyond the 4:15 EST cutoff, it was just exhausting me and really produced no real profits
Eat right, exercise daily... I am trading right now full time , no regular job, so close the computer and go workout by 2pm ( I am in California) it's awesome, gym not crowded
anyone else have good ideas to stay calm while trading?
I found and implemented some solutions this week maybe these will work for other traders:
playing symphony music from computer at low volume, just use spotify or similar service
Guided Meditation BEFORE I start trading.. found great free app on phone called "Insight Timer"
This one is HUMONGO... keep charts minimized in the background, I get a audio alert when a trade has setup. What I have found is that to have the chart up and watch like a hawk all day is very tiring and exhausting, and I play the "should have, would have" game
Do not analyze performance while trading, do that after hours or on weekends
I stopped trading beyond the 4:15 EST cutoff, it was just exhausting me and really produced no real profits
Eat right, exercise daily... I am trading right now full time , no regular job, so close the computer and go workout by 2pm ( I am in California) it's awesome, gym not crowded
anyone else have good ideas to stay calm while trading?
Anxiety and Caffeine:
How to tell if coffee, tea, or other forms of caffeine are causing anxious feelings and/or fueling your anxiety.
No drug is used more widely in the world than caffeine. The omnipresence of caffeine, however, sometimes makes people forget that it is a powerful stimulant. In addition to keeping you alert and energized, caffeine has many suggested health benefits, but consuming too much of has its costs. Too much caffeine can lead to increased anxiety or complicate an existing anxiety disorder by increasing symptoms.
Anxiety is our body’s response to situations that we perceive as being worrisome or threatening, and it promotes our body’s “fight or flight” response. Caffeine also triggers this response, making you overreact to situations that aren’t actually dangerous or troublesome. Too much caffeine can also make you irritable and agitated in situations that normally wouldn’t affect you. And if you already have increased anxiety or suffer from panic attacks, caffeine can cause these symptoms to become worse.
The effects of caffeine can also include:
agitation
sleep problems
restlessness
twitching
dizziness
increased heart rate
nausea
diarrhea
changes in mood
https://www.psycom.net/anxiety-and-caffeine
For me, 1 cup of coffee per day is about max which I can cope with and even that small amount is borderline, anything more and I get more cranky/nervous.
One idea to help with fear is to accept an extreme loss in your mind at the time of the trade. If your mind accepts that, then it is less likely to over-react when a position goes against you for a lesser amount.
However, with respect to this situation in the first post, I'm not sure that fear is the real issue. Fear / paralysis doesn't kick in until after you have made the trade. Something is causing you to take that bad trade to being with. So you need to figure out why you keep taking that countertrend trade?
But on the topic of fear, one of the things I have to remind myself is that price isn't always right, meaning that there are often these fake-out moves that are not supported technically and eventually the move gets reversed. So at the end of the day, I have to trust my strategy and indicators and then give the trade time to play out within my allotted time. For me, personally, "time stops" work better than price stops so that I don't get whipsawed out of good trades.
Some other ideas to keep a clear head during trading:
1) Put on noise canceling headphones and listen to some Brain Entrainment audio or similar-type audio to help you stay focused / relaxed.
2) Do SuperBrain Yoga a couple of times a day (find it on YouTube).
3) Monitor your breathing. Note if you're holding your breath or it's becoming shallow. Re-set yourself with at least 3 deep breaths.
4) Drop down and do 10-20 push ups instead of staring at your screen waiting for the trade to move.
5) Take a cold shower or dip your head under cold water in the sink. It is like a mental and physical re-set. Try it -- you will feel different afterwards.
6) Meditate or if you struggle with that, get the Primed Mind app and do one of their audio programs to get your mind right.
7) Make sure you're drinking lots of water / staying hydrated. If you're drinking caffeine, try to limit it to the morning and then try to find energy drinks that don't cause you to crash. My preference is Advocare's "Spark."
8) Take a 20-minute nap after lunch.
9) Use positive self-talk. Remind yourself that you're okay and that you can handle this.
10) Remember, your job is to execute your trading system properly. Focus on that process and not the outcome / P&L.
Hope that helps someone!
However, with respect to this situation in the first post, I'm not sure that fear is the real issue. Fear / paralysis doesn't kick in until after you have made the trade. Something is causing you to take that bad trade to being with. So you need to figure out why you keep taking that countertrend trade?
But on the topic of fear, one of the things I have to remind myself is that price isn't always right, meaning that there are often these fake-out moves that are not supported technically and eventually the move gets reversed. So at the end of the day, I have to trust my strategy and indicators and then give the trade time to play out within my allotted time. For me, personally, "time stops" work better than price stops so that I don't get whipsawed out of good trades.
Some other ideas to keep a clear head during trading:
1) Put on noise canceling headphones and listen to some Brain Entrainment audio or similar-type audio to help you stay focused / relaxed.
2) Do SuperBrain Yoga a couple of times a day (find it on YouTube).
3) Monitor your breathing. Note if you're holding your breath or it's becoming shallow. Re-set yourself with at least 3 deep breaths.
4) Drop down and do 10-20 push ups instead of staring at your screen waiting for the trade to move.
5) Take a cold shower or dip your head under cold water in the sink. It is like a mental and physical re-set. Try it -- you will feel different afterwards.
6) Meditate or if you struggle with that, get the Primed Mind app and do one of their audio programs to get your mind right.
7) Make sure you're drinking lots of water / staying hydrated. If you're drinking caffeine, try to limit it to the morning and then try to find energy drinks that don't cause you to crash. My preference is Advocare's "Spark."
8) Take a 20-minute nap after lunch.
9) Use positive self-talk. Remind yourself that you're okay and that you can handle this.
10) Remember, your job is to execute your trading system properly. Focus on that process and not the outcome / P&L.
Hope that helps someone!
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I find it helps not to keep looking at the screen during a trade. If you have a target and stop, then you can do something else for awhile, then look back. Also, I sometimes have a 2nd entry set to a little before the stop which can sometimes help you average into a trade rather than putting it all on at once and having it go against you right away. Finally, if you are trading more than one instrument you could focus on the 2nd chart that you are trading. If that is moving in your favor, you can look to get out of the other trade early rather than stay with the trade.
For example, I may play a game of Hearthstone which can take 10 - 15 min while in a trade, and not look at the trade. My target or stop sound will still occur to let me know what happened if trade is done before game is done.
My main problem has been over trading for example I have a loss and look right away for another setup. The better solution is to wait an hour to see how the market is doing before getting into another trade or even stop trading for the day especially if you have set a mental maximum loss amount.
Finally, before each trade, you need to say to yourself I am willing to except this stop loss if the trade goes against me. If you can't accept that loss then you need to have a smaller stop loss.
I notice some trades for example if long, the support is too low. So the solution may be to either wait to see if price again gets closer to this support or use a standard stop. You don't want to keep adding contracts as trade falls back to support since then if support is broken you can end up with a big loss.
Also, if you are up for the day, but you want to do another trade to make more profit, you need to accept the fact that you could then end up making nothing for the day or a small loss. You don't want to take a trade get a loss, and then try to force the market to give you back your previous profit by getting into another trade right away since that is gambling and you are no longer following your plan.
For example, I may play a game of Hearthstone which can take 10 - 15 min while in a trade, and not look at the trade. My target or stop sound will still occur to let me know what happened if trade is done before game is done.
My main problem has been over trading for example I have a loss and look right away for another setup. The better solution is to wait an hour to see how the market is doing before getting into another trade or even stop trading for the day especially if you have set a mental maximum loss amount.
Finally, before each trade, you need to say to yourself I am willing to except this stop loss if the trade goes against me. If you can't accept that loss then you need to have a smaller stop loss.
I notice some trades for example if long, the support is too low. So the solution may be to either wait to see if price again gets closer to this support or use a standard stop. You don't want to keep adding contracts as trade falls back to support since then if support is broken you can end up with a big loss.
Also, if you are up for the day, but you want to do another trade to make more profit, you need to accept the fact that you could then end up making nothing for the day or a small loss. You don't want to take a trade get a loss, and then try to force the market to give you back your previous profit by getting into another trade right away since that is gambling and you are no longer following your plan.
.40 right away...then 4 or 5 more points while internally wrestling with taking action
sounds like ego issue
You serious ?
You actually stated you use "mental stops".
Solution is very simple. Stop using mental stops and start using hard stops. Problem solved when you can't press the button to exit out of a losing trade.
wrbtrader
The fear of the moment to operate is always constant because the operations always carry a risk and many are not willing to lose money but for this reason preliminary analyses are carried out to determine the state of the market and reduce these risks, Fear should not exist as every time you operate you will have a risk no matter what, although if you don’t want to lose much it is best to place a stop loss to your operations.