Self Sabotage for traders

propwarrior said:
the few winning traders i know dont self sabotage themselves. Sure they take losses but they believe in themselves, they trust themselves to protect their account.
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Exactly!

Maybe selfsabotage has to do with uncertainty. If the brain thinks you are not sure enough about your trading, or control over your trading, it will prevent you to do what want to do, to limit damage. The brain understands that you are uncertain.

When I started to trade I noticed the "selfsabotage". But with the years, my control over my position and my insight in the market grew, and the selfsabotage disappeared. Not only the selfsabotage disappeared, also the stress and uncertainty. And results grew exponentially.

If you notice selfsabotage it might be good to analyze your trading and your insight in the markets.
 
Self sabotage has nothing to do with trading. It has to do with success. Losing traders don't self sabotage, only winners can self sabotage. They would do it if they were playing baseball or racing NASCAR or tournament bass fishing or playing chess. Anything you can do where there is a winner. They won't let themselves win. Most don't have to worry about self sabotage because they never figure out how to win so there is nothing to sabotage.
Probably more prevalent in individuals who seem to have a natural talent for something and don't really have to work that hard at it yet seem to have success almost given to them.
Drugs and alcohol are common tools used to self sabotage success. Perhaps because it is more challenging to play on a field that has been leveled by impairment.
I suppose it can all be reduced down to fear of success and all that entails, on and on. Is there anything bad that fear is not the primary mover? Fear is the root of all evil it would seem. Oh well, I doubt anybody that pursues a life of trading is plagued by fear of failure, but fear of success is a problem which may need to be addressed.
 
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Mtrader said:
TEB is arrogant, he knows everything better. He sees all other people on ET as children or idiots that have to be saved by him.
He is a master in copy and paste. He has no real experience so he is copying from internet and posting youtube clips.
He needs all this activity on ET because he needs confirmation from us about his (imaginary) "superiority". People who need that are in general people with very low confidence and a very low selfesteem. They think they are losers and try desperatelly to find confirmation they are not losers.

Maybe he should first learn about that psychology before teaching others.
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I read your previous thread on E T about the same subject , the level of discussion was what you expect on free forum , the same level as that of your own discussions and responses.I must say the quality of information on Elite trader is that of patients suffering from self Sabotage , and people really throwing darts at solutions .The previous thread mentioned emotional awareness or mindfullness , that is the only point I could take from that thread.

https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/self-sabotage.60896/



I have been listening to top trading psychologists Andrew Menaker , Mark Douglas , Rande Howell , Van tharpe and Brett Steinberger .I have also read books on stress , depression , emotions and heard videos from from super psychologists like Robert Sapolsky and other contributors on youtube videos.

I have read several books on psychology and listened to over 100 webinars and videos on psychology and trading psychology.My knowledge is possibly not far from any of the trading psychologists , I am still learning.

I have studied mindfullness and after listening to the psychologists , I traded and experienced self sabotage , emotions , stress , the need to be right , uncertainty etc etc etc .

Zdreg asked me to post my views , based on my knowledge .I spoke my mind and gave 18 techniques to help with avoiding/reducing self sabotage .Here you come and write negative posts about me.The videos are better than the discussions from dunning kruger psychologists , here on E T.The internet has better wisdom , and posts relate to these better discussions , rather than listening to chimps.

I am into options and trading psychology , so I open threads on these subjects to see if I can pick up real trading tips from real traders , anything that will help me.It should be good for sponsors on options and brokers who provide these facilities.At the same time I speak my mind and knock the Forum Gurus.Unfortunate.


Mtrader said:
That's why he is the undisputable number 1 on ET. He broke all records.

Even the records of:
  1. opening the most threads on ET.More quality discussion is better.
  2. highest frequency in posting, looks like a fulltime job.Good trading is boring
  3. expert knowledge about all aspects of trading as he is the highest authority.I am just giving this free knowledge .Be grateful
  4. able to post continuously in a thread where he is the only poster.The dumb remain dumb and can't post anything other than worthless except grunts of chimpanzees
  5. copy and paste things from internet and then pretend it is his knowledge.It is my knowledge and internet saves time.
Marketsurfer would be jealous if he would still be here.
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The dumb remain dumb and can't post anything other than worthless grunts of chimpanzees


 
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No further comments necessary.
Why do you always post pictures from yourself and your family?

upload_2016-12-11_18-32-33.png
 
Mtrader said:
Exactly!

Maybe selfsabotage has to do with uncertainty. If the brain thinks you are not sure enough about your trading, or control over your trading, it will prevent you to do what want to do, to limit damage. The brain understands that you are uncertain.

When I started to trade I noticed the "selfsabotage". But with the years, my control over my position and my insight in the market grew, and the selfsabotage disappeared. Not only the selfsabotage disappeared, also the stress and uncertainty. And results grew exponentially.

If you notice selfsabotage it might be good to analyze your trading and your insight in the markets.
More...

So the brain understands you are uncertain , but in certain conditions , the mind also needs to be right ..............................so there is no cognitive commands for the brain to follow ...............it does not know what to do.Cut loss , continue trade or exit.

Traders hate uncertainty , markets hate uncertainty!

http://study.com/academy/lesson/hof...idance-index-definition-example-cultures.html
 
Hello,

I have experienced this type of process as well that leads to a bad day and self regret:

1. I enter a trade late or out of fear of missing a trend or wrong entry. I enter unplanned cause I am tired of waiting for a setup per my rules/plan.

2. Once I enter, everything in my head is saying "why did you do this, get out of this trade before something bad happens" "well I may get lucky, luck counts too to make money"

3. The trade starts going against me for losses.

4. I think "oh well, I may as well stay in and wait to get stopped out"

5. I get stopped out for a loss.

6. I am made at myself for missing a good trade, not following rules, not exiting early, being greedy, just being silly.

7. The account balance is going down.

8. I have to make up for this lost.

9. Stare at the screen for hours and take a trade per the system, but wrong time of market conditions.

10. Fear of another loss for the day cause prices is moving sooo slow.

11. Exit trade cause I am tired of watching.

12. Trade goes in my favor.

You see, the whole day can be ruined cause of one bad trade. I am slowly learning that mistakes cost alot.
 
Humans are very clever and we get clever , when it is not in our interests .When given a highly profitable system , we second guess systems , because we are smart and smarter than the creator of the system.We are like monkeys and do monkey business on live accounts .It is called self sabotage.


We are curious and try new things , inventions and do the same in trading.
We get too cler in trading ,like these monkeys.


monkey in the market.jpg


trade the plan.jpg
 
Develop a Trading System That You Won't Second Guess or Abandon
It's important to construct a set of rules that generate signals in which you are confident. Imagine that you're using a system in live trading and the last five trades have been losers. Your trading capital is depleted and your confidence shaken. Are you going to make the next trade without question?

Consider the case of a huge drawdown during an open trade. Your profit has turned into a loss. Will you stay with the current rules or jump ship? Can you hold on for a vague promise of a profitable outcome in a few days or weeks?
 
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