Taking Emotions Out of Trading.

if it hasn't already been said already....i think excessive emotional trading is a result of inexperience and/or lack of confidence in your trading ability, an excessive amount of discretionary trading and/or lack of sufficient funds or the inability to loose the funds at risk

my biggest cause of that emotion, although i would have told you otherwise at the time, was the fact i wasn't confident in my trading and i was using alot of discretion and judgement to determine my entries and exits.

for me it was time and experience that allowed me to develope
entries and exits that were well defined. so well defined that there almost no discretion involved.

"I have had many profitable days based on using hardly any emotion following a systematic procedure. "

after re-reading your post i think you answered your own question.
 
I dont know how one person removes emotions from trading. However it is really neccesary to stay cool. The reason a person gets emotional, is because they are unsure of what they are doing. They have not tested, they have no statistics, they have nothing, except what they " THINK WILL HAPPEN " which sooner or later will be wrong. The more rules you have, that have caused you to win, the less emotions you will exhibit, because you will be sure of what you got...
 
My first post in this thread was, of course, tongue-in-cheek. Kidding aside, I think most people will agree that normal human beings can't fully set their emotions aside. I think that the supposed twin emotional forces of the market, fear and greed, can actually be distilled to simply fear in one context or another. Nothing helps dispel fear like a well-tested, reliable trading method. Even so, all else being equal, uncertainty affects different people in different ways. Admittedly, in my case, it has been a challenge party due to a very inauspicious start a number of years ago. I dealt with it in a number of ways, two of which I had mentioned in the past in other, related threads. First, I gave meditation a try and it helped calm me down a bit:

http://amazon.com/o/ASIN/0380815958...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=278240801&pf_rd_i=507846

This is a no-nonsense, Point A to Point B type of how-to book backed by clinical testing.

I also gave this item a try to some beneficial effect:

http://www.tranceformation.com/merc...=TW-000001&Product_Code=000024&Category_Code=

The two seem to complement one another. And, of course, I mention this outstanding book at every opportunity because it puts life into perspective, which helps achieve emotional balance:

http://www.amazon.com/Feeling-Good-...3100044?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1177818219&sr=8-1
 
Quote from JimmyJam:

... that's why (I believe) having a systematic methodology across multiple timeframes and trading multiple instruments across those timeframes is the answer to the ultimate traders dilema.

Because once you've mastered your emotions, you've mastered trading.

Good trading,

JJ
More...

Good pdf link. For those that want to read the origins os Psycho Cybernetics it is Maxwell Maltz MD. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_g...ywords=Psycho+Cybernetics&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Go
 
Quote from TradingBillions:

Hi, how does one fully take out most his emotions with trading? I have had many profitable days based on using hardly any emotion following a systematic procedure. However, when I try to second guess the market, it goes against me. I will stop trying to use my emotions to second guess the market. However, how can I just trade without emotions?

I guess the answer is have an automated trading setup.

Any other ideas or thoughts?

~TB
More...

"I guess the answer is have an automated trading setup."

Maybe not. You say "I have had many profitable days based on using hardly any emotion following a systematic procedure" and then you say "when I try to second guess the market, it goes against me."

Why not find out why/when/what triggers you to second guess the market and eliminate that error (can you do what kiwi said and remove the cue?) If you can do that then why do you need to do anything more?
 
I have found great worth in the process Kiwi Trader so very well describes. Awareness must be combined with slowing down so that you are able to avoid the many harmful automatic negative responses which you have built up over the years.

Someone irritates you or cuts you up on the road: count ten, twenty even. If you do not, your automatic negative response is likely to be to lash out, verbally at least, or worse for some. Swallow the biting comment or the aggression: deflect it with a smile and understanding. It will make for a more peaceful and better world for both parties.

It is a long and difficult process and in my case at least I find I have to be ever vigilant to avoid backsliding. I have to live surrounded by quiet to encourage inner quietness, I have to spend periods of time in contemplation, I have to read certain helpful key texts again and again to remind myself what I am aiming for.

I have not found the end, the goal. I am stumbling along the path. But I do find life a lot more tolerable than before I started.

I believe the focus on using these techniques, this philosophy just to improve your trading is missing the point. It is a way of life one should look for, a reconciliation and acceptance of the many difficulties and sadnesses man must face.

Survival, the necessity to trade and work is part of life, not its entirety. You must treat the whole not just the part.

Anthony Garner
 
(even for the monks, they just sublimate the passions of the mind, they don't remove them) ...

Yes, I think that is very true but the act of sublimation changes the passions, it does not leave them unchanged and in situ. The energy of the destructive passion is converted into something purer, healthier.

And I am sure that the effort is enormous and protracted.

I was reading W Beran Wolfe's Successful Living this morning. I had been suffering simmering anger on and off for something like a month - I had been trying to forgive the percieved hurt, to move on, unsuccessfully for weeks.

The writings of Wolfe and his ilk are the sort of texts I have to keep reading over and over again to keep myself on the "way".

In any event the text had the desired effect and I wrote a concilatory note of peace. And felt enormously better for it.

Mindfulness coupled with re-placing negativity and destructive passions with the positive and constructive. It needs constant work and discipline.

Is there any relevance to trading?

Yes, every relevance. Work is an integral and important part of life and if you work to make your life as a whole more measured, more beneficial to yourself and others, every part of your life benefits.
 
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