The day to day psychology of a trader

smallStops said:
wtfauoa: what you are saying is absolutely right.

Now my problem is this: I was not supposed to trade till I met the coach.
We agreed with a coach for a profit target, that was reached. Then to just close my account, transfer the whole lot to the card and wait for the next coaching session.
It took a set of days of transfer problems, this leading me to open my trading platform to check where the problem was in regards to the transfer. Then seeing the profits lead me to a non-wanted "mental state" : not appreciating the profits, seeing it as something dangerous, etc.
This is an example where psychology gets into play.
Your opinions/insights are fully welcomed.
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The reality is that the markets are uncertain, no matter what spin any person or organization tries to put on it. When dealing with trading uncertainty, you are in a place where the outcome can be good or bad, and we have to take it as bad, even if it ends up being good. We all know the story by now, but knowing is one thing, and doing is another. This is where psychology plays a big part. A level headed person, with a good understanding of risk control, can make much more money than any guru, mentor, expert, hft'r, algo'r, or any other person who has put their own spin on how the markets work. The fact that there is always uncertainty, negates any method or system that seems to deliver consistent results - you can not get consistency with uncertainty no matter how hard you try to convince yourself, or others. Real progress can only be seen by first accepting the fact of uncertainty, and then operating in a way that deals with this uncertainty on a daily basis.
If you bang your head against a wall long enough, you will eventually see how futile the effort is. Much better to get a ladder, climb up, look over the wall and see what is on the other side, which can easily be consistent profits in an uncertain market. No one is saying it is easy, far from it actually, but very possible none the less.
 
wtfuoa
from your point of view, does psychology impact trading?
if yes, do you have any examples, and in what ways does it impact trading?
if no, why do you think some traders spend good money and time on psychology ( whatever modalities be it retreats, psy, coaches, hypno, etc).
from my point of view, I prefer to face on whatever issue comes up in trading : trading has given me
the chance of finding these and sorting these out. The key is seeing a problem for what it is: if it comes from limiting belief systems, then I am fine just taking it as it is, finding who knows how to deal with such type of issue and get done with it. That's one approach someone suggested.
 
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smallStops said:
wtfuoa
from your point of view, does psychology impact trading?
if yes, do you have any examples, and in what ways does it impact trading?
if no, why do you think some traders spend good money and time on psychology ( whatever modalities be it retreats, psy, coaches, hypno, etc).
from my point of view, I prefer to face on whatever issue comes up in trading : trading has given me
the chance of finding these and sorting these out. The key is seeing a problem for what it is: if it comes from limiting belief systems, then I am fine just taking it as it is, finding who knows how to deal with such type of issue and get done with it. That's one approach someone suggested.
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"Psychology is the study of behavior and mind, embracing all aspects of conscious and unconscious experience as well as thought. It is an academic discipline and a social science which seeks to understand individuals and groups by establishing general principles and researching specific cases."

I would say Yes, but would be wary of people's interpretation of it. In relation to trading, there are but two key areas that need to be fully understood in order to be successful. For some reason (or reasons), many are unable to grasp this very important requirement, and thus embark on what can only be called a merry-go-round journey, that usually results in no real progress and either substantial, or total loss of trading capital. It is like everything in life, in that it is easy when you know how, but most never get to know how due to their inability to make sound judgements, of which there can be many reasons, but the main one being the inability to research correctly before making a judgement on what the best approach to trading should be. The financial industry does not help, in that they purposely make things appear complicated so that they can justify their existence and provide the platform for wealth transfer from the ill informed (public) to the well informed (major financial institutions). Nothing new really, as it has been happening since societies developed.
 
FYI

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wtfauoa : I have to say I found what you said familiar. :D. I will also add your book on my reading list.

Now, I obviously did some soul searching, and going over my journals, I came to the question:
WHY DID I CHANGE WHAT WORKED ?

I went through all my notes, reflected on it and I say it is obvious that the regime of mind
activities worked, but I stopped all of these.
I didn' t realise that the coach put these in place so as to allow me to get the results I wanted TILL the core issues were fully identified and sorted. We had started to identify some of the issues ( attitude toward money, and some possible 3 reasons for these). All these activities were about blocking the negatives, so that it did not interfere, while finding its root causes and removing it.

Things were effectively going better on all life aspects ( including the social aspects): even at the weekly poker tournaments, I always managed to finish on the top 7. Then I stopped what worked.
I might not have fully understood the coach approach, and just assumed that things were working fine just because, for no reasons.
I might have stopped doing it, as I rzalise it was not easy. I can say 5 hours of daily meditation was pretty hard.

My own fault for not keeping up with what works.
 
The prayers were easy to do daily. Yes, it allows to reflect, to talk.
The sport was easy to do daily, as I could just do and change to whichever sport I fancied doing for the day.
I was even thinking of joining some social-sports groups ( kind of specific ways people meet locally).
The diet was easy to follow daily: it all came down to going to the good restaurants I wanted to try. Breakfast was now becoming very enjoyable since discovering the angelina):
and I was discovering other interesting breakfast places.
I had even scheduled a very nice holiday!!!!!!!

Not only did I stopped what was working. But I also weakened my body so as to make it easy to catch this nasty cold, and I amplified the whole lot via falling back into patterns of behaviours we were working with the coach on eliminating. It this is not stupidity of the highest type, well I might as well just start back now what worked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I simply stopped because the core of the activities were the 5 hours of daily meditation, and I simply could not keep it up. I found it really hard, some morning I simply dreaded the thoughts of it. In the evening I was happy that the days went well, but I felt a HUUUUUGGGE RESISTANCE. To try to help, I went to buy some new sets of meditation cushions: I have as yet not used them.
I should have try to understand where the resistance was coming from. May be that was what the coach was waiting when I was asked "how is the meditation going?". I simply did not understand that things were to be gained in regards to this resistance. Something learned. Time to get back to the daily meditation that I dread.
 
@smallStops I don't know what you are on about, but I think that meditation is really of no use for trading. It really is simple. You do the correct research before risking your money, then only risk a small amount until you come to realize that 99% of what is put out there is complete and utter rubbish. The type of trading you decide to do will depend on the level of understanding you need to acquire. The majority of the psychological stuff is also rubbish. Concentrate on what you need to know and do, not what others think you need to do and know.
 
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