Trying not to lose control

Trading is often about how to take the appropriate risk without exposing yourself to very human flaws.
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Archangel
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So im fairly certain this trading lark is hugely about mindset. Can ut be learned or us it just something certain people have? Interested to know how successful traders manage to keep a cool head when things go bad. For example a trade went against you and u lost the days profits, or even the weeks. I find myself punching desks or throwing something. The poor cat wont even come in the room when im trading . I kept telling myself i wont lose it next time but its almost uncontrolable sometimes. Always feel better after a break but i know the same scenario is round the next bend
Last edited by Archangel on Thu Aug 20, 2015 11:24 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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gutuami
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that's the toughest part in trading. It is a skill that you learn little by little. The rate of success depends on your willpower and self-discipline. As they say: the pain of discipline weighs ounces the pain of regret weights tons. Imagine that losses are put there on purpose like sand paper to rub the rough edges of you to make you a better trader. Think in probabilistic terms. We can not control the market but we can control how we respond to situations. Everybody have frustrations from time to time - that's normal. Other 2 important factors are: the quality of the sleep we got last night and what we eat and when.
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LeTiss
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This is why I stress time & time again on this forum - never trade/bet when you have alcohol in your bloodstream. It makes you do reckless things when disappointed.

I'm an extremely temperamental character, and I found accepting losses the hardest thing about trading. I got into the habit of going for walks and grabbing myself a coffee, as trading when frustrated and angry is dangerous.

Even now, there are times when I simply walk away.

Also, I love Twix.....I have a fun pack in the cupboard and reward myself with a couple of fingers whenever trading screws me. It probably sounds absolute madcap, but giving myself something I like when pissed off seems to relieve my frustrations
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Archangel
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gutuami wrote:Imagine that losses are put there on purpose like sand paper to rub the rough edges of you to make you a better trader. .
Hopefully there will be something left after all that rubbing !
marko236
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Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 11:54 am

In the early days of my trading i would get pissed off with a loss, now i just take a loss and class it as me paying money out to learn something.

When i come up with a new trading idea and it's lossing to much money to make a profit i'l spend weeks even months trying different ways to reduce that loss, most of the time you don't have to reduce your losses that much to turn a lossing statagy into a winning one.
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Kai
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Yessir, your mindset alone makes all the difference. Anyone can attain knowledge and develop skills on the ladder, but not many can shape their mindset into a perfect trading machine which is pretty much a requirement for efficient trading.

https://twitter.com/tradingproverbs

This Twitter account played a key role in shaping my own mindset, I cannot recommend it enough. It kept bombarding me with pearls of wisdom from world-class traders and investors until I learned how to think and act like a trader. Obviously some stuff does not apply to us sports traders but the majority of their advice does.
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marksmeets302
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I used to work at an HFT firm. One thing our best traders had in common was that they were extremely temperamental. I've seen screens with cracks in them, chairs and garbage cans thrown through the office and holes punched in plastered walls. One of my colleagues visited an anger management counselor because his personal life suffered too much from these episodes of rage.

A burning desire to win is a good thing in trading. But don't think losing and making mistakes are the same thing. A loss can sometimes be the best outcome. It's the mistakes that drive us up the wall.
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Kai
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A burning desire to win doesn't necessarily have to include punching walls and destroying screens, that speaks more about one's inability to control his feelings rather than his desire to succeed. I think extremely temperamental people are not suited for trading at all, because they will obviously struggle when accepting losses and accepting their own mistakes, but it doesn't mean that they can't be successful, just that they might struggle with the high and the lows of trading in general.

In my mind the perfect trader is a calm one, someone who has his emotions completely under control, someone who doesn't get carried away when things are going amazing, and especially someone who doesn't have fits of pure rage when it goes terribly against him or when he makes a mistake.

But then again there's no such thing as a perfect trader, we try to do the best that we can do and hope that it's enough. We're only human so it's inevitable that we are going to make mistakes, the key for me is how we handle those mistakes. Someone will punch a wall because he can't forgive himself, someone will laugh it off because it won't matter at the end of the day or week, and someone might not react at all because he is used to it and accepts it as part of trading.

Mistakes on their own are perfectly fine (and welcome even) providing we learn from them, because how else are we going to learn. The problem comes when we don't learn, that's something that can drive a person insane in this business.
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Black Ice
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Location: Newmarket Suffolk

Hi Kai,

Many thanks for sharing your 'Trading Proverbs' with us- there are some pearls in there! Have you read 'Pit Bull' by Marty Schwartz- recommended by someone on here? It's fascinating and a great & easy read!
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Kai
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I have not, but it sounds good so I'll definitely add it to my list. Cheers.
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