The way I've been trading lately it's no surprise I can't even spell it. In the last week I did some of the worst trading I have done since I started. It was disgustingly bad. I know why. I am putting way too much pressure on myself to be profitable, every day, and it is affecting my trading so much that it is having the opposite effect!
For example, I would have a losing trade, I'd elect to not FTS and then it would of course take off in the opposite direction to my original entry. I'd then get FOMO but would hesitate to enter, and when I finally did enter it was at the end of the move.
I would have a losing morning and then find myself checking the DAX CONSTANTLY at work on my mobile. I'd decide I was going to enter a trade, it would get 4 or 5 points in profit, retrace and I'd snap close out of fear. Then of course it would take off without me again, so then I'd get back in on another trade, let that one run, and it would stop me out. Then I'd just be even more angry and try and force trades all afternoon.
I would hesitate and find any reason, no matter how thin, to not take a trade.
I would get home at night and not want to review my day because I knew it would depress me further and would affect me the following morning.
I'd decide I wasn't going to take a trade but then would unconsciously get in as soon as the signal was triggered because the FOMO would be too strong. 'What if it goes 20/30/40 points and I miss it?'
I can accept that yes, I've been trading over two years and I am still not profitable. That goes somewhat with the territory, but to not have any patience or discipline and to trade with fear, that is unacceptable. I've been trading long enough to not have any excuses to have any issues in those areas. So, I've decided I am taking a week off. In fact, I may even take two. Now don't get me wrong I am still checking in on the markets at night to see what unrealised profit I missed, but that's it. I've deleted the app from my phone so I can only check when I am at home. I'm not updating my review sheet with the 'Could've', I am only doing it briefly at night with a quick look at the charts. That's it.
So what am I doing with this new found time off? I'm hitting the gym earlier which means afterwards I can enjoy the sunshine and get a nice 1 hour walk in before work. I'm reading a new book by James R Doty called Mind Magic. It details the Neuroscience of Manifesting and how your brain actually does it, physiologically. So far, it's very interesting and I can thoroughly recommend it. I'm enjoying the fact that my mornings don't have any pressure attached to them.
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