Trading Psychology
When we have problems with our trading the cause is usually one of the following problems, sometimes a combination of them.
It always starts with your personality. And, as I know only too well, identifying who you are and how YOU tick, without all the interference of old conditioning, is a major job. It is essential to be at peace with yourself or you will be trading your unresolved complexes. If you don't know your TRUE PERSONALITY you will always be struggling against yourself in your trading. As a consequence you will be working far too hard to discipline yourself and probably doing the things other people tell you you should be doing in order to become a consistently good trader.
When you get in touch with who you really are and are aligned to your inner core the rewards are immense. For one, you will be much happier. The discipline which was a struggle until now, becomes a natural by product of your trading that you will enjoy as part of what you have to do to be successful.
An important aspect of knowing who you are is understanding your developmental level. I am talking about your cognitive development here. This invaluable piece of information can save you a lot of time, frustration and many wrong starts. Because it is your developmental level that dictates how you see your world and interact with others, including the markets. We are always changing and growing, so development is never fixed but an ongoing process. When I finally learned about this important aspect, which should be an integral part of trading psychology I was amazed how it is simply not mentioned in any books on the psychology of trading. Yet, when you know where you are in your cognitive development, or if you a going through a transitional period in your development, you will gain essential clues that you can use to adjust your trading style accordingly.
Your environment plays a much bigger role in your success than you might imagine. I learned this, like all the other things I am talking about in The Buddhist Trader, the hard way. I have had an eye problem from birth which affected my brain causing ADD symptoms since childhood. Concentrating on a screen for hours caused me many problems. My lack of focus and lack of concentration were so frustrating. The more I forced myself to focus the more frustrated I got. In the end I felt tired, depressed, took trades for the wrong reasons and was close to a mental break down. Then I found, by chance, as is often the case with the best solutions, a couple of things I needed to do to neutralise the problems I had. The difference on my performance and general mind set was amazing. I did not feel depressed and over tired any more. I concentrated much better and my trading improved as I got a much better grip of the constantly changing markets.
I have worked with traders, including professional traders and know from my own experience how the stiff upper lip syndrome we tend to display and are so proud of, oppresses our shadows and can hamper profitability. Suppressed fear, (and I could fill an entire book about this subject alone), is a devil lurking in the cesspit of many a trading mind. You get out of positions too early, procrastinate, act on impulse and fear of missing out. There is a constant battle going on inside. On the one hand you see clearly what you should be trading, and then the doubts creep in, maybe your analysis is wrong, maybe you are missing out on something. The market moves in your direction and you hop on board, fearful of missing out on the move...
I have done all those things until I finally managed to clear all this rubbish that was going on in my mind, step by step, through trial and error until I found a way that worked for me. I will share the shadow clearing techniques that work with you in The Buddhist Trader.
And then, there is the trap so many new traders fall into. They trade other peoples' systems and their promises. Unfortunately, there are not that many good traders out there. Trading is similar to other professions, it gets pretty empty in the top ranks, but with one difference. In most other professions you can make mistakes, in fact, you can make many mistakes and be very mediocre and still get by. Okay, you may not earn a fantastic wage, and may even achieve that if you are lucky, but you will be able to live.
From my own experience, I know that trading will show up all one's weaknesses within a very short time, often within a few weeks. This is hard to take for many a new, hopeful trader as they have to face all their shortcomings at once. It was a shock for me too. For many, this is simply too much to handle and the temptation to act irrationally is very high at this point.
Particularly, when you are trading with limited funds and are looking for high returns within a very short period of time, you will be in for a shock. When you are new to trading, you need to learn from someone you can trust and you have to learn fast.
Otherwise, the collateral psychological and material damage will compound and you may never fulfills your dream.
I advise anyone new to trading to start learning about the psychology of trading first. Learn about yourself before you learn trading systems. This may not be the sexy thing you want to hear, but believe me, it will pay dividends. If I had known 10 years ago what I know about myself now, my trading would have taken on a very different shape, right from the day I put on my first trade. If you are new to trading and are reading this, please follow this advice. You will be grateful for it, because in the long run it will save your precious self esteem, valuable time and money too.
The Buddhist Trader will help you to understand yourself better and make your interaction with the markets seamless. Only when you are one with the markets at any level of your trading will you experience the joy and deep satisfaction excellence in all our pursuits can bring.
My forthcoming book The Buddhist Trader will present you with many new insights on trading psychology. You will discover how to identify where you are in your personal development and how this affects your trading style, how to identify and eliminate your shadows. You will discover environmental factors that affect your trading performance and learn useful energy techniques to change your mental state in seconds and raise your energy levels fast.
The Buddhist Trader will be available in November.
You can pre-order THE BUDDHIST TRADER now at a discount
Price: £ 21.58 Pre-launch offer: £ 16.58
Trading Psychology
