|
|
|
|
|
|
|
feel that it is only a paper loss, why do I feel so bad/angry/disappointed as the price drops? If a paper loss isn't a loss until taken, then a paper profit isn't a profit until taken. So why does it feel so good to have an instant winner?" The primary question asked by all successful traders in the moment is "Do I have a winning or losing trade?" Only novices will ask if they can afford to let the losers accumulate. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Conversely when you have a profitable trade, you often allow your ego to coax you into taking profits quickly. This is because your ego (beliefs) defines success on a trade-by-trade basis, in the shortest possible time frame. Your ego wants and needs the immediate gratification of being right. The ego likes to be correct, and will always be in a state of denial that it is capable of being wrong. It is only after you become aware of the power of an uncontrolled ego to distort reality that you can begin to master it. The first step toward mastery is to become aware of the need to change. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
When you as a trader have controlled your ego by changing your beliefs, you will have no fear of being wrong and no burning desire to be "right." You are not hoping, praying, or justifying why the trade should or must work. You are not defining your self-image or self-worth in terms of what the market is doing or how your trades are performing. By not having an "ego" you will be in the present moment, or in the "zone." When you can trade with no ego you become one with the market, much like an expert horseback rider becomes one with the horse. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
A successful trader is totally focused on what is happening in the moment. The present moment in time is all that matters in trading and quite probably in life as well. What might happen in the future, or what took place in the past, is totally irrelevant. You as a trader must have the patience to wait for the market to tell you what is taking place in this instant of time. Then you must follow the market by entering it; attempting to interpret why the price is moving is an exercise in futility. Your entire focus should be on how the price is moving right now! Your ego will attempt to interpret what has happened, what is happening, and what should take place in the future. When your ego is correct about the direction of the market, it feels justified and successfulthe master of the world. Unfortunately for you, when your ego is wrong, it rationalizes and forgets the wrong beliefs about the direction of the market. All this is very strong justification for starting a trading journal and recording your thoughts and reasoning in it. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Ask yourself: "Once I understand the inner workings of the market, will the market be rational and logical?" Quite naturally almost everyone answers yes. This is expected, because the ego wants it to be so. Ego-driven traders naturally believe that they and they alone will be able to make logi- |
|
|
|
|
|