How can Positive Emotions be bad for Trading?

Emotionless

That’s exactly what you need to be. It’s the only way to trade correctly. I remember when I first started to trade back in 2011. I thought that the market makers were a bunch of evil psychologists, who could put you through every emotion there is. In under 5 mins.

And not just the negative emotions, they played with the positive emotions too. Love, Sex, Hope, Faith, Enthusiasm, Loyalty and Desire. Of course, now I understand that the market is driven by humans who are driven by emotions, and that’s why I have my…

 

Trading Edge

Fair point, this is a repeat. But only because I really believe in it. It’s what finally got me Trading like a Pro. My trading edge is that I can trade without emotion. I trade in the now.

I don’t get attached to any of my trades, no matter how long they have been with me and I’m not married to one single strategy. Trading without emotion is my “Holy Grail”. If your trading edge is that you can trade minus emotion. You will be the Elite Trader in the room. It means you follow your rules, your trading plan…to the letter…with ease. Which is why I have…

 

Patience and Discipline

Traders often ask me how they can be more patient, more disciplined in the markets. Well it all starts with being emotionless when trading. It’s very hard to be patient if your excited. How can you be disciplined when you are fearful that the market might reverse against you? The first task you must complete before trading FX or any Financial Instrument for that matter is to…

 

Control your Emotions

How? Is not a simple question to answer, there are many different methods and systems that do work. But the biggest emphasis will always be on you. Are you willing to have an open mind, will you be willing to put hard work in, will you be committed? First you must believe and understand that you are not your emotions.
“I am angry” is a false statement, that tries to trick your mind. It can never be true… Put yourself in front of a mirror, do it now if you can. Now put the biggest silliest grin on your face and keep it there. Right this second how do you feel? Keep the big silly grin and say, “I am angry”. Did you feel angry? Of course not.

From time to time you will have an angry feeling, we are human and we have emotions. However, what happens after that is of your choosing. Right then, in that moment after the feeling hits you. You have a choice, if you choose to stay angry, then you are “doing angry”. You are “being angry”, it is always your choice.

Next time you get that angry feeling, put a smile on your face and start laughing. Force the laugh if you have to…“What anger?”

 

Trading Mindest

You heard the buzz words, what do they mean. Trade Mindfully, You need a traders mindset, be a robot. It is all the same thing. Emotionless, you need to be free of emotion the moment you decide you are trading. I previously covered the Negative Emotions. Let’s now look at the positive emotions and why they are no better for you when you trade FX, stocks, indices or commodities.

 

Love

Traders often fall in love quickly and heavily, which leads them to get married very easily, early on in their relationship with a Trade. Refusing to see reason and to let go of the loss. The saying “Don’t marry a trade!” is telling you to be wary of the emotion of love. You may have watched the trade develop from an early stage, you could have spent hours preparing and analysing the chart. It maybe your favourite chart. Just don’t fall in love with it!.

 

Sex

Ok. Not sure where I’m going with this one, but as it’s a positive emotion I didn’t want to leave it out. What I will say is that it’s hard to concentrate on the screen (and some guys/girls might get angry) while having sex. So, my advice would be not to trade and have sex at the same time. This may also save you from injury.

 

Hope

Hope has released nations and fortified countries. And Hope in the right arena is fantastic, it’s what drives you to do great things. Hoping your trade will turn around and save you’re a%$e is a fool’s game. Leave that emotion at the door.

 

Faith

 

Having unearned faith in an online Guru or company just because he has had a good run for the last 3 months or
he has turned $500 into $36,000…three years ago…Is misplaced Faith. You have been warned.

 

Enthusiasm

Enthusiasm is the fuel for reaching your goals and is a must when writing your Trading Plan. And is also the perfect emotion to help keep you going through hours of back testing and forward testing. Enthusiasm when trading…not so good. Your Enthusiasm can get muddled with excitement and get you into a trade to early or too many trades.

 

Loyalty

The emotion itself is admirable and I am proud that it is one of my values and attributes. Again, this is an emotion that must be earned, do not give it away unwisely. Claiming loyalty to a company or person who continues to churn out strategy after strategy, but fails to teach you the basics of How to control your emotions so that you can Trade like a Pro…is missed placed loyalty. The reason they don’t want to teach you how to control your emotions, is because they use them to sell to you. All advertising and sales strategies are based on emotion. We buy with emotion and back it up with logic.

 

Desire

Perfect for writing out your SMART goals and your PAD (Perfect Average Day). But desire can cast a spell over your Logical mind, moving you away from probabilities and into the realm of Gambling. We don’t gamble…We Trade remember. If you are not yet sure of the difference I would suggest that perhaps you are not yet ready to trade. An easy way to tell is to answer this one simple question. Do you have a detailed written Trading Plan? If your answer is no…then I am afraid my friend, you are Gambling. 

 

Hence

Positive emotions are definitely better for you than negative emotions, there is no doubt. But living your life in your emotions, positive or negative is not the way to live either. If you live your life in negative emotions, they will poison you. There is scientific evidence to back this up and a good site to visit is the familydoctor.org.

And if you live your life in positive emotions you will do one or more of the following. Fall in love with everyone you meet. Have sex with everyone you meet.Hope life will get better without taking action. Have faith in the wrong people or companies. Misunderstand enthusiasm for excitement and get excited by everything. Give your loyalty to everyone you meet. Or you will desire everything you see, hear, smell or taste. I’ve taken the point to the extreme. But hopefully now you understand that to live your life in your emotions, any emotions, is to not live in the moment.

The trick to a balanced life, is to live in the now and be present.
 
When you get a feeling, it is your subconscious communicating with you, it’s your job to learn what it’s saying. Don’t attach yourself to that feeling, it is not who you are. Understand that it is a communication from your subconscious, thank your subconscious for that communication. Feel the feeling and let it go. Preferably when you understand what is being communicated you will act. The feeling will evaporate, and you can continue in the state of mind that is required for whatever task you have in hand. Which for traders is very detailed and specific depending on what part of trading you are dealing with, this will all be covered in Traders Tasks.

The observant traders amongst us will have noticed that the process flows like a perfect decision for trading.
You see your signal (get a feeling) – recognise that it is familiar (it’s a communication) – feel good about it (feel it) – take action/place trade/close trade (let it go)

Simple, easy trading. Isn’t that what we all want…

 

If you are struggling to learn to trade consistently by yourself, then I would suggest taking a look at our Trading Room. Here you will gain access to two coaches, Andres – Director of Trading and myself Director of Trading Psychology. Where else can you learn and be coached by a Trading coach and a Trading Psychology Coach, while making pips?

 

To Your Consistently Profitable Trading

Callum

 

P.S. What did you think of this Lesson? Please share it with us in the comments below!

 

 

 


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Callum McLean

Co-Founder and Trading Psychologist at Special FX Academy
Trading Psychology Coach and Certified NLP Coach. It is my belief that trading is 99% Psychological. And it is by understanding and improving your psychology, that you can be a successful trader. Success is a formula that everyone can and should learn.
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