Unconsciously committing unwanted triggers during the execution phase. The impulsiveness and unpreparedness in dealing risk were one of the main subjects that I needed to manage. Impulsive trading is similar to “chasing”. There’s a saying,
“If you chase and something goes wrong, you die first”.
- How may times have I chased trades which I didn’t plan?
- How many opportunities I missed because I chose the other one?
- How much money have I already lost in satisfying my excitement?
- and how long will I still be doing the mistake over and over again?
In psychology, impulsivity (or impulsiveness) is a tendency to act on a whim, displaying behavior characterized by little or no forethought, reflection, or consideration of the consequences.
My impulsiveness usually gets triggered when a pattern emerges in a fast phase price action. Most of the time it gets worse when the risk wasn’t calculated causing unlikable result. What makes it far more even worse?! the “Domino effect”. It will start with this, followed by that, and ends up pitying myself about my self-control. They said, “What we are in real life, that’s how we’ll be in trading”, those words are so true.
Unpreparedness – Vulnerability – Devastation
In what way will I be able to keep myself from doing the same bad habits over and over again? I found a blog which I’ve been reading for quite awhile and it mainly talks about “Composure” and how someone could possibly leap over the profit-gap barricade. What caught my attention with his blog posts was “Mindfulness” in trading.
Mindfulness is the psychological process of bringing one’s attention to experiences occurring in the present moment, which can be developed through the practice of meditation and other training. Being mindful or aware of your actions during trading will help in preventing own self from getting impulsive or jumping the gun as they say. A trader should always be mindful during the moment of trading hours and not being “Mind-Full” to execute the plan efficiently.
Meditation can be defined as a practice where an individual focus their mind on a particular object, thought or activity to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state. This can help get rid off the unnecessary thoughts as well as helping put own self in a neutral state once done properly. There are different kinds of meditation which you may want to try, just find your choice.
learn to tame the beast from within
Being mindful and being at the top of my calmness during trading, helps me get things done very nicely. With a properly laid plan, I would just have to execute it smoothly. Whereas if I were “Mind-full”, I see myself jumping in different charts while trading which greatly reduce my focus to my plans.
Trading per se is exciting but if you’re emotionally excited during trading that wouldn’t be a good sign. Trading should “not” be performed as a job where you need to earn every time you sit in front of your computer, that idea itself could already mean that you’re chasing, chasing for profit. This is why I was advised to be patient and be utmost prepared so when the opportunity approaches I have to make sure I will execute it to best of my skill. It’s about stalking your prey until it falls into your territory where you could attack efficiently given the odds are in your favor. Of course, you can’t always catch a prey, learn to step back and just hunt another one.
Most of the problems I’ve encountered in trading were somewhat correlated to each other. I wasn’t able to fix them all at once, there were all interconnected. They all seem to fall from the inside, our psychology. I failed a lot, even at times when my colleagues where already earning good while I fall behind. Ego, Discipline, Greed, Hope, Fear, Anger, Doubt, Regret, Euphoria, FOMO, and Impulsiveness were all the elements that slapped me over and over again. Without getting involved and going through all of these, I would have not understand the importance of going through a process. Learn it by doing it. In this manner, the painful lesson are more vivid. They are like scars which will definitely be healed over time.
“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
-Confucius
NEOGAMBIT 