I would also appreciate tips on combating stress while in a trades.
Thanks
If you can, "fire and forget" your trades - e.g. if they are swing trades expected to last a few days, put in your stop and limit orders and step away from the computer!
If you're on a shorter timeframe and really struggling, try talking to yourself - e.g. if you are having a problem closing positions early to secure profit, rather than watch price tick gently up to your target, talk yourself through it... "come on, I know that taking profit early is not the right thing to do... just hold out, keep calm, and stop my temptation from messing up my trading. Gotta have Discipline! Don't worry about giving a tick or two back, I gotta let my winners run!! I've planned myt trade, now I gotta trade my plan! Come on Roberto, this is
meant to be the difficult bit - its the mind games that seperate the men from the boys!!"
and keep this kind of thing up throughout the life of the trade. All sounds a bit Paul McKenna, but it helped me when I was starting out for sure, and I still find myself slipping back into it if things are getting tricky. When I first started putting live trades on, I found it very difficult to "fire and forget" them, I would usually intervene to do something... I found talking to myself a real help. Moreover, once you've got the hang on being able to watch them without intervening, you can them begin to manage the trade far more effectively.
If you get stopped out for the day, it's a personal judgement whether to stay at the desk or not... If you are pumped of adrenaline and pulling your hair out, it's probably a good idea to go and rent a dog and take it for a walk.. on the other hand, if you're cool as a cucumber and feeling good, stay and watch the markets - you can still make paper trades and keep abrest with the news etc...
As for profit targets, well they just don't make any sense, forget them. If you are taking profits from the markets, it means that whatever you are doing is working! Protect most, but keep on trading - ceteris paribus, it's the only sensible thing to do.
