fear and lack of concentration

[blancspa]

Hi

I struggle, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".
I have traded over the summer nearly blowing up one account.

Since then I have worked on new system and visually it looks good, yet whenever I try to execute the trade then the fear is coming in and hesitation. The system is good enough to keep give me some profit, however I fear staying in the trade for too long and closing it with very small profit. The risk reward ratio is not working well for me.

I have read M Douglas book on market psychology, not much help as between understanding and actual application remains huge gap.

Could you help me? Also could you tell me how to become more focused and concentrated while entering the trade?

Thank you

 

[rags2riches]

To be honest the only thing that has helped me really is time and accumulation of experience.

When you 1st learn a trading methodology, even if you have back tested it, you are always going to be lacking the confidence and belief that it REALLY does work.

So you are going to cut the trade short because you are afraid of losing profits. Then kick yourself as it moves without you.
After a few failed trades you are going to hesitate to enter a trade because you are not sure it really works, and then watch as the missed trade turns out to be a winner.

Print out charts of all the trades and review them regularly. When you see the setup work for the 100th time LIVE, you will gain more belief and confidence.

I haven't found any shortcuts.

 

[RedGreenBen]

Hi

I struggling, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".

The system is good enough to keep give me some profit,

I think the first step is to try and isolate the problem. How about (and I flinch slightly at the psychobollocks of this!) rating your confidence out of 10 for...

1. Your system.
2. Yourself

Ben

 

[blancspa]

I think the first step is to try and isolate the problem. How about (and I flinch slightly at the psychobollocks of this!) rating your confidence out of 10 for...

1. Your system.
2. Yourself

Ben

1. system 7
2. myself 5

thats no too bad , isinit ?

 

[RedGreenBen]

1. system 7
2. myself 5

thats no too bad , isinit ?

Reading your original posting, and reading between the lines, I was expecting a lower number for the system. Which goes to show what I know!

So if the greater problem is you, what are your weaknesses?

You have already identified getting out of trades too early. If your system gives you an exit then you need a reason to change it. Do you have them?

Something I found useful was to e-mail my annotated charts to flickr at the end of the day and then review them at the end of the week. When you consistently see that you are getting out too early, and even better quantify the losses in terms of hard £, then it can give you the confidence to stay-in next time.

Ben

 

[blancspa]

Reading your original posting, and reading between the lines, I was expecting a lower number for the system. Which goes to show what I know!

So if the greater problem is you, what are your weaknesses?

Ben

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please don`t get me wrong I think you know a lot, certainly more than I do.

I will try to explain more clearly. Whenever I take decision subconsciously the trade seems to work out OK, unless I will start thinking too much then it is gone.

I don`t know where is the bias here, maybe I am just talking bollox, if so please take me down.

 

[RedGreenBen]

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please don`t get me wrong I think you know a lot, certainly more than I do.

I will try to explain more clearly. Whenever I take decision subconsciously the trade seems to work out OK, unless I will start thinking too much then it is gone.

Who knows what I know? I could be talking out of my backside but that's the wonder of the www!

So the problem is when you think discursively? Those 'head chatter' thoughts are having a negative effect on your trading?

It's the same for people who suffer from anxiety or depression (where the negative effect is on their whole lives). The solution is probably the same, you need to examine those thoughts, see if they make sense, and if they don't then you need to change them.

I'm only being so verbose this aftertoon as FTSE is stuck in a range*.

Ben

* Not now

 

[KTF]

Write your plan/position/trade down with entry/exit, etc and stick to it!! Keep away from your monitor until bet is closed out with limits/stops. Much easier way to trade and gives you more spare time.

 

[Charlton]

Hi

I struggling, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".
I have traded over the summer nearly blowing up one account.

Since then I have worked on new system and visually it looks good, yet whenever I try to execute the trade then the fear is coming in and hesitation. The system is good enough to keep give me some profit, however I fear staying in the trade for too long and closing it with very small profit. The risk reward ratio is not working well for me.

I have read M Douglas book on market psychology, not much help as between understanding and actual application remains huge gap.

Could you help me? Also could you tell me how to become more focused and concentrated while entering the trade?

Thank you

First of all a very small profit is better than a loss, because you are retaining capital. If your system is always give you at least a small profit then you should not fear it.

Secondly, hold the position open fully until any signals appropriate to your system indicate that profit may be starting to reduce i.e. the conditions are no longer so favourable or so certain. Take out a percentage of profit at that stage e.g. 75% . Let the remainder of the position run with a stoploss at breakeven. Assuming this is a day trade then close the position at the end of the session with it's profit, it the stoploss has not been hit. Also close the position if the signals become clear that the setup is no longer ideal.

Basically reduction of fear will be attained by having a clear idea of what the various exit scenarios are and acting upon them.

However by leaving that 25% on the table as I described above this gives you an added bonus if conditions confound expectations.

Charlton

 

[RedGreenBen]

Write your plan/position/trade down with entry/exit, etc and stick to it!! Keep away from your monitor until bet is closed out with limits/stops. Much easier way to trade and gives you more spare time.

Very good advice from KTF as a stage 1 solution.

Though I think that as the market is giving you (potentially!) useful information all the time that it makes sense to eventually incorporate that (whilst still watching Neighbours).

Ben

 

[Hoggums]

If you are so fearful it probably means you are trading too large and you can't afford the loss.

Reduce your size to the minimum possible and then slowly increase size as you gain more confidence.

 

[Paul71]

Hi

I struggle, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".
I have traded over the summer nearly blowing up one account.

Since then I have worked on new system and visually it looks good, yet whenever I try to execute the trade then the fear is coming in and hesitation. The system is good enough to keep give me some profit, however I fear staying in the trade for too long and closing it with very small profit. The risk reward ratio is not working well for me.

I have read M Douglas book on market psychology, not much help as between understanding and actual application remains huge gap.

Could you help me? Also could you tell me how to become more focused and concentrated while entering the trade?

Thank you

Depends what your system is based on really. If you don't have much market experience and you are trying out some half baked idea (we've all been there) then there is a problem, and deep down you probably know this and it's surfacing everytime you want to pull the trigger.

If your system is based on solid reasoning, then just trade absolute minimums or whatever suits until you build up some confidence.

There are no guarantees in this game, but you can learn how to put the odds in your favour.

Good luck with it all.

 

[nine]

blancspa,

Two parts to the solution that may help you are ANNA and focusing on process.

ANNA is about reducing the overstrength of the emotion and having a plan for the action you'll take when you feel it.

Focusing on the process is about two elements, one is having a good process (do you know exactly what you should do at ever step on the path) and, second, that focusing on process will reduce outcome focus and thus fear. Remember that you win whenever you follow your process 100% - outcome of each trade doesn't matter.

You will find more stuff on ANNA and Denise Shull in http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-trading-chat/29598-useful-things-i-ve-found-net.html and http://www.trade2win.com/boards/psy...nce-post353929.html?highlight=ANNA#post353929 . Shull's work is all about turning bad outcomes from emotions into good outcomes.

 

[blancspa]

blancspa,

Two parts to the solution that may help you are ANNA and focusing on process.

ANNA is about reducing the overstrength of the emotion and having a plan for the action you'll take when you feel it.

Focusing on the process is about two elements, one is having a good process (do you know exactly what you should do at ever step on the path) and, second, that focusing on process will reduce outcome focus and thus fear. Remember that you win whenever you follow your process 100% - outcome of each trade doesn't matter.

You will find more stuff on ANNA and Denise Shull in http://www.trade2win.com/boards/general-trading-chat/29598-useful-things-i-ve-found-net.html and http://www.trade2win.com/boards/psy...nce-post353929.html?highlight=ANNA#post353929 . Shull's work is all about turning bad outcomes from emotions into good outcomes.

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useful stuff Nine ,

thank you

 

[frontier2002]

Hi

I struggle, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".
I have traded over the summer nearly blowing up one account.

Since then I have worked on new system and visually it looks good, yet whenever I try to execute the trade then the fear is coming in and hesitation. The system is good enough to keep give me some profit, however I fear staying in the trade for too long and closing it with very small profit. The risk reward ratio is not working well for me.

I have read M Douglas book on market psychology, not much help as between understanding and actual application remains huge gap.

Could you help me? Also could you tell me how to become more focused and concentrated while entering the trade?

Thank you

Let me guess!! perhaps you lose your concentration because the market is frequently overbought/oversold defying your technical analysis boundary line. that's how you may end up blowing up your account

 

[blancspa]

Let me guess!! perhaps you lose your concentration because the market is frequently overbought/oversold defying your technical analysis boundary line. that's how you may end up blowing up your account

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not really
I rarely focus on overbought/oversold indication
rather focus on price movement and acceleration
can be a bit tricky i guess

but I agree having that problem before (and I blew up half the account)
thanks for your reply

 

[Grey1]

Hi

I struggle, at the moment, with the ability to connect my "mind with my hand".
I have traded over the summer nearly blowing up one account.

Since then I have worked on new system and visually it looks good, yet whenever I try to execute the trade then the fear is coming in and hesitation. The system is good enough to keep give me some profit, however I fear staying in the trade for too long and closing it with very small profit. The risk reward ratio is not working well for me.

I have read M Douglas book on market psychology, not much help as between understanding and actual application remains huge gap.

Could you help me? Also could you tell me how to become more focused and concentrated while entering the trade?

Thank you

Reduce ur pos size and go for longer time frame..

grey1

 

[Grey1]

First of all a very small profit is better than a loss, because you are retaining capital. If your system is always give you at least a small profit then you should not fear it.

Secondly, hold the position open fully until any signals appropriate to your system indicate that profit may be starting to reduce i.e. the conditions are no longer so favourable or so certain. Take out a percentage of profit at that stage e.g. 75% . Let the remainder of the position run with a stoploss at breakeven. Assuming this is a day trade then close the position at the end of the session with it's profit, it the stoploss has not been hit. Also close the position if the signals become clear that the setup is no longer ideal.

Basically reduction of fear will be attained by having a clear idea of what the various exit scenarios are and acting upon them.

However by leaving that 25% on the table as I described above this gives you an added bonus if conditions confound expectations.

Charlton

100% agree

grey1

 

[wheezergeezer]

Trade smaller amounts......ie buy only 10 shares, whats your time frame 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, 3 months etc ? set stops or sell when the postion goes negative.....ie, cut your losses,
finally if you can trade and manage smaller amout sucessfully then you can move up to larger numbers ........good luck

 

[blancspa]

Trade smaller amounts......ie buy only 10 shares, whats your time frame 10 minutes, 1 hour, 1 day, 1 month, 3 months etc ? set stops or sell when the postion goes negative.....ie, cut your losses,
finally if you can trade and manage smaller amout sucessfully then you can move up to larger numbers ........good luck

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5 min time frame, according to my 'mojo' :clap:
cant do anything better than that at the moment