I think i should not put this thread in psychology, because Ego is not psychology. but ego creates emotions, like sadness, frustration,anger, joy,... first I need say I have a strong ego. that hurts me. I often find myself to argue with the market, or fight with the market,t.... when i win, i feel i defeat the market, when I lose, I feel I am attacked by the mean market.... that hurts my trading. I just listed an example in another thread trading management. I was trading natural gas, I saw it was in down trend, so it is wise to short. unfortunately I was stopped out. then late it started to drop just as I believed. or just drop to my target, I shorted it again, it seems to tell the market:yes, I am right. but it bounces, so I cut loss again. the results is I dig deeper a hole in my account. am i stupid? in hindsight, I know I did stupid thing. any good suggestions about ego control.
99% small traders lose, they just lose. You need higher education, like MBA from University of Florida, they have a trading room. ask emg about it. I have an MBA too, from University of Phoenix, not bad. Higher education is the key to successful trading. The higher, the better. The higher, the more you can view. The higher, the harder you fall
It is very hard to get rid of bad habits and i`m too disapointed my friend, as i also have the False Ego.Everyone does.''False Ego'' basicaly means ''i am'' ''and ''this is mine''.When you step on this plato(i`m and mine),you immediately fall into illusion.Totally differentiated mind(Hershey concept) would suffice;you shouldn`t have any bias about the Market. You are not and nothing is yours!
Trade long options for a year. With luck, you'll get such a spanking that you will never again think you have markets figured out. Then, go back to trading RegT equities, long only. Problem solved.
Good1 is good with this stuff . His posts are very in depth on the subject. Ego is how you perceive others to perceive yourself. So if you don't care what people think of you then you have solved the drama problems of the ego. IMO good ego management is working on focusing on the self and what is best for you while not worrying about what others think. Sounds kind of selfish but it's not as long as you are aware who is important to you and not let anything you do be of harm to them. If I am the pope, some people will like me some won't If I am a bum, some people will like me some won't If I am the president , some people will like me some won't If I am me, some people will like me some won't Realizing this is a good step in the right direction of controlling your ego. As far as trading, your perceiving yourself that you are correct in your analysis and a winner but in reality you may be losing in a position. The lack of ability to say " i don't care that I perceived myself as being right because in reality I am wrong" is dangerouse. Cut loss and who cares about being right or wrong for that one trade.
EGO = the number of times the market has given me a good ass whipping for trying to fortel price direction, outside my backtested method. Often times those non-tested trades occurred when I was learning to keep ego in check. I have rules in place that if I ever beat my most profitable day of trading, I have to take next day off, I found that next day I am too tall for my britches and often took huge losses. Too many traders have in their head of beating the market, the market always wins eventually if I have that mindset, I concentrate on beating myself in terms of percentages. I concentrate on not reinventing the wheel but to go along with the wheel and tailcoat.
imagine the scenes in the movie its a wonderful life, where they stand outside of georges life and review it..stand outside yourself,keep an imaginary you in your head who knows all your talents and faults and review it from above, it helps if you have an imaginary friend, clarence, georges angel,or god or a deceased loved one who knew you,sitting alongside of the other you, i picture it like a "st peter and god were sitting on a cloud watching arnold palmer play golf "joke,.... if you notice in children, mistakes you had to make( like falling off a bike), to succeed and that there are and will be a succession of them, til the day you die, that should put your ego in a smaller place, with less say on your good days and your bad ones..easier to see and control your ego when it is of less importance, than the lessons you have gone thru, and possibly a stumbling block in the time taken to learn those lessons....much easier to see from above...you are picturing a wise you in that if i was sitting here with a higher power what would (my best)we do