how do you keep emotions out of trading?

what are you trading?...that may tell a lot?...we can answer from there

 

Zanek,

Thank You kindly


NOD,

:eek:



BP,

My trading theme song for your enjoyment


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXZMZ-XvvzI


RN

 

Practice, self talk and implementation,

some good points have been made in this thread already!

 

Learn from someone else. Get a mentor. No bias then on whether the strategy works or not...just need to trade it.

 

This book looks interesting from the point of controlling your emotions in relation to the internet and people interacting with each other on the web.

Message boards have a role in trading and emotions run wild. I think this book may be relevant and offer a new perspective to crowd behaviour, etc

http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-G...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263269938&sr=1-1

 

automate
TS
Ninja
Meta

whatever


the only way you turn the odds in your favor is to take every trade on your strategy

the only way to do that is to use a machine

backtest in advance to give yourself confidence to run the system you develop

its free advice,
take it

 

Maybe it is from doing some 50k plus day trades since 1992, but I see the same events happen over and over. Young traders "feel" the need to be into ever move so they violate their rules and lose, young traders get bored and violate their rules and lose. They are playing with small capital and pick their trades instead of taking all system trades and lose.

What I find funny is no one ever asks why the Indexes are so tough to trade for many? Can it be cause it is really a by-product and more of a hedging instrument? Is it is really cause it is a much more controlled market than many will agree?

And that is why it is even more important to only trade your system rules and not your emotions, what you see and "feel" is often times the end of a move.

 

how do you keep emotions out of trading?


Easy, reduce your decision points.

 

Bat1,

This line from GOP trader is what you should remember “Then just focus on the process of trading and not the outcome.” I also agree with Handle123’s post.

The bottom line is you just don’t take your trading seriously. You are probably gambling and not trading. You don’t have a real plan. The same old story repeated here on ET at least weekly. How do I know this? Simple. If you had a plan with a positive expectancy setup or setups, you would know that following your rules is in your best interest. You would have confidence in the fact you are doing everything you can to ensure your success by following your rules and letting the math work for you. You also can’t track your trading if it isn’t consistent. So you can’t adjust to changing conditions and eventually will bleed to death (see below). You don’t follow whatever method you use to trade because you don’t trust that it is robust. You haven’t done enough testing to prove it is robust. Thus you are always nervous and overriding your system. All because you didn’t do the proper planning and research up front. This is a very, very common tale.

When you do the requisite research and are sure of your system/setup’s robustness, you won’t deviate from it because it is your job to follow it (with very, very, very, very, very rare exception). The line above is golden. I will repeat the quote above: “Focus on the process of trading and not the outcome” and the numbers will take care of itself. Let your system work for you. Don’t fight it. If you have a robust system and just can’t stop tinkering, quite trading. You are not cut out for it and on some level you know it.

This problem just makes no sense to me. Think of it this way. You wouldn’t cross a busy highway every day without looking both ways would you? I hope not. Well your trading plan is the equivalent of looking one way. You following your plan is the equivalent of looking the other way. If you don’t do both steps, eventually you will get hit (blow out). Having one or the other is not enough to be successful. Do you see the parallel?

I am going to go against the grain and say automation is not the answer for the average trader. Why? Things change and you have to adapt with them, sometimes faster than we would like. But any hands off system are going to degrade over time IMHO. You need to learn to feel the market and what it is doing or trying to do. If you are just passively watching your system and get used to it, what happens when an outside factor occurs you did not account for (i.e. terrorist attack, disease outbreak, nuclear bomb going off somewhere, etc.)? Will you take action quickly (in the at least temporary massive selloff or whatever happens) enough or will you be a “deer in the headlights” while your account is ground to dust? Something to think about and consider. After all, the whole reason you went to automation is because you couldn’t follow your own rules. In the heat of the moment of an outside event not accounted for, can you think clearly and quickly enough to minimize the damage or take advantage of this temporary situation that falls outside your system and override your system quickly or at all? I would bet against you acting quickly every time. No matter how automated you are, you are still a very important part of the system and must act quickly when it counts.

The exception might be if you are a big IBANK/PROP firm with trading bots, scalping with unlimited computer power and all the money in the world. Then you have the computer and brainpower to adapt. But as we know, they are at least trying to crack down on this type of trading but time will tell what actually changes. Learn to read the price action and you have the skills to make money. The best computer in the world is your brain. Use it.

Follow your plan. Period. You will like the results. Best of luck.

BM

 

I think he takes his trading very seriously.

To OP, give it a little more time and see what happens. If you still can't follow your rules, try automation. That's the only solution.

Very very very few people can follow a good plan. Some people may find it easier to follow their plans, if their plans are based on longer time frame.

If your plan is based on a short time frame, you may find yourself struggling harder.

So my words are: A good plan is difficult to follow.

I have a very good plan, 7 words long, 2 rules, but I cannot follow the second rule for years. I violated the second rule every single trade. I am not kidding, I broke the second rule every single trade. Sometimes I asked myself: am I afraid of making money? am I deliberately delaying success?