Many gurus/books said, one of the most critical factor to win in the market is your mind. I am sure it is true and it is very difficult to control it in such volatile market. Did anyone do any training of the mind e.g. hypnosis, NLP etc., before trading? Are they useful?
Didn't Marty Schwartz "train" his bowels twice a day for good measure and balance? I suppose whatever "technique" you use, the point being this: churn out some sort of plan. You can zen out all you want before trading, and if that helps you relax, all the better. But, if you are unable to hit the bid/offer when the odds are in your favour, or worse, don't know when/where opportunities/risks lie, then all the methods you mentioned serve more as a hypnogogic aid than as a pretrading regimen. Bottom line: whatever works for you. A well thought out plan helps me relax better.
I started Wutan Kung Fu a while ago.. and before that I paracticed Aikido. Every morning I practice BaJi. This is a chinese kung fu system that takes 15 minutes to perform (the one I do regularly) and it takes a lot of concentration and strength. After I have done that I'm able to concentrate myself much better during the day... my brain is much more relaxed and my breathing is muc more calm. I practice this on a very regular basis and I think over all my ability to stay focused and to controll my emotions has increased extremly. Also in personal life issues... i can handle daily problems much more relaxed than years ago. alain
Thank for the comments. I already have my own system and plan. But my problems are: 1. I am afraid to initialize a trade even my system gives me a signal 2. I am unable to adhere to the plan (sometimes cut loss too quick and also take profit too early) 3. I cannot concentrate on the screen when the market is flat I think they are not related to my knowledge of the market or my system (which I have tested it for many times). It is the problem of my mind. So I really want to find something that can help me to 'change' my mind.
Sounds like you are scared to lose. You've got to realise that there are no sure things in trading. Perhaps you'd do well spending time introspecting. I know of two books that might help you a little: Trading in the Zone Zen and the Art of Poker At the end of the day, until you are ok with losing a small bet and confident enough in your signals, there is no easy cure (consistent wins help, so maybe that's something to look forward to). You could try just waiting till a solid trend develops, then trade in that direction longer term.
try this: - choose a certain time per day you want to trade.. depends what time frame you trade. lets say you trade a 5 minutes chart. Choose for example the time from 10 to 11 am. Only one hour! - If you have a clear trading method write the rules down on a paper in fontsize 20 and post that next to your screen. - Do something totally different before you start trading.. something you enjoy... something relaxing. go for a run or a walk in a forest. Listen to a concert... physical activities are preferred but not a work out!! Try to focus 100% on what you are doing. Concentrate on your breath. - Before you do that something set up the computer with all the charts... broker platform etc... so when you get back to the computer it's all ready to trade. - Take a blank price of paper when you begin to trade with a black pen. Write every minute the current Price down of the financial product you are trading . mark it green when it is higher than the price before.. mark it with a red marker when it's less than the price one minute ago. - Create a clean tradingsheet in which you enter all the trades... - Each time you are unsure what to do.. reread your rules.. and if you are still unsure stop for the day. - do this one hour for the first week every day.. the second week do it for two hours... your brain has to learn the discipline! - After one hour stop it! leave the market no matter what! - Do something absolutely different after the one hour trading session... then in the evening go over the chart of this one hour period you have been trading and analyze your trades. When you do it a while after your trading action your brain is more objective! Doing this kinds of things helped me to learn the discipline... start small and increase by and by. You have to emotionally experience the market environment and adopt it. At the current point you try to trade with your rational ability. The left part of the brain.... so with the above steps you could train your right part of the brain. You can not learn a martial arts out of books... you have to perform and experience it! there is no substitute for real emotional experience!! hope this helps, alain
here is an example of my tradingsheet... its german but I show you that you have an idea how you can record your trades...
spectre: Yes. I am scared to loss. I was once lost near all my capital in the Forex market. This was because I could not cut the loss quick enough. This horrible experience exists in my mind that I force myself to cut loss ASAP. So taking loss is not a problem for me now. But I am also scared to enter a trade. As you said, I tried to wait for long, solid trends to come. The problem is my system can tell me when a trend is developing, but it still cannot tell me the strength of the trend. Some of the trends can last for 20 bars, but some of them last only three bars and then reverse. Such trades are eating up some of my profits. Each day, I could get 5 or 6 such short trends but only 1 or 2 long trends. The most important is they destroy my confidence. After getting(losing) a series of such short trends, I cannot accept the next signal which may be a very good one. If I win the first trade of that day, I will get more confidence and able to take the next signal until a series of losses appear again.
alain: Thank for your help! It seems you are also trading in very short term as me. How do you find a trend that has strength?
Alain, that is one of the most sensible, well thought out pieces of advice for a newbie trader I have seen in these pages (with all due respect to all the other advice I have read on ET).