If you can't hit the button then you do not have an edge...that's your natural defense mechanism preventing you from doing further damage to your account...usually one's fear of taking a trade is warranted because you don't have an edge and it would be wise to listen to it that psychology mumbo jumbo is just that...crap....anyone that has ever had a good edge that just grinds out profits day after day don't encounter fear-based issues and know what I'm talking about..to the contrary you're itching to take the next trade if you're always a nervous nellie before taking a trade then you need to re-examine your edge
In my case it´s the unbelievable, frustrating, staggering and deeply depressive ability to miss my exit prices for one tick in futures markets, a fifth of a decimal in Spot FX or a price unit in equity markets. That lead to a so-called frustration-agression behavior throughout my trading career in which I destroyed countless laptops, computers, screens and mouses. And before some smart a$$ comes up with the comment: why did you not change your exit prices and added a "buffer". I did. Result: I missed the buffer prices for a tick, too. To be clear here: I am not talking about missing a couple of hundred bucks in profits. No, I missed millions in profits. For quite some time, I thought it´s all about a curse! Maybe one day, I will write a book about my experiences. I think it will be a hell of a read. Good luck to all "tick missers". You have my absolute sympathy! Nighthawk
I wouldn't consider a system that can have 15 losses in a row to be a good edge....with good being the operative word...It may make money but it's not a good edge. 99% of the people can't trade a a system like that...myself included High-probability systems that grind profits most days don't have such long losing streaks unless they're taking hundreds of trades per day
Ya, but high probability systems can have one or two large losses that crush your profitability. The fear may not come in the form of taking a trade but instead a loss. Some of the best traders I know are the most nervous. If you don't have some fear of the market than you are going to get hit hard sometime in your life. You should always be afraid and humble to a degree.
It's called money management. Specifically you should be using dynamic position sizing: decrease size during losing streaks, increase size during winning streaks. I believe acrary has covered this subject. Do a search.
The OP is open-ended. It didn't say to limit the responses to only psychological aspects. Perhaps this thread should be relocated to the Trading forum. It wouldn't be the first thread to start off in the wrong forum.
using momentum as a guide, the more momentum in a move(large players in a panic, not enough paper for them all to profit,sometimes opposing large players) the higher chance of it blowing thru your target or turning before it, the slower a move,(large players in sinc and plenty of liquidity,retail patsy's) the better chance of an orderly touch of your target,in either case you have your closing order in before target,the slow move a few ticks, the fast move a few points