Is this familiar? Before the market opens you vow to yourself that today you will not over-trade - you will only follow the trades signaled by your method - on pain of death. You repeat affirmations, you've even tried hypnotherapy. Of late you've taken to banging your head against the wall, while repeating "I will not over trade, I will not over trade". The market opens and you are feeling solid in your intention.
Half an hour later, lost in price action, you see what looks like a good trading opportunity and you take it - your new resolution forgotten. The trade bombs, you feel like %$#%@, and after recovering you ask yourself WHY for the love of money can't I stick to my intention?
The answer is that your conscious intentions only work so long as there aren't any subconscious 'counter intentions' sabotaging your efforts.
Think of it this way. Imagine your mind is like your computer. Right now you have a web browser open and you are reading this post. Thats like your conscious mind - the thoughts you are having right now, what's right in front of you.
Now I expect you also have some software running in the background on your computer, maybe an email program, or instant messaging. From time to time when you least expect it, it pops up a message that grabs your attention - "you've got mail". You check the message and respond, in that moment forgetting all about what you were reading. This is like your subsconscious mind running in the background. Its always there and it pops up feelings or thoughts which grab your attention and can easily take precedence over your current thoughts.
You may have the best of intentions consciously, but if your subconscious has other ideas then forget it!
Now you may be saying to yourself, why would I even subconsciously want to take trades that often end up losing. There could be many reasons. I discovered for myself that a part of me liked the thrill of gambling, and didn't want to wait patiently for a signal to be given. I found another part of myself that wasn't comfortable making money unless I felt I was working hard, so it felt OK about losing at trading. There could be any number of reasons personal to you which you'll discover when you learn how to look.
Its very important for traders to aware of what happens to them mentally when they are watching real-time charts for an extended period. Getting lost in price action is very easy, and its actually very similar to a semi-hypnotic state. In that state, your subconscious is very close to your conscious - its very easy to lose control and for your subsconscious to 'pop-up' its thoughts and feelings.
So what do you do?
Firstly you need to find ways to prevent yourself from getting lost in the charts. Get up and stretch every 10 minutes or so. Set an alarm to remind yourself every 30 minutes. Even better find a trading method that tells you when to trade in advance so that you don't need to be continually watching the charts.
Secondly, you need to learn a technique for clearing your 'counter-intentions'. At tradingadviceblog.com we recommend three methods that you can learn easily and that will have a lasting impact on your life.
Thirdly, make sure you are confident in your trading methodology and know its expectancy - so that you can be 100% committed to your method and don't feel the need to take trades outside of it. If your are not, keep searching.
Hope this is helpful.
All the best,
Mo Christiensen
tradingadviceblog.com
Half an hour later, lost in price action, you see what looks like a good trading opportunity and you take it - your new resolution forgotten. The trade bombs, you feel like %$#%@, and after recovering you ask yourself WHY for the love of money can't I stick to my intention?
The answer is that your conscious intentions only work so long as there aren't any subconscious 'counter intentions' sabotaging your efforts.
Think of it this way. Imagine your mind is like your computer. Right now you have a web browser open and you are reading this post. Thats like your conscious mind - the thoughts you are having right now, what's right in front of you.
Now I expect you also have some software running in the background on your computer, maybe an email program, or instant messaging. From time to time when you least expect it, it pops up a message that grabs your attention - "you've got mail". You check the message and respond, in that moment forgetting all about what you were reading. This is like your subsconscious mind running in the background. Its always there and it pops up feelings or thoughts which grab your attention and can easily take precedence over your current thoughts.
You may have the best of intentions consciously, but if your subconscious has other ideas then forget it!
Now you may be saying to yourself, why would I even subconsciously want to take trades that often end up losing. There could be many reasons. I discovered for myself that a part of me liked the thrill of gambling, and didn't want to wait patiently for a signal to be given. I found another part of myself that wasn't comfortable making money unless I felt I was working hard, so it felt OK about losing at trading. There could be any number of reasons personal to you which you'll discover when you learn how to look.
Its very important for traders to aware of what happens to them mentally when they are watching real-time charts for an extended period. Getting lost in price action is very easy, and its actually very similar to a semi-hypnotic state. In that state, your subconscious is very close to your conscious - its very easy to lose control and for your subsconscious to 'pop-up' its thoughts and feelings.
So what do you do?
Firstly you need to find ways to prevent yourself from getting lost in the charts. Get up and stretch every 10 minutes or so. Set an alarm to remind yourself every 30 minutes. Even better find a trading method that tells you when to trade in advance so that you don't need to be continually watching the charts.
Secondly, you need to learn a technique for clearing your 'counter-intentions'. At tradingadviceblog.com we recommend three methods that you can learn easily and that will have a lasting impact on your life.
Thirdly, make sure you are confident in your trading methodology and know its expectancy - so that you can be 100% committed to your method and don't feel the need to take trades outside of it. If your are not, keep searching.
Hope this is helpful.
All the best,
Mo Christiensen
tradingadviceblog.com
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