Trading Psychology: Mistakes in a Trading Environment
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Thread: Trading Psychology: Mistakes in a Trading Environment

  1. #1
    Among the most neglected subjects are those when it comes to trading. Most traders spend months, days and years looking for the ideal system. But using a system is just a part of the game. Don't get us wrong, it's essential to get a system which perfectly matches the trader, however it's as crucial as using a money management plan, or to understand all plogy barriers that might influence the trader decisions and issues. In order to be successful in this company, there has to be balance between all aspects of trading.

    From the trading environment, when you lose a trade, what's the very first idea that pops up into your head? It'd likely be,”There has to be something wrong with my machine”, or”I knew it, I shouldn't have taken this transaction” (even if your system signaled it). But sometimes we need to dig a little deeper in order to see the nature of our error, then work on it accordingly.


    When it comes to trading the Forex market as well as some other markets, only 5% of traders achieve the ultimate goal: to be consistent in profits. What's interesting though is that there's just a difference between this 5 percent of traders and the rest of those. The 5 percent grow from errors; errors are a learning experience, they learn an invaluable lesson about every single error made. Deep in their heads, a error is one more chance to try it harder since they know they might not get a chance, and do it even better the second time another time. And this tiny gap becomes THE big difference.
    Mistakes in the trading environment

    the majority of us relate a trading error to the outcome (in terms of money) of any trade. The reality is, a error doesn't have anything to do with it, mistakes are made when certain guidelines aren't followed. Are violated, when the principles you trade by. Take for Example the following situations:

    First scenario: The machine indicates a transaction.
    Signal taken and trade proves to be quite a profitable commerce.
    Outcome of the trade: Positive, made money.
    Experience gained: Its great to adhere to the machine, if I do so consistently the chances will change in my favor. Confidence is obtained in both the trader and the machine.
    Mistake made: None.

    Signal taken and trade proves to be a loosing trade.
    Outcome of the trade: Negative, lost money.
    Expertise gained: It is impossible to win every single trade, a loosing commerce is just part of the company; our raw material, we understand we can't get them . Even with this missing trade, the trader is pleased about himself. Confidence in the trader is obtained.
    Mistake made: None.

    Signal not accepted and commerce proves to be quite a profitable commerce.
    Outcome of the trade: Neutral.
    Expertise gained: Fruion, the trader always seems to get in trades which turned out to be loosing trades and let the profitable trades move away. Confidence is missing in the trader self.
    Mistake made: Not taking a transaction when the system signaled it.

    Signal not taken and trade proves to be a loosing trade.
    Outcome of the trade: Neutral.
    Expertise gained: The trader will begin to think”hey, I am better than my system”. Even if the trader does not think on it the trader will rationalize on every sign given by the machine because deep in his or her mind, his or her”sense” is much more apt than the machine itself. From this point on, the trader will attempt to outguess the machine. This error has astrophic consequences on our assurance. The assurance on the trader turns into overconfidence.
    Mistake made: Not taking a commerce when system signaled it

    Second Scenario: System does not signal a trade. No transaction is taken
    Outcome of the trade: Neutral
    Expertise gained: Great discipline, we only need to take trades when the odds are in our favor, only whenever the system indicates it. Confidence gained in the trader self and the machine.
    Mistake made: None

    A commerce is accepted, turns out to be quite a profitable commerce.
    Outcome of the trade: Positive, made money.
    Expertise gained: This error gets the most astrophic consequences in the trader selfcontrol, the machine and most importantly in the trader's trading career. You will begin to think no strategy is needed by you, you understand better from them all. From this point on, you will begin to trade according to what you think. Confidence in the system is completely lost. Confidence in the trader self turns into overconfidence.
    Mistake made: Require a trade when there wasn't any sign from the system.

    A commerce is accepted, proven to be a loosing trade.
    Outcome of the trade: adverse, lost money.
    Expertise gained: The trader will rethink his egy. The next time, the trader will think it twice. The trader will proceed”Ok, it's far better to get in the market when my machine indicates it, only those trade have a higher probability of succeeding”. Confidence is obtained in the system.
    Mistake made: Require a commerce when there wasn't any sign from the system
    As you can see, there's simply no correlation between the outcome of the trade and a error. The most mistake even offers a positive trade result, made money, but this might be the beginning of the end of the trader's career. As we have stated, mistakes must only be related to the breach of principles a trader trades by.


    All these errors were directly associated with the signals given by means of a system, but the exact same is applied when getting out of a trade. Additionally, there are mistakes. For example, risking more money on a particular trade than the amount the trader must have risked and a lot more.


    Most errors can be avoided by first using a trading plan. A trading plan includes the system: the criteria that we use to get out and in the market, the currency management plan: how much we will risk on any particular trade, and a number of other points. Second, and most important, we will need to possess the discipline to follow our plan. We created our plan when no transaction was put on no barriers were. So, the only thing we're certain about is that if we follow our plan, the decision taken is about our best interests, and in the long run, these decisions can help us get better outcomes. We don't need to fret about isolated events but they might have astrophic results in our trading career.
    How to manage mistakes

    there are lots of possible ways to correctly handle errors. We'll suggest the one which works better for us.


    Step one: Belief change.
    Every mistake is a learning experience. All of them have something valuable to offer you. Attempt to counteract the tendency of sense strategy and frued mistakes in a way that is favorable. Instead of yelling to everybody around and feeling disappointed, say to yourself”okay, I did some thing wrong, what happened? What can it be?


    Step two: Identify the error made.
    Define the error, find out exactly what caused the error, and try as hard as you can to effectively find the nature of that error. By Locating the error nature, you will be prevented from making the exact same mistake. Where you expected more than the answer will be found by you. Take for example a trader that does not stick to the system. The reason behind this could be that the trader is afraid of loosing. But , why she afraid or is that he? It might be that the trader is using a system that does not match him or her, and finds difficult to follow every sign. In the surface, as you can see, the essence of the error isn't in this case. You need to try as hard as you can to locate the real reason of the error.


    Step three: Measure the Results of the error.
    List the consequences of making that specific mistake, both positive and negative. Consequences are the ones which make us better traders after dealing with the mistake. Think on all motives you can learn from what happened. What are the implications of making that error? Well, if you don't adhere to the system, you may gradually loose confidence in it, and this in the end will put you into trades you don't really want to be, and you should be in.


    Step four: Take action.
    Taking proper action is the last and most crucial step. In order to learn, you need to modify your behavior. Make sure whatever you do, you eventually become”this-mistake-proof”. Every mistake turns into a little part of succeeding in our trading career by taking action. Continuing with the example would be the trader's final measure. The trader would put a system which perfectly matches him or her, or so the trader does not locate any problem following it in signals.


    Understanding the fact that the outcome of any transaction doesn't have anything to do with a error will open your mind to other possibilities, in which you'll be able to understand the nature of every error made. The doors will open as you work and take appropriate action on every error made.


    The process of succeeding is slow, and plenty of times it's credited to repeated mistakes made and the constant struggle to get past these errors, working on them accordingly. We deal with them will shape our future as a trader, and most importantly as a person.

  2. #2
    Whatever it is, the purpose is to follow the system sign, right? So, your dream may be realised - a holy grail is present on your tail

  3. #3
    I believe it is worth to find out....

    Trading plogy may be learn... let your system function as robot, without hindrance of your believe and desire, hope etc.. . emtion...

  4. #4
    Hi,

    Well ordered article - really informative.

    In my experience (that can be really a mere 21 years) I'd add this to attain the plogical equilibrium for trading, one has to get to know thyself and deliver any sort of trading method employed in tune.

    For the simple reason that for many, the worst part in trading are the losing trades. Not only because they shed (as you've properly set it) but because it leaves the trader wonder him/herself and uncertainty in his/her skill - unfortunately only indirectly because the very first thing to be blamed is the system.

    If a person gets familiar with the thought (and its not only a notion, its own given unchangable fact) that trading involves losses no matter what, than this is a step forward. Not all ways of trading are the exact same and different methods allow for different sorts of expectancies (expectanciy = positive or negative outcome in terms of money balance in a large enough sample collection of trades based on MM, pos. Size and model used).

    If you know your model has a positive expectancy, it is going to be less difficult to accept losses as a part in trading and you won't associate them as a failing part for your benefit.

    Like I said, there are methods with positive expectancy that still differ in win/loss ratios, i.e. some are based on a relative small amount of winners that are comparatively large and compensate for the larger amount of losing trades; other methods are based on a larger number of smaller winning trades that still involve losers which need to be much more controlled in order to not divert the better part of accumulated profits. Others are somewhat more balanced.

    Now, if your character is that of a perfectionist, you can very easy get yourself in trouble because any losing commerce will almost certainly cause you to wonder any method you empoy and try to mess with it to eradie losing trades into an extend that could force you to stop trading completely since you identify possible flaws pretty much everywhere.

    You'll have to accept in the first place the market prices themselves are a mathematically imperfect construction in terms of how fluid they're.

    Knowing (by understanding I mean understanding yourself and studying the expectancy of the model you're investing ) that despite losing you can finally win in the long term is what should improve confidence and trust.

    Hope this helps.

    regards

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    .. .If one gets familiar with the thought (and its not only an idea, its given unchangable fact) that trading involves losses no matter what...
    The afternoon that I finally got that through my thick head was the turning point in my trading career.

    Nice post too BTW joldas.

    Thumbs up to both of you.

  6. #6
    1) System functions and profitable
    So you've got a winning system, you get confidence and start utilizing more lots/risk so that you are able to make use of a winning system. Boom! The reduction that is inevitable comes one good day and you eliminate a big chunk of your profits due to higher risk/lots used. Now you would either a)continue trading, b)alter system or c)try to get even with the market using more competitive lots

    a)Your profits appear to be small and you eliminate patience to ch up with the prior reduction, so you either do (b) or (c)

    b) When the new system is profitable, you'd do (1) or (a). If It's a failure you'd still do (1)

    c) You would do (b) and (c), possibly, way very likely you'd blow your account

  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    1) System works and profitable
    So you have got a winning strategy, you get confidence and start utilizing more lots/risk so that you are able to make use of a winning strategy. Boom! The reduction that is inevitable comes one fine day and you lose a large chunk of your profits due to greater risk/lots used. Today you would either a)continue trading, b)alter system or c)try to get even with the market by using more aggressive lots

    a)Your profits appear to be small and you lose patience to ch up with the earlier reduction, so you do (b) or (c)

    b) If the new system...
    Hi,

    How do what you describe above be a system if you haven't figured out the typical winning AND losing commerce as well as the frequency of the losing vs the winning transactions?

    If you would have done that to a level that's essential to the development of a technique, the reduction and its stretch would not come as a surprise. Furthermore, your position size anytime would be such that even if the (to be expected) reduction would exceed its value by 10%, it would still not damage the general positive expectancy of your system.

    In short, if you do not know what your method's average loss is going to be, your method is not complete; for those who do not know the typical ratio between your winners and losers, your method is not complete. Your method is not complete if you do not know your typical potential winner.

    I state you without being personal here - just to aid the comprehension of the thread.

    Hope it helps.

    regards

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    Hi,

    How do what you describe above be a platform when you haven't figured out the typical winning AND losing commerce as well as the frequency of the shedding vs the winning trades?

    If you would have done that to a degree which is indispensable to the development of a method, the reduction and its extend would not come as a surprise....
    Agreed, however, the mistakes were crucial to train me to believe this way. My systems are profitable

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    I think it's worth to find out....

    Trading plogy can be learn... allow your system work as robot, without interference of your think and desire, trust etc.. . emtion....
    It is really worth studying.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by ;
    [Abandoned ] Trading Plogy: Mistakes in a Trading Environment

    When it comes to trading....
    Thank you, http://www.earnforex.com/articles/tr...nvironment.php, for taking the time to post at FF.

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