Leaderboard

These are common limiting beliefs which we all have. Afraid of being wrong - usually translates in life in aiming for perfectionism, seeing mistakes as a failure instead of an opportunity to learn from them, seeking external validation that you are good enough in this case from the market and your trading. There are many others, but these are one of most common. Fear of failing and doubt in your knowledge translate in low self-confidence, lack of belief in your strategy, attaching your self-worth to your trading results. What is your automatic response in the market to these beliefs - it can range from hesitation to take a trade to impulsiveness, revenge trading, overtrading etc. One way is to write down your thoughts and feelings before and during each trade. If you didn't follow your rules or made a mistake or had a losing/missed trade before what is the action, you took in the market. For example, I felt frustrated because I took a loss on my first trade today. Next, I entered without waiting for a confirmation. I regretted and felt anxious not to take another loss. I moved my SL quickly and I was wicked from a profitable trade. Over a month or two, you will start seeing patterns and will know your triggers and how you subconsciously respond to them. This exercise brings you awareness, without awareness you can't change anything. Once you know your triggers and automatic responses you can create a plan when this happens what you are going to do. For example, you find that you jump on the next trade quickly after a losing trade. This shows you; you are not able to reset yourself quickly to neutral after a losing trade. So, you may implement a 10 min break before the next trade after a losing trade. Along with the above you must forget about the money and winning or losing trades/days. Your main focus must be following the strategy criteria and rules. The easiest way is to have a strategy with very strict rules including entries and exits. You focus on executing it flawlessly instead of winning or not and how much money you make it. When you execute a trade according to all rules and doesn't work, this doesn't make you feel as a failure because you have done all right and you know market is random and not all strategies work 100% of the time. Setting a daily goal is another tool. by that I mean not a goal of having a green day or 2R goal. These are outcome goals, and they bring only stress, and you can't control the outcome of these goals. You daily goal can be taking max 3 trades per day or taking only A+ set ups, or even as in the example above taking a 10 min break after a losing trade. You track your progress on the goal. It is better to have 1 or 2 max goals per day and work on them until you become consistent. You must be able to control the outcome of the goal. These are called process goals, they can be psychological, habit goals, trading goals. Start small and aim for a small improvement every day. by tracking your process goals, you start seeing progress and your self-confidence and self-belief start growing.