Making the same mistake, twice.

Trading is mainly a mind game. Traders often make a mistake, then tell themselves – how could I have been foolish to have done such a thing. I will never do such and such, again.

Traders will take thousands of trades over their trading life cycle. It is quite likely that many trades will be mistakes of some kind, and,some of these mistakes will occur again and again. Why worry about it?

In the book, ‘Market Mind Games’, the author says “Knowing, not controlling, your emotions can be your secret weapon’. She says that our mathematical approach gives us a natural desire to be correct, causing discomfort when we realize we have made a mistake. There is no need to ‘control’ our mistakes. We just need to be aware of them. Once, the trader is aware that he has strayed from his chosen path, his mind will slowly bring him back to the road. A deliberate attempt to control our emotions may be counter-productive. Just be aware of your emotions.

My Notes: If this is a bit difficult to read, do not worry. Read it again.

Traders guide to being contended

‘He who is contented is rich.’ ~Lao Tzu

 ‘Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you.’ ~Lao Tzu
(taken from Zen Habits )
Traders probably trade well when they have a feeling of contentment. Much of our trading problems come because we have this fear of missing out, of exiting too early or too late, of not having taken a trade or having taken a trade that we are stuck with.

So much better for us traders if we accept that all we have to do is follow our rules, that the discipline is enough and we are not missing out if we do what we should be doing.