Currency Trading - How To Control Fear And Greed In Trading

How To Control Fear And Greed In Trading

There is an old saying that the market is driven by fear and greed. Anyone that has placed more than a couple of trades will surely have experienced these two emotions.

All traders experience emotion. The distinction between a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader comes down to how they deal with that emotion. Let's look at how these emotions affect a successful trader and an unsuccessful trader in various scenarios:

1. The trader's three previous trades have been losers. The unsuccessful trader will consider this before placing his next trade and be fearful that this trade will also end up a loser. This might result in a delay in placing the trade whilst waiting for the price to confirm that they were right - thus missing a perfectly good entry. They might suddenly discover that some other factor, previously unconsidered, is a reason not to enter the trade at all. Basically they will be fearful of another loss.

The successful trader will have tested their strategy extensively and will be aware that a series of losing trades is very probable. They will also measure their success on whether they place the trade according to their system rather than whether it is purely a winner or a loser. They trust their system and place the trade when the set-up occurs. The fear is removed from the trade because they know that several losers in a row is to be expected.

2. Once a trade is entered it immediately moves against the trader. The unsuccessful trader will fear that they have made a mistake. They fear making another loss so they wait and hope that the market moves back in their favour. The fear of taking another loss now controls their trading decisions, they might move their stop further out so the market doesn't take them out for a loss. They might ignore the trade, hoping that it will get back to at least breakeven - the daytrade becomes a position trade of a few days and then it becomes a long term 'buy and hold' strategy.

The successful trader, of course, will know from extensive testing of his system that such trades happen and that the trade might come round or it might hit the stop. His stop is in place and it will remain in place - the system dictates where the stop is, not the trader's fears.

3. Once a trade is entered it immediately moves strongly in the traders favour. The unsuccessful trader will suddenly see a villa in the sun or a new sports car flashing before his eyes. This trade is going to the moon so he removes his price target and decides to let it go. Greed has now completely taken over his trading decisions and the previous plan (if any) is ignored. Of course, markets rarely move in one direction for long and when the market turns the greed turns to fear as the dream slips away and the trader tries to hold on until the price gets back to where it was. The daytrade becomes a position trade...

The successful trader has set a target, either a certain price or a timed exit and will stick to it. If the trade only takes 5 minutes then that's just great, there's plenty that won't.

Fear and greed are human emotions - we can't do anything about that. But, when it comes to trading we need a way to control those emotions. Here's a few tips:

1. Know your system. If you have confidence in your system this helps to override those feelings of fear and greed. Confidence can only come from designing and extensively testing your own ideas. You can never be fully confident when you rely on someone else's tips or signals.

2. Automate your system. Computers do not suffer from fear and greed, they won't hold onto a loser praying for a miracle or screaming at the screen that the market is wrong - they'll just cut it if that is what the system says to do.

3. Money management. Quite simply, no matter how good your system you must only risk a sensible amount - and always money you can afford to lose.

Tim Wreford runs Online Futures Trading, a website that provides information and resources for traders. Tim also provides a free day trading system, the results of which are updated daily on the site.

Car Insurance | Car Rentals | Health Insurance | Weight Loss | Life Insurance

| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Getting A Forex Trading Education
Many Americans are interested in getting involved in forex trading. Before doing this, you should get a forex trading education. You should never get into forex trading without forex trading education. With the proper forex trading education, you can be on your way to making a tidy profit.First you need to understand what forex trading is. Forex is short for foreign exchange. Forex trading is the si...(related: Currency Trading)

Money Management, Part 1
There are some common mistakes I've seen traders make in the area of money management. First, let's understand what money management is all about.Money management overlaps with risk, trade, business, and personal management, yet it has many aspects that make it unique, distinctly different from all of the other areas of management. In this chapter we want to examine some areas of money management that seem to involve mental quirks leading to costly mistakes.LISTENING TO OPINIONKim has entered a short position in crude oil after carefully studying as many factors as she could reasonably include while making her decision to trade. She has entered the trade because her study of the underlying fundamentals has her...(related: Currency Trading)

Advantages Of Trading Forex Over Stocks And Commodities
There are many advantages to Trading FOREX as your main income generator. Let's start by something that may be worrying you already."Do I need a Diploma or some kind of Certification to trade FOREX?" The answer is this:When attempting to make more profit than losses on thefluctuation of exchange rates between major currencies(i.e., Trading the FOREX), nobody is going to ask you for adiploma, a formal license or verify the amount of hoursyou've spent studying the Foreign exchange market andbanking industry. All you need is the proper training.But this is not the only advantage you get when tradin...(related: Currency Trading)

Writing A Trading Plan
All professional traders have a trading plan. Trading futures is a zero sum game and those with a plan (and the discipline to apply it) will succeed over those that have no plan. A plan details the particular market anomaly that you intend to exploit - your edge. Human emotion creates anomalies...(related: Currency Trading)

How To Choose Wisely A Forex Broker
Most traders use a FOREX broker to handle their transactions. What exactly are brokers? Strictly speaking, brokers are individuals or companies that buy and sell orders according the investor's decisions. Brokers earn money by charging a commission or a fee for their services.FOREX brokers need to be associated with a large financial institution such as a bank in order to provide the funds necessary for margin trading. In the United States a broker should be registered as a Futures Co...(related: Currency Trading)

Online Forex
Q1: When you consider that the foreign exchange market has become the world's largest financial market, with over $1.5 trillion USD traded daily, where does it go from here?A1:The FX market is unique, in the UK there is no central exchange, we trade via the inter bank market. With more and more private individuals taking up margin trading and new forex brokers setting up, I can only see the market grow in the near fut...(related: Currency Trading)

The Meaning Of Forex Price Charts And How To Use Them
There is one very important factor that you should consider with great care if you are willing to become a successful, profitable Forex trader. This ever important factor that must be always present in the trader's portfolio, is the ability to read the charts.The beauty of FOREX charts, as opposed to charts used for, say, daytrading stocks, is that they are pretty easy to interpret and use. They're a reflection of a slower...(related: Currency Trading)

Risk And Stock Trading Fees: The Two Barriers To Overcome If You Want A Successful Trading Career.
You know the old joke:"How do you make a million in the stock market? Start with two million?"There is no way around it, risk and stock market fees are a part of trading that you can`t avoid. But, you can manage your risk. You can also manage the brokerage stock trading fees that eat away at your trading float. All it takes is some planning and making good choices.If you think you`re ready to start trading, look carefully at where you`re getting your money from. Maybe you`ve been considering trading for a while and built up some savings. That`s good planning. Or maybe you`re considering borrowing money. This is generally a bad idea. Maxing out your credit cards is a quick and easy way to get cash, but the...(related: Currency Trading)

Day Trading - Moving Averages Vs Support And Resistance
When day trading the SP and Nasdaq futures, do you rely on your moving averages more than your support & resistant areas?During the first hour of trading, the support and resistance zones on the SP and Nasdaq futures are the most important things to watch. The moving averages have not yet had a chance to come into play.After that, if a trend is developing I watch several key exponential and simple moving averages on the 2 minute, the 5 minute and the 13 minute SP and Nasdaq futures charts.These specific moving averages give reliable support and resistance for the market as long as the slope of the moving averages are fairly steep, indicating a trend. When there is no trend, the moving averages are flat and pretty...(related: Currency Trading)

Mechanical Or Discretionary Trading - Which Is Best?
Discretionary TradingPure discretionary trading will rely solely on the traders judgement. For example a discretionary trader may spot a particular pattern developing on a chart and decide to enter a trade on that basis. It would be impossible to systemise their trading because it relies on subjective jud...(related: Currency Trading)

Experience
Throughout our course on futures trading, we have tried to point out to you that there is a great ...(related: Currency Trading)

Facts Of Day Trading
Are you thinking of entering the fast-paced world of day trading? Arm yourselves with the information from this fact sheet on day trading.What is day trading?Day trading is an investment tactic that does online daily stock trading with a relatively short investment. Those who do day trading usually buy and sell securities during the same market day and, as a general rule, do not hold stocks overnight. Many day traders make dozens of trades every market day hoping to capture profits that arise from small intraday price fluctuations.How is day trading different from swing trading?Day trading relatively holds the stock for only the day. After the stock market closes, a day trader has no stock in his hands. Swing trading h...(related: Currency Trading)