The fear of missing out, FOMO for short, is a big issue for many traders, particularly when we think that the market has turned now; or hmm, has it? I see many traders fretting over the fact that they are not short at the first hint of a downturn, hoping to catch some of the move. Why are they making trading life so challenging for themselves?
Let’s step back for a moment and examine what is really going on here:
The emotional roller coaster that has you degrade your trading ability on a regular basis, namely, each time you miss the potential beginning of a new move is depleting your psychological captial and your physical capital follows suit.
Performance statistics of top league basketball players reveal that the most successful baseball players only get it right about two thirds of the time. Note we are talking about the very best of the very best. Yet you, the trader, expect to have a home run 90% of the time and when you don’t you get very upset with yourself, don’t you?
The latest move down may be an indication that the top, at least for now, might be in, it is however, not an indication yet that the markets are going to go south from here on without giving you a chance to establish a position. I am pretty certain that your chance to be short Monsanto, $MON will present itself more than once in coming days, weeks or even months if the down trend gets going.
In any event, you shouldn’t really be worrying about being short or long, in fact you have no reason to worry about missing any good move, because the market, just like the universe is awash with opportunity. Your problem is that you simply haven’t woken up to this fact as yet.
What really is going on here is that your fear of missing out is based on a false perception of scarcity and lack.
Meaning: Scarcity of trading opportunities and lack of your ability to partake in the next big move.
I have touched on the issue in previous articles: You believe that you are at the mercy of the markets and a victim of your circumstances over which you have little or no control. What if I were to remind you, (again), that this perception is utterly incorrect and stems from your conditoning that makes you believe that you have no power and that the universe is basically conspiring against you.
As a consequence your trading is either defensive or you go on the offensive out of fear of losing out once more, entering that Apple $AAPL trade too early, or, heavens forbid, too late. Either way you are setting yourself up for unnecessary risk, and potential losses and much mental pain. You are making yourself a victim of the market insyead of creating a trading mind set that gives you permission to seek out good opportunities appropriate for your individual trading psychology.
What would would it take to let go of the old belief that you are the victim of the markets?
When are you ready to accept that you are an integral part of creation and therefore you have it in you to be a great trader? Don’t worry, I am not getting religious. I want you to understand this fact though: If you are an integral part of creation, (sciene is proving this to us now in many new studies, read Gregg Braden’s work), you will have to also acknowledge that you have inside you all the characteristics of creation, including all success, happiness, joy as well as the ability to fail, if you choose.
Did you know that every cell in your body has inside it the blue print to completely recreate you? Inside of your matrix is the entire wisdom of the universe. In other words you have far more power, trading ability, ability to grow and expand than you have ever given yourself credit for.
The real issue is not that you are afraid to lose.
No, the real issue is that you are unwilling to wake up to your greatness. Once you do, your trading psychology will shift. In the final analysis the issue isn’t your inability to catch a move, or to trade well consistently but it is all about your steadfast refusal to step into your immense power and align with the power of the universe in a seamless fashion. I could also say that you steadfastly refuse to be one with creation thus denying your true nature given to you as a proverbial right of birth.
Whenever you insist on the rightness of your views and in sheer frustration, and paranoia of losing out once more, decide to short the DOW at the end of a down leg, believing that it has to go even lower from here you are in denial. It is not that you can’t trade, you can.But you are in your own way.
Most of us will make reasonable traders, if not excellent traders, with some help on the psychology of trading. It is all about your willingness to step into your inherent power and begin to use it. The choice is yours.
The real trick about all of this is coming to a point where you can believe that what I am saying is true for you. At that point, and only at that point will your reality about yourself and your trading skills start to shift. From this moment on your trading will improve as your cognitive awarness expands to the next level.
