With my recent posts on emotional releasing, I’ve received quite a few emails from traders asking for advice. A common theme is asking what to do when you feel as through the emotions that are getting in the way of your trading success are so pervasive, so stubborn, you just don’t know if you can clear them.
Its not uncommon if you’ve been trading for a while with consistent losses to have worn quite a deep groove of emotional scar tissue – a mixed bag of fear, shame, frustration and the like, which now gets triggered every time you are in the market.
What is critical is that you are able to distinguish the cart from the horse. Is it your edge (or lack of one) that is causing you to fail, triggering these strong emotions? Or do you have a good edge but your emotions are getting in the way of trading it effectively?
As I said in my recent post Desperate Traders Wanted, it is absolutely imperative if you are going to sort your trading out, that you are sure that you have an edge. You have to know your expectancy. Without that certainty you have no constant in your trading with which to be able to change your situation.
This post is for those of you that have a quantifiable edge, you’ve tested it, and been able to trade it successfully on a simulator without the pressure of real money — but when you get into the live market, your emotions kick in and obscure your judgement, affecting your ability to implement your edge.
So here you are, you’ve been struggling at it for a while. As a developing trader you’ve tried a number of different methods, and its taken you some time, possibly many months, even a few years to get to the point where you have reached a level of expertise, a level of certainty with your method – your edge. In that time, as a result of the learning process you’ve paid some fairly hefty tuition – in educational materials, in order
entry mistakes, in losses — losses as a result of a previous lack of edge, or losses caused by emotions that have affected your decision making, caused you to second guess yourself etc.
As a result of this journey, you are now a bit over-sensitive — to money, to the potential of losing it, or perhaps to the pressure of getting it right. Performance anxiety is heightened because you’ve had so many experiences of losing, and that feeling is so familiar to you, that when you think about trading live, a part of you expects to fail again.
What makes it so hard is that you know what to do, you are clear about your edge — and when you continue to fail, its no longer just the fear of losing, the fear of failing, its the fear that you aren’t in control of yourself.
So you have a decision to make. Its going to take some work to change things, its going to take courage to look your emotions in the face and let them go. Its not hard, but it does take committment. Are you going to hang up your spurs and give up trading, or do the emotional work necessary?
If you chose to forge ahead with tackling your emotions start by learning the clearing techniques. Practice them, get really comfortable with them. The great thing is that we have emotions about everything so there is plenty of material to practice with. If you are finding that your trading emotions are really strong you are going to need to clear them again and again. It may take a week or so, but you’ll find that gradually they have less and less power over you until they fade.
Every day before trading I sit for at least 20 minutes with my eyes closed, turn inside and look at what I’m feeling. Am I nervous, did I lose yesterday and am I still carrying that? Am I afraid of something, frustrated or angry about something? Am I elated about something? The elation of winning can be just as dangerous as fear of losing. Whatever I’m feeling I release it using one of the techniques.
Once I’ve done my pre market prep and I’m sitting in front of the screen, I take a few more minutes to clear. I
think about starting to trade – does it bring up any anxiety? Clear it! Am I willing to make money for myself today? Any twinges inside? Clear it! Did I lose yesterday, any residual feelings about that? Clear it! And now I’m ready.
I clear throughout the day while I’m trading – the Sedona Method
Any emotions that you are finding difficult to budge, use the Core Transformation
I wish you the best of luck and I invite you to stay in touch, ask questions, share how its going for you. The reason I focus this site on clearing for trading success is that its uncomplicated and it works!
Mo
