Question:
I’ve a silly question regarding triggering a trade. For the past two years, I relied on a “market guru” alert service. I had no clue why my trades won or lost. I ended up blowing out 50% of my account. Then I read a trading book (Trading For a Living), and I realized I was idiotic. I now trade spot currency pairs and have developed my own plan and my own rules. I test them time after time in the demo account, which has shown that my plan and rules are working. However, when it comes to trading live, I still sometimes hesitate to trigger a trade when I see the high-probability set up appear. I am so frustrated and angry to see the high-probability trade pass by time after time. Can you please help me to clear the obstacle that hinders my trading journey?
Eddie from Justpullitville
Answer:
Eddie, your observation that you knew nothing about the trades from your “guru service” is an excellent point for other novices. Successful trading is about knowledge, experience, intuition, and confidence, which relates to the heart of your question, but I will get to that in a moment. Finishing my thought, if a person totally relies on an outside service to find trades, then that person is not a trader; that person is an investor, investing in someone else’s business. As you found out, investing in others to do your work often does not work out so well …
Congratulations on developing a plan and rules to guide that plan. This is a major step forward for you. Congratulations as well on having a plan that works in the demo stage. Your next step is easy, if you take a leap of faith …
Confidence is the key to solving your issue. I learned some time back if you have a tested plan, you need to have faith it will work. What holds you back are fear and a lack of trust. You are afraid because you don’t trust you. Think about this—you were willing to trust someone else to lose your money, why not trust yourself to do the same. My statement might seem counterintuitive (successful trading is about winning), but it is not. Your plan will not always work, but if it works well enough to make a profit, trust it until it proves otherwise.
And here it is … Don’t be afraid to lose. In fact, if you embrace the idea you will lose now and then, the door to confidence will open wide. As long as your wins and losses produce profit you will walk through that door and stay on the other side, the winning side. My advice is to trust yourself, your plan, and faithfully pull the trigger on your trades.
Finally, master those emotions of frustration and anger. In any context, including life, they only serve to hinder your forward movement. If you carry those emotions forward to your live trading, I promise, you will regret it …
Trade in the day; invest in your life …
