February has so far been a very bad month for me, not only because I have had an overall net loss, but also because my losses were compounded by overconfidence in my analysis following an exceptionally profitable January. Several of the mistakes I made through the month (moving my stops back when things didn't go my way, investing too high a percent of my overall bankroll per trade, overexposure to a particular currency, making too many trades etc.) I knew were the wrong things to do, yet my emotions; greed, arrogance (is stupidity an emotion?) etc. got the better of me and I made the trades anyway. This is not the first time this has happened to me. Any seasoned trader will likely understand what I am going through.
As I am only relatively new to this game, I still have many skills I need to develop. Money Management is definitely first on my list and I will endeavour to better understand the psychology behind trading and ways to control emotions and rash decision making. I am have just begun reading Inside the Investor’s Brain - The Power of Mind Over Money by Richard L. Peterson, on the advice from Greg a follower of my blog. As I continue to learn my analysis will also improve, and so will the profitability of my trades.
Thank you for following my blog, your continued support inspires me to be a better trader. I hope all of you have something to learn from what I have to offer, and wish you all a profitable 2010.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
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Hey mate dont give up and learning is just part of life. Stay focused and i agree with you money management is very important and i think its impt to limit yourself from over committing in certain trades. Knowing when to jump bail and ride on profits are indeed important.
ReplyDeleteWell im sure every trader has been through this, so you're not alone! A new week is ahead, lets fight back :)
Nice post. Seems like I was looking at the mirror. After 10 great weeks since December I was on a high and had an invincible feeling. My ego has come down crashing in the past couple of weeks and I have been guilty of the same vices that you have mentioned in your blog. Hopefully we can learn from our mistakes and have a profitable trading for the rest of the year.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck.
regards,
-Vasan.
I'm relatively new to Forex trading too, but totally committed to it long term. Also feeling 'bruised' & 'roughed up' currently! Great, honest post by you. Denial is the biggest obstacle, you've already beaten that one. Learning from mistakes and bouncing back wiser & stronger has throughout history proved to be a winning formula in pretty much everything.
ReplyDeleteWell done, Alastair
Oh man I hear you :)
ReplyDeleteI think your honesty in evaluating painful mistakes will go a long way towards preventing them occurring again. Best of luck to you and to us all!
ReplyDeleteJohn.
I share your sentiments about February being an unpredictable month in trading, a time of huge losses and yet, a big opportunity to learn some valuable lessons. In retrospect, I shouldn't have sent good monet chasing after bad money. Hopefully, we can all be frank in recognizing where we have failed and learn to trade better, all the while maintaining a healthy balance of risk, profit and greed. Your honesty and reflection of the recent weeks is focring me to reflect some more this evening too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
ReplyDeleteWith these posts, Twitter, Skype, smoke signals or whatever else way of communication, we need to all grow more as traders, both monetarily and emotionally.
Godspeed my friend!
Kindest Regards,
Muhammad.
Dont worry buddy
ReplyDeleteWe all give losses. I am just trading to recover my losses.
Keep up your good work
Thanks everybody for you kind words of support. It is comforting knowing there are others who are experiencing the same things as I am. Hopefully we can all learn from this and resist the temptation to make the same mistakes in the future.
ReplyDeleteHi, Jayard
ReplyDeleteI have a pdf of the highly recommended book 'Trading in the Zone', which is very good for mastering and instilling in one's mind about trading psychology. I can send it to you if you let me know your email address.
Hi there Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteMy email is jayrad@gmail.com I'd love to get a copy, thanks heaps. I also have few other ebooks on money management if you or anyone else on here is interested in reading them send me an email so I have your address and I'll email them out to you.