How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Discussions about the psychology of the markets and the masses as it relates to trading.
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oem7110
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How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Post by oem7110 »

I tries so hard not to following my instinct by learning different indicators, which confirm the market. Even through those indicators are a good guidance and profitable if I follow them, but I cannot beat my instinct, which make me doing something wrong against my plan. I think if I need to beat myself, then I need to understand myself more, but does anyone have any suggestions on what I am dealing with here? It seems to me that something is stubborn within myself, which I cannot handle it, just like a magnet, which keep me against my plan.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Could anyone please share your experience if you get any experience like my situation.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions :>

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rhc
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Re: How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Post by rhc »

oem7110 wrote: . . . but I cannot beat my instinct, which make me doing something wrong against my plan. . . . .
Congratulations . . . . . you are Human !

Two books that I have found to be very helpful in enabling you to recognise destructive & non-productive patterns in your trading as well as offering a mental framework for change (for the better) are as follows;

Mark Douglas’ – “Trading in the Zoneâ€
fab1usa1
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Post by fab1usa1 »

1. In the beginning don't put too much trading equity to work until you gain experience with your system.

2. Don't be fooled by an upward-sloping equity curve that spans decades. There is real pain in those drawdowns that look like little blips.

3. Beware of systems with a low profit factor (< 2.0) and high number of trades. Commissions and slippage will kill you.
rajivm
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Re: How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Post by rajivm »

oem7110 wrote:I tries so hard not to following my instinct by learning different indicators, which confirm the market. Even through those indicators are a good guidance and profitable if I follow them, but I cannot beat my instinct, which make me doing something wrong against my plan. I think if I need to beat myself, then I need to understand myself more, but does anyone have any suggestions on what I am dealing with here? It seems to me that something is stubborn within myself, which I cannot handle it, just like a magnet, which keep me against my plan.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Could anyone please share your experience if you get any experience like my situation.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions :>

Image
With time your instincts will improve..Thats natural learning process I think
sinkpretend
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Re: How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Post by sinkpretend »

By keeping track of all of your activities, keep monitoring and setting new goals, appreciate yourself as you achieved your goal or punish yourself if you don’t. Like wise keep track of money also.
Roscoe
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Re: How to beat yourself before beating the market?

Post by Roscoe »

Hello OEM my friend,

You have found an indisputable truth of trading, as many of us have, and it is this: it is easy to be right but it is hard to sit tight (with apologies to Larry Livermore, whose quote I think this is). I think that I speak for many of my trading brothers and sisters when I say that we all struggle with our emotional human nature from time to time. We all feel that urge to "make things better" rather than just follow our carefully tested trading plans.

I have no cure for this and nor would I want one when I think about it. About all I can offer is this: I try to distance myself from the markets in as much as possible. My trading manifesto follows - this sits on my desk right under one of my monitors where I see it all the time:

My Trading Manifesto
• Follow systems to the letter
• Only get market data in the morning for the previous day
• Only look at my trading platform when placing positions and checking or adjusting stops
• Do not look at intraday data or Sparkline charts
• Only check equity when markets are closed on the weekends

I hope that this helps.
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