Why is trading really stressful? | Patrick Reid posted on the topic | LinkedIn (2024)

There was a time when I thought I wasn't good enough in my job. I suffered from imposter syndrome and believe you me it nearly crippled me. To be fair I did wing it a lot which bit me-in-the-you-know what a couple of times. Now is very different. I was pondering where I am at in my life right now and where I came from. It's incredible to think a guy at 38 can about face his career from being a creative to trading Futures contracts. I spoke to a LIFFE legend over lunch last Friday and we discussed this. What I learnt is this: 1. It doesn't matter how many Phd's you have - markets are like the weather. You can never predict them - you can only mitigate the risk you are happy to take at that given time. 2. Stars rise and fall but the long term success is based on being humble, and knowing when to cut losses. 3. If you have a rock star day trading then do something normal afterwards. Walk the dog, go and pick up a newspaper, make beans on toast. Do not believe you are special - ever. Because you are not. 4. If you are having a bad run welcome to my world. Get used to it because that is the business of trading. Also, never "get your money back" with revenge trading because that my friends is a one way ticket to the poor house. 5. If something works ask yourself 2 things. Is it both repeatable and scaleable. What ever slice of genius pie you are eating remember nothing lasts for ever. Ask the fibre optic HFT boys 10 years ago. Have a cracking Monday!Photo: Me after a big win in my second year buying dips in a bull market. I cringe at the thought but it is the truth. I used to also slap my own face and say "I got this" in an alpha type way. Thankfully I don't do that now.

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I did losses continuously for 3 years and now trading is my profession.I found 7 most common biggest trading mistakes which I did.1. Harder to understandTrading is a complex game. It’s hard to perfect and do the right thing as emotions are heavily involved.- Mastering one system is better than using 10 randomly. - Less is more. - Focus on one setup and kill in this trading game.2. Unreasonable expectationsMost traders have garbage strategy but hope of returns like a good strategy- Do not think that trading as lottery- Only returns of 2-5% puts you in the top 5% traders - Continue working hard and in 5 years, you’ll be in top 0.1% like me.3. OvertradingThe sad part of overtrading is most people don’t even understand why they do it.- Bad strategy gives low confidence- Low confidence convinces to recover the loss on same dayIt just makes you lose more money as the strategy is garbage anyways.4. That 1 TradeMost people trade nicely but someday with a bad mood they just take 1 trade and never book the loss. They wait until it erodes their capital.- Never remove stop loss.- Trade with discipline of following rules.- Do not risk big.5. ConfidenceMost people think confidence comes from reading psychology tips. Confidence comes from having a good strategy.- Reduce your risk.- Have a good strategy.- Start small.Read as many books as you want but if you have a garbage strategy, you’ll never be confident.6. FOMOIf your strategy doesn’t give you the trade you want, either change the strategy or don’t expect large returns- Understand your strategy.- Don’t be greedy.- Plan and review your trades more.Fear of Missing out and then taking trades will end up being a huge risk.7. Self beliefTrading is very competitive and requires a lot of struggles and knowledge to perform.You have to believe in yourself and work hard on the right path to become a Trader.Learn to combat self doubt, stress, emotions, late nights, failures.#intradaytrading #intradaystock #stockmarket #tradingpsychology #equitymarket #trader #investor.

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I've faced a tough situation in my trading journeyMy Biggest opponentMy Fight Against AngerTrading is a bit like wrestling a wild animal. Sometimes it's thrilling, but other times, it feels like you're battling a powerful force. And in this trading world, one emotion can be your best friend or your worst enemy: 𝗔𝗡𝗚𝗘𝗥.My journey through trading has been a rollercoaster. There were exciting highs and painful lows. Along the way, I discovered something important: Trading isn't just about numbers and charts. It's also about understanding and controlling your own emotions.Early on, anger was a frequent visitor. It showed up when a trade went wrong or when I let greed cloud my judgment. Losing money hurts, right? But then, I realized anger was making things worse.After a series of bad trades driven by anger, I took a step back. I saw that anger was my biggest problem in trading. It made me forget my trading plans, act recklessly, and make quick decisions that lost me even more money.From that moment on, I decided to manage my anger. Here are some simple strategies I used:1. 𝗠𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻: I started each trading day with a few minutes of meditation. It helped me begin the day with a clear mind.2. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: I learned to recognize when anger was building up. Signs like a racing heart or shallow breath meant it was time to take a break.3. T𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗮𝗹: I kept a journal to write down my trades and how I felt during each one. It helped me see my patterns and make better choices.4. 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗹: I adjusted how much I risked on each trade. That way, losses didn't make me react in anger.Now, when I look back at my trading journey, I see a big change. I used to be an angry and impulsive trader. But now, I'm disciplined, patient, and making more profit. I learned that handling anger isn't just important for trading; it's a life skill.𝗥𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘚𝘵𝘢𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘮 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘠𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶.𝗧𝗲𝗹𝗹 𝗺𝗲, 𝗜𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗱 𝗵𝗮𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲?#trading #finance #stockmarket #linkedinforcreators #linkedingrowth #tradingpsychology #psychology #personalfinance #personalbranding

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Get Good Sleep 😴 Even In Extreme ConditionsMany new traders 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗲 that - we need 𝘁𝗼 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝟮 𝘁𝗼 𝟯 𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀 𝗱𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘆 𝘁𝗼 earn a good passive income source from options tradingThis 𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗳 𝗶𝘀 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗳𝗮𝗿 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 (multiple case studies available, one of them have attached below 👇)What happens when you give 2-3 daily hours and see the market regularly:a) Your 𝗲𝗺𝗼𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 & 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 😧 as per the stock behavior and start doubting your analysis.b) When you see the price goes up and touches the lowest amount, you try to adjust different metrics to book the minimum profit and ignore the basic options trading 📉 rulesc) Indirectly it 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗷𝗼𝗯 🧑🏻💻 and other work schedules and results in less utilization of the time ⏱️Mayur Patel is sharing his experience of wasting hours of time even after learning from the best mentors.But his belief was broken and got the necessary time freedom through a customized strategy from 💵 CompoundTheMoney - RK & Sakhi Gupta#trading #passive #income #noexperience

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Are you trading for a living?If you are considering turning your passion for trading into your sole income source, despite having a constant high level of support from your trader coach, it is important to understand that YOU are responsible for the after-effects of your actions. A common mistake committed time and time again in the trading world, is overtrading, or even worse, revenge trading. Too often people go into trading with the disillusioned concept of the ‘get rich quick scheme’, given time and patience I guarantee that you will master the art of trading for life however trade with caution to begin with even by risking the full 1%. You will be able to place more trades and learn more from them.When it all clicks into place, trading can be a very wonderful and consistently rewarding experience. According to your trading strategy, you can take as little as 40 minutes a day viewing the charts. If that’s the case, one of your biggest challenges will be to choose what to do with all of your other free time! It is definitely not a bad problem to have.The one thing that must be included with someone’s career as a trader is balance. Far too many traders spend far too much time researching and staring at charts to enjoy all the benefits that trading can come with.Correct me if I’m wrong but when you had thought of trading for a living you undoubtedly were not thinking of sitting in front of the computer 8 hours a day. This may strike you as an obvious point to make however there are plenty of traders out there who sit in front of the computer far more than necessary. You only need a few trades a month and that is when quality over quantity applies. But how do we do it? A good way to focus on quality is to go through a check list on every single trade and if the trade is not qualified leave it alone.If your approach is consistent, your results are far more likely to be consistent than if you have no defined approach that you stick to. Over time you should be able to either make the necessary adjustments to turn the strategy into a consistently profitable one or work out whether it’s better to move on to something different. This really is the most important aspect of having a consistent approach.#trader #financialmarkets #forextrader

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Why do traders give up and lose in stock markets ?Lack of confidence is one of the reasons.HOW TO BUILD MORE CONFIDENCE IN TRADINGLack of confidence comes from not knowing what you are doing. You need to research an edge you have interest in. From there move to back testing and testing on a demo account, once you feel more confident in your ability you can move on to the real account.FOLLOW THE PROCESS, NOT THE MONEYIf your plan states do ABC, then that’s what you do. Focus on following your plan. Even if you lost but you did s, following your plan that builds discipline and discipline builds habits and habits is what you will revert back to in the end. The right habits will help you build confidence.CONFIDENCE COMES FROM PROGRESSYou need to see results. There are many moving pieces in trading : technicals, fundamentals, psychology/emotions. The growth in the account only happens when the growth in other aspect does. But the results are only seen over time. You want to test an idea, the best way to do so is to test it on 200–300 trades. If it can work in back testing, it can work in the live markets. Have your brain see that enough times will help you manage emotions and have faith in the system. Progress comes from doing more.STOP WATCHING VIDEOS AND DO SOMETHINGIt is great to get knowledge from videos but the learning can’t stop there. The best learning will happen with time on the charts. No one ever got ripped by watching work out videos. Its important to know what to do in the gym, but you still got to do it. Trading is no different. Just like you gain confidence from your physique improving, you will gain confidence from your results improving. Results not improving? Learn more, do more, repeat.STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO ANYONEYou only have one competition. That’s yourself. Be a better version of yourself this week then last week. Results will compound. As you see yourself improve, you will once again get more confident.CONSISTENCYShow up everyday. The foundation must be built before the house. You are doing the ground work now. Then comes the foundation. Then comes the house. It does not work backwards.

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Throughout history, we’ve used scary terms to define things we don’t understand. Sometimes, we even use these scary ideas to keep people away.You’ve probably heard the term “the Witching Hour.” Used for that time of night when kids should be home in bed, not out causing mischief. Of course, the stock market couldn’t be left out of a nice scary term. But why not up it a little bit? They call it the Triple Witching hour. Have you ever heard that term? It is the term used to define the final hour of trading on the third Friday of every March, June, September, and December. Why Triple Witching? Because three things happen that day and culminate in the final hour. Stock Options, Stock Index Futures, and Stock Index Option Contracts all expire. Rather than try to explain how each of those contracts works here on social media, let’s just focus on why it was given a “scary” name. Due to the contracts expiring, many traders need to purchase or sell stock to hedge their positions on their contracts. This increases the volume and volatility of trading leading up to the triple witching hour. How much does it increase? On average, it opens at 10 times higher volume and closes at five times higher volume. That higher volume can mean all kinds of things for prices of stocks in the days leading up to and after a triple witching. The trading during a triple witching, however, doesn’t typically have a long-term effect on prices.So, unless you are a professional trader dealing with expiring contracts yourself, it’s best to stay away and let the specialists do their thing. It’s kind of like the witching hour; don’t be afraid to stay up past midnight, but why not get some sleep instead?

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💫 So , this is majorly a Weekend Vibes Funny Post but Happy Winter Holiday Season to👉 All of my LinkedIn Fellows here . May Santa and the New Year bring Better Financial and Economic Prosperity for all of you than the 2023 Did . 👉 So , yes the Markets are off on Monday thereby 😤 but it's okay , we gotta Celebrate Life too , that's also good for us Mentally with respect to our Productivity . 👍💯 So , yeah How would a 👉 Guy who is a Trader get Proposed by a Female ? Okay , so let's take this - " Aap Trader Ho , Toh Apne Dil Ka Stop Loss Mere Liyein Hit Kara Do " / " You are a Trader 👉 Right , Please Kindly Hit the Stop Loss of your Heart for me " . 🥺😄😂😎✍💯 Credit for this Punchline also goes to Shivansh Bhasin as I read this kind of Punchline in a Comment of his on his own Post , with respect to Punchlines 👉 which one can use for Proposing someone . 😄😎 But in all Seriousness as a Trader 👉 you need that kind of System which let's say only Hits your Stop Loss 2 Times out of 10 in the 10 Trades you take and the Losses you make on those Two Trades should also be Small so that 👉 they don't hamper your Overall Profits in a Major Way . So , that was it for Today's Holiday Spirited Weekend Post . 👉 Image Source : unsplash.com and iStockphoto.com #trading #tradingeducation #weekendvibes #weekendfun #happyholidays

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There are FOUR general questions you should ask yourself at the start of each trading day, to establish if you are good to go to even attempt to analyse and trade the markets. 1. Have I slept well? - Yes, rested & ready to go - No, but I am good to go and I will monitor myself throughout the day- No, actually I am exhausted, I will come back for the next session. 2. Am I stressed (about something that happened in your life or in the markets) - No, I am good to go- Yes, I am stressed maybe I should go for a walk or do breathing exercises or journal to relieve the stress. 3. Do I feel focused? - Yes, good to go. - No, feeling distracted with upcoming exams / how busy I am at work / with my drawdown - So, so, perhaps I need to focus on my decision making today and monitor myself throughout the day. 4. Overall am I good to trade or shall I skip today? - Yes, I am good to go - No, actually after assessing my well-being I probably need a day off from live trading & I should focus on backtesting, journaling my old trades or taking a day off to rest. Those are the simplest things, but those simplest things when we feel off balance can tilt us into self-destructive behaviours. Trading is a lonely business and as well as you are a trader, you are your own manager and you should be monitoring yourself like you are your own employee - either get employee to work or send them home to recover & try again the next day.

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