Trader Q&A August 30

“The Number ONE Reason Trader’s Don’t Make it’

Trading Situation:

Trader Background: Charlie has been a trader now for almost 10 years and at first he did really well and was fairly profitable early on in his trading.  Then he right when he was doing so well he had the biggest loss of his trading career, in one day. He lost 10 thousand dollars in one position.  From then on his trading suffered and getting back the money was always on his mind. He had the “beat yourself up” mindset, started over trading, was doubling up on size and the losses became bigger and bigger. It came to the point Charlie where he was in so much fear that by the time he contacted me the exact words on the phone were: “I’m frozen, paralyzed and can’t pull the trigger.” I need help.

Method is designed to:

·        Definition of “Emotional Blocks”

·        Identify if YOU have them

·        Review some solutions

·        Get you back on track

·        Decide if you need help

Trader Comment:

“I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m a good trader, I was doing really well and all of a sudden all has gone off. I have been losing now for awhile and in the last two weeks I find I can’t take a trade even if I see the perfect set-up.  I feel frozen even paralyzed and I can’t pull the trigger.  What’s wrong with me?  Charlie - NYC

Coaching Feedback in color: T- Trader C- Coach

C – The first thing that I asked Charlie was: “So how much did you lose in one trade and all together?

T- “I lost 10k in one trade a few months ago and ever since then I have been constantly losing. But in the last two weeks things have been getting progressively worse. Then last week when I went to trade I saw a great set-up everything was perfect, the market was moving, all the planets were aligned and I froze.  I just couldn’t pull the trigger and I missed out on the trade of the month.

C- Please know that this is the most common thing I hear from traders on a regular basis and I am convinced it is the number one reason traders fail or leave the business. I have never heard of a trader that hasn’t faced the emotional block at one point in their trading.

T – “I don’t know what’s happening to me. I’m a good trader, I was doing really well and all of a sudden all has gone off.”

C- Most traders don’t realize what’s happening to them at this point. They don’t realize that the block is the problem. After all we do not get a normal education on how our minds work. We have little or no skills when it comes to our conscious minds fight with our sub-conscious mind.  When the block takes over and becomes very strong, a trader’s only recourse is his or her own will power to overcome it. An emotional block has strong physical repercussions especially on trading reactions.

So, how do you know a block is effecting your trading? Well that’s the easy part, it’s when your conscious mind wants to do one thing and you body reacts differently. Their reactions are filtered through the emotions of fear, hesitation, apprehension and uncertainty whether you want it or not.

Some typical trading reactions that stem from a block are:

-         Jumping into a trade when there are no good reasons to take it

-         Exiting a good trade when all signals are good

-         Having a great set-up where all indicators are lined up and not taking the trade

-         Seeing a great trade and hesitating on the entry

-         Having feelings of uncertainty

-         Experiencing many losses over and over

-         Stop trading and having the feelings of fear after a large loss or many small ones in a row

……these are just a few of many that exist.

T- “I have been losing now for awhile and in the last two weeks I find I can’t take a trade even if I see the perfect set-up.  I feel frozen even paralyzed and I can’t pull the trigger.  What’s wrong with me?

C – Blocks are insidious they tend to grow and accumulate or gather strength like a snowball.  All along have greater impact on each trade and trading results. Many traders not getting some outside help end up thinking there is something wrong with them and end up giving up. The pressure and stress are too much for them to take.  Also much blame has been put on a great trading strategy when the trader is really reacting from a block and not the method they were taught. 

Know that blocks become physical and locked in the body and also cause pressure. Pressure in the body results in stomach acids increasing. Headaches, poor sleep, excessive stress, indigestion and more could be symptoms of a strong block at work.     

T- How can I fix this?

C- The best solution is to get immediate help and learn techniques that can remove a block. Know you can have more than one and even if you remove them they can and will come back throughout one’s trading career. The reason is that trading forces us to continually face our beliefs of winning and losing, being right and being wrong, success and failure and finally out relationship to money.  Everyone has what I call a “dollar threshold” where the amount of money they lose at one time of over many repetitive times effects on the mind level of fear.    

 Solutions:

1)     Learn techniques that remove the block emotionally

2)     If fear of entering the trade is the block – than create more certainty before entering the trade as uncertainty is the underlying issue

3)     If rushing into a trade is  the block – create a “certainty check list” and be sure the entire list is satisfied before entering the trade (make that a rule)

4)     Create a strong set of trading rules and do whatever you can to stick to them

Get help if this list doesn’t work, it means the block is strongly rooted and you need drastic methods to rid your mind of this.

Important: Blocks unfortunately DO NOT go away on their own. 

How do I know I have a block at work?

First determine: 

1)     Are you having any of the described symptoms?

2)     Are you feeling fear at ANY point when you trade?

3)     Are your reactions to the market and trade reactive or planned and executed properly?

4)     Is your health being effected by your trading day?

5)     Do any of these emotions happen when you trade? Fear, apprehension, hesitation, uncertainty?

If any of this is happening to you then call and book your FREE coaching call ASAP to learn a Neuro-Linguistic technique that physically removes the block.

Great Trading!   

– A trading block is installed when the trade experience some sort of “pain” and losing money causes pain. Each trader has a different pain threshold depending on the amount of money they lose at one time or over a series of trades.