The Disciplined Trader with a winner's attitude.

"Emotion Kills Successful Trading."

A grim reaper who kills off "your equity" & disappears with your profits is not the mysterious and ubiquitous "they" but a simple misguided"you."

Trading environment vastly different from the cultural environment in which we were brought up.It requires very high degree of self-control & self-trust.

However,many of us lack this self-control because as children we learned to function in a structured environment where our behaviour was controlled by someone more powerful than ourselves,whose purpose was to manipulate our behaviour to conform to society's expectations.

Thus,we were forced by external forces to behave in certain ways through a system of rewards and punishments.As a reward,we would be given the freedom to express ourselves in some desired manner.As a punishment,we would either be prevented from getting what we wanted,causing emotional pain,or we were inflicted with various forms of corporal punishment,causing physical pain.

In market environment,the decisions that confront you are as endless as the price movements you intend to take advantage of.

"Physochological Damage" has potential for generating fear. Fear results from any belief about environmental conditions that has the potential to cause either physical or emotional pain such as stress,anxiety,confusion,disappointment or betrayal.

Painful emotional conditions are basically the result of unfulfilled expectations.

People seem to avoid pain instinctively by building up mental defenses against the intrusion of environmental information that would confirm the existence of any conflict.These defenses consist of denials,rationalizations & justifications - all of which will result in perceptual distortion.

"Perceptual Distortion" occurs when our mental system automatically distorts environmental information by shaping & selectively excluding certain information to compensate for the conflict between what we expect & what the environment is offering us.

"Shared reality" is one's belief about the environment & the actual environmental conditions that exist,thus avoiding any pain.

"Force awareness" - the markets are doing something other than what you are allowing yourself to perceive.Then something has to give.These distortions will continue until there is such a disparity between your acquired mindset and the conflicting market information that the mental defenses (illusions) will break down.This usually creates a state of shock, where you may wonder how things could get so bad so quickly.

You may not be able to control the markets,but you can control your perception in order to achieve a high degree of shared reality with the markets.

As you begin to understand the negative relationship between fear & perception,you might be surprised to learn that in your attempts to avoid losses,you actually create them.Fear will also limit you range of responses to any given situation.

Many traders suffer considerably when they know exactly what they want to do but when the moment to execute arrives,find themselves completely immobilized.

Before anyone can become a successful trader in an environment with the unstructured character of the trading environment one needs to develop a supreme sense of self-confidence & self-trust.

SELF-CONFIDENCE = Absence of Fear.
SELF-TRUST = Knowing what to do at the moment it needs to be done without hesitation.Any hesitation will create self-doubt & fear.
THE NEGATIVE EXPERIENCES THAT RESULT FROM TRADING IN A STATE OF FEAR,ANXIETY & CONFUSION WILL CREATE OR ADD TO ALREADY EXISTING BELIEF OF INADEQUACY & POWERLESSNESS.

Regardless of how hard any of us may try to hide from others what is going on,we obviously can't hide our results from ourselves.

One line gems of trading wisdom: "LEARN TO TAKE A LOSS"....."GO WITH THE FLOW".........."THE TREND IS YOUR FRIEND"........"CUT YOUR LOSSES & LET YOU PROFITS RUN"..........."TO KNOW THE MARKETS YOURSELF NEED TO BE KNOWN"

Successful trading is 80% psychological & 20% methodological. Emotion is the enemy of successful trades.

Don't expect to become a successful trader if you have limited trading capital or if you are trading with money you can't afford to lose.

The markets tease a trader with the very real possibility of fulfilling his grandest dreams of financial independence & at the same time ready & willing to take away everything he owns ......and more!!!

Quotable Quotes:-
"IF YOU BET ON A HORSE,THAT'S GAMBLING. IF YOU BET YOU CAN MAKE 3 SPADES,THAT'S ENTERTAIMENT. IF YOU BET COTTON WILL GO UP 3 POINTS,THAT'S BUSINESS. SEE THE DIFFERENCE..?
(Blackie Sherrod)

"THERE ARE 2 TIMES IN A MAN'S LIFE WHEN HE SHOULD NOT SPECULATE: WHEN HE CAN'T AFFORD IT & WHEN HE CAN."
(Mark Twain)

"IF ALL FINANCIAL EXPERTS IN THIS COUNTRY WERE LAID END TO END,THEY'D STILL POINT IN ALL DIRECTIONS."
(Sam Ewing)