Trading fear is the #1 ‘Profit Killer’ for the 90% of traders who lose more than they gain.
Fear in its most primitive form is very simple to understand and deal with; a wild animal threatens your safety, your survival mechanism makes you feel fear, your fear makes you run away to safety. Easy right?!
Fear from Thinking
Unfortunately, human beings are unique in the animal kingdom in many ways and one of those is that we have the ability to create fear even when nothing is threatening us – just by thinking! And for the majority of traders that is the big problem – you think your way to losing by creating irrational and illogical fear and have no useful tools to deal with it.
Check out this short video from my ‘Engineered Trading Mindset’ suite to learn more…
So, you now know trading fear is different to the other trading emotions and that it is a ‘Profit Killer’ but why do human beings have such a unique way of experiencing fear that no other animals seem to suffer from?
Check out this snippet from my ‘Engineered Trading Mindset’ suite to learn more…
That’s right, it is that mind-body connection and those fear inducing chemicals that keep us in a fear state when actually there is no real threat or danger. Yes, it’s all in the mind and is caused by how you are thinking. But the reality is most of the fear-inducing thoughts come from deep inside your unconscious mind and this is why they are difficult to control – you don’t know you have them until it is too late and they have caused you to either lose money or limit your profits.
Tunnel Vision and Tunnel Mind
Unfortunately for traders, one of the physiological changes that occur when fear has grabbed a hold of your mind is ‘tunnel vision’. In primitive humans, when any danger was sensed and the fear from a perceived threat was felt, he/she would want to focus their eyes to locate the source of that danger and this is exactly what this automatic tunnel vision is there to facilitate.
However, it is not only the eyes that are affected; so too is the mind and your survival mechanism also makes you focus your ‘mental attention’ on the source of the perceived threat. This leads to a very real threat to your profits as explained in this next video clip from my ‘Engineered Trading Mindset’ program…
Focus on Perceived Threat
This focus on a perceived threat and the ignoring of other relevant and useful information from the market is one of the fundamental reasons why traders lose money – they take action that is fear-driven rather than based on the logical analysis of all available market data. This results in ‘knee-jerk’ reactions and losing behaviours because your mental attention is being severely restricted.
Fear Busting Power Toolkit
The best way to overcome all of the ‘4-Horsemen of Trading Apocalypse’ is to fully understand and resolve the underlying psychological causes of your trading fears and have available tools to use during your day to day trading to control any unexpected emotional eruptions.
You can do all of this using the powerful techniques I teach in the ‘Engineered Trading Mindset’ program as well as build a ‘fear-busting’ mental power toolkit that can be used in real-time as you trade to deal with those unwanted and unexpected ‘Profit Killer’ inducing emotions and behaviours.
Chat soon…
Les
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