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Fear

Trading Psychology 3 Fear Keys to building a strong Traders Mentality (Probability Mindset) There are many hindrences to developing the probability mindset, and it would be easy to write an entire book dedicated to them all. However most of these issues fall into four broader categories; fear, false beliefs, trading the "now moment", and edge execution. In the following paragraphs we will touch on these key issues and simple ways to address them. Fear As humans we all experience fear throughout our lifetime and so much so the "fight or flight" response has been genetically enbeded into our DNA. Many traders believe they will natuarlly be able to “trade as a computer” after X amount of practice or experience. They assume these components of human nature will eventually give way and soon they will be able to trade without fear or emotions. There is a problem with this theory. We are not computers, and never will be. We are human, which means we are susceptible to emotions and fear responses that are built into us. We are also far from perfect, and full of mistakes, furthering us apart from computers. With this said, it is extremely unlikely a trader will be able to over-ride his natural insticts without slowly and gradually changing his way of thinking first. The best way to overcome fear is through exposure in small doses. For example someone who is afraid of heights, is not taken to a fifty foot cliff and forced to jump off. And he surely does not overcome this fear spontaneously, or naturally after any period of time. Instead he is slowly exposed to heights and as he gets comfortable, taken to increasingly higher points. He may jump off a ten foot cliff, then twenty, and so on until he reaches the fifty foot cliff and jumps off. It is important to realize his fear was never removed completely, but rather he was able to cope with the fear and still jump. This model can be applied to trading, whether it is slowly building a position size, executing an edge every time it is present, or getting comfortable being in the market with looming uncertainty. Fear can often be debiliating, and is a major hurdle to overcome when transitioning from an amateur to professional trader. The most common result of fear is "anaylsis paralysis" where a trader is unable to make an action due to information overload. There are many different types of fear that occur while trading. Fear of failure, success, missing out, leaving money on the table, and mistakes, just to name a few. It is normal to feel uneasy when putting on a trade or while in a position. The problem lies within hesitation when fear prevents you from entering an otherwise reasonable trade, or any other necessary market action (take profits, cut a loser, hold longer, ect). If you find yourself not entering a trade, there are only two reasons why. First, the trade does not meet your edge criteria, which is a completley valid reason to not enter a trade. The second which is a problem, is fear. When a trader stops entering trades meeting his criteria due to internal fears, he begins to cherry pick trades, and skews his traders equation. This can mean the difference between a profit and a loss at the end of a series of trades. Understanding and recognizing fear within yourself and the market is vital to profitable trading. Awareness of fear within yourself is the first step to overriding and correcting it. And recognizing fear in the market is often a good opporunity to position a profitable trade. It can also be helpful to realize fear only exists in terms of one's ego and is not actually real, only percieved. Using "Halfsky" position to overcome fear Many traders experience fear and hesitation after a series of losing or winning trades. When he passes on a trade which works, he is upset he missed out. If he enters and loses, he is upset he gave back profits. This back and forth continues to build, and again leads to cherry picking trades as he believes he can identify w
Education
by tradersmentality
Bitcoin forecast: the downtrend is NOT overSo, where are we right now? Everyone is acting like Bitcoin is doing unpredictable things and are getting liquidated. In this market context, which is a bubble burst , we have to keep in mind a couple of things before entering trades: What drives a bubble burst is market-psychology and an alternance between hope and fear : an alternance between FUD and FOMO. While inexperienced traders and emotional investors who bought the top are trying to "cover their losses" or make quick and "easy" gains using heavy leverage on small timeframe trades, experienced speculative traders are using them as fuel, and making them fall for FOMO and FUD. Shorts were at an all-time-high (which means that there are a lot of liquidations and stops to hit, this can give a huge momentum for an upward movement), we were getting dangerously close to the apex of a symmetrical-triangle, the order books were getting thinner by the minute and alt-coins have been rallying for a few days, this creates the perfect setup for a quick pump. In the context of a bubble burst, entering short term trades with heavy leverage is very risky due to the higher than usual volatility. Most inexperienced traders with poor money management will burn their accounts during such times if they use high leverage in short term trades. Now, what am I anticipating? I am anticipating a new wave downward a bit slower than the previous one which should hit a new low which I estimate to be around 4k8. In my opinion, we could have a trend reversal if we break the previous top around 8k8-9k (which is also where the desistance on the daily log chart is). Obviously this should not be taken as investment advice and this is just the scenario that I'm betting on right now. A trader will NEVER have 100% accuracy, what makes you earn money on the long term is a decent risk-management, not a god-tier accuracy.
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDShort
by TDesormiere
Volatility itself could kill the marketsThe VIX is called the 'Fear Index'. That's for a good reason. In times of high volatility what do you do? People in general stay out i.e. they sell off and keep their powder dry, or look for safe havens. They fear for their money, even if they don't admit it. As a trader you're told 'volatility is good for traders'. But really - is it? It depends on how extreme the volatility is. How many of you have stayed out of the markets simply because you cannot withstand the volatility and risk? I think there are many who do so - and they are right. No point jumping in and getting fried if you cannot take the loss (in your stop losses). The average true range on many charts are pretty high in recent times. And if your stop loss is sensibly going to two times average true range (at least), many will know that they cannot take the loss. It's this simple, do you throw your money into a volatile market, like stocks at this time - and have any degree of confidence that tomorrow morning or two months later, your assets are gonna be worth more? I think not. So logically most people will not venture much into stocks at this time. Forex markets too are becoming more volatile in the last 2 months and more so in the last week. Can you jump in and with what level of stop-losses? Most people are gonna stay away. This is about mathematics. Most people have smaller accounts and cannot withstand the volatility, so would sensibly stay out. The whole thing is connected up. The Yen and USD to Wall Street (the US30); the EURUSD to Ger30. They've got you cornered! :)) If a majority - even 51% of people - stay out, it means they've gotta liquidate, which means selling off. If this idea is right then it means there is more downside to lots of indices and possibly increased volatility on forex markets.
CBOE:VIX
by Captain_Walker
The dangers in listening to the newsI'm sharing a chart to give my sentiments about listening to the news. New traders especially tend to listen to the news and website opinions about where markets are heading. I show a bit on how I approached a particular situation on the US30. A lot of news is late and people who create news items or blogs have their own biases, based on the information they have. The news can be dangerous to trading as it can cause a trader to become apprehensive, doubtful and stay out of trade setups that may be quite sound for entry. News can be depressing and cause a trader anxiety. Some very important earthshaking news may be useful e.g. some major monetary policy change in Europe or America. But on the whole, listening to or reading news is fraught with problems. I've found that I make better decisions when I approach the markets with a kind of fearlessness described by Mark Douglas . The fearless state of mind is not 'recklessness'. It is about calmly making decisions and accepting risks in a reasonable way, based on a tested strategy. None of the above or the video is advice to traders.
FX:US30Education
by Captain_Walker
BITCOIN_M30_The fear index: V_As i said in the last 2 BTC's analisys, where i've build a levels map to identify the interesting levels area as dynamic support and resistance, i've a clear short view from 10.800 based on several long period patterns which are showing much more realative weakness than relative strenght. Long period approaches presenting a nice and wide bear channel coming from the last bull-run where most of the small investors has bought, and lost money. As shown in the chart, let's look about the historical volatility increasing, we know that the fear index is mean-reverting, so the V use to increase and decrease during the time, but it tends to come back to the average. That's a simple concept, but it works. For this reason, as the previous analisys published, i prefer to consider each kind of ONLY SHORT pattern starting from M15 to Daily frames. All the levels are published, and could be taken as a "green or red light" to place/close a buy/sell order following your personal method's rules. I will update soon all the levels map, adding much more financial instruments, starting from simple and forecastable Cryptos crossing Forex Maj, global indices, bonds , commodities closing with Economic indicators overview . I'm glad to announce that i've just started a project based on data analisys, business analitycs and the merging with trading approaches. Our target is to spread, share, write and design what we love and what we do day by day with passion and ethics. E-CHAOS (www.instagram.com)
BITFINEX:BTCUSDShort
by E_Trade
BTC, The moon is in the well.Have you ever read the story about the fox, the wolf and the moon? It was written by La Fontaine. To sum things up, the wolf wanted to reach the moon but an optical illusion made him chase it down a well...where he drawned. This tale is both simple to understand and actual since people are still trying to chase a "moon" that could definitely hurt them. Aside from that, the analysis shows a bear market. No news in that. The 8k support level I identified on Jan 17th (see related ideas) still holds, with a second support at around 5500$ in case the first one is broken with supporting volumes. Notice the "death cross" on the 12,26 MACD...this fall is not supposed to stop soon. The entire Bitcoin cycle is definitely into the "fear/capitulation" phase. No wonder things escalated pretty quickly. Best trade here is no trade and keep liquidity. As usual this is not a trading advice, merely my idea. Stay safe out there!
BITSTAMP:BTCUSDShort
by SteveEnnom