With today’s market, how are you handling your trading?

The uncertainty is uncomfortable.

Some feel that the devil they know is better than the one they don’t know.

What are your options in these markets?

1.     Know your Personal Risk Profile (PRP) 

This is about knowing who you are and how you react under different market conditions. It is about finding out if your PRP matches the strategies that you have in place.

2.     Lessen your Input

These days, everybody is talking about the markets and how it is impacting their lives. Limit the amount of your conversations and filter the information you are hearing or reading.

There is a quote by Warren Buffett that “A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought.” 

3.     Manage your Expectation

Frustration comes when we have unmet expectations. We assume that we should have a crystal ball and know what is going to happen. Worse, we think, “How come markets do these things to us?”

The truth of the matter is that the markets are neutral and they do not care. It is about us and what our expectations of the markets are.

Epictetus has a saying: “We are not troubled by things themselves, but by our thoughts about them.”

4.     Be Flexible

When you notice the market changes, ask yourself if the assumptions that you entered the trade, are still valid. If they aren’t, then get out of the trade. 

When you do, you give yourself a chance to think clearly and come from a more objective place.

James Dean says, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.”

5.     Manage your Energy

Where is your focus? Are you focusing on the challenges or on the solutions? Do the activities that you are involved in energize you or drain you?

Who are the people around you? Do you feel more inspired or discouraged after spending time with them?

If you don’t mange your energy and set boundaries, others will do it for you.

Charles Darwin says, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Here is to making trading success your habit™,

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