Trade Your Fear For Profits

Hey it's Natascha, co-founder of Trader Prophets.

Today, I want to share with you some of the struggles our traders face and how we have worked with them to overcome these.

I'll also share with you some tips, tricks, tools and insights that have helped our traders enhance their trading performance to go on and then achieve consistent results.

Having worked with some of the world's best traders and investors for many years now my team and I have had the privilege of working closely with over 10,000 traders across the globe, with traders at various levels and from all different walks of life.

This has given me great insight into what a traders journey entails and the problems all traders encounter when trying to reach their financial goals.

The Problem

Two key questions I get asked the most are:

1. How do I stay consistent in my trading performance?
2. How do I prevent my emotions from affecting my trading performance?

To help us answer these we first have to look at the underlying issues. So, today, we will be focusing on FEAR and its influence in trading. We'll also be starting at the very beginning of the trading process.

For many of you who have been following us for some time you know that our students adhere to the five basic steps to trading:

1. Selection
2. Timing
3. Risk
4. Trade execution
5. Review

In any one of these stages fear can cloud your judgement.

The Solution

Let's start with fear in the selection phase as that's usually the first place traders trip up.

Have you ever not placed a trade you so badly wanted to get into because you were scared of losing money? Even though you've seen this setup before and it worked well last time and even though it meets all the rules of your strategy?

Don't worry, you are not alone! So many traders don't enter into positions because they are dominated by their fear of losing money. No matter how great your strategy is or how experienced a trader you are, there are, and always be, variables beyond your control. Of course, a proper strategy with clear rules and risk management principles when you're on a winning streak and losing streak can help limit the risk.

Consistency Through Experience

However, nothing trumps experience in the market. And the only way to develop proper experience is to be consistent with your approach and methodology. What has been a game changer for our students is to focus on being consistent, regardless of winning or losing. That's because you no longer concentrate on the fear of trading or winning or losing. You're focus is solely on the process rather than the outcome. Of course, when you first start out the whole trading process has an element of uncertainty. But once you accept this certain uncertainty, are ready to live, lose, learn and move on, if the worst case scenario does occur, you can be a consistently successful trader.

Now comes the most important question and one that I get asked all the time in coaching sessions and our workshops:

How Do I Make This Uncertainty Manageable?

There are a few ways to do this above what's already been mentioned.

Firstly, choose the best strategy for you. Choose a strategy that suits your character, style of trading and lifestyle. No one trader trades exactly the same way and that's a good thing. Embrace being different and your edge over everyone else.

Secondly, identify the key conditions to implement your strategy and then focus on identifying setups that meets these conditions. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Remember, "In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity" (Susan Jefferson). So, if it meets the rules, feel the fear and do it anyway!

Thirdly, follow traders who have ten times more experience than you. Their courage and consistency in trading volatile markets will help you navigate yourself. In our Golden Playbook membership our best traders and investment managers share exclusively with you what they trade, why the trade it and when they will trade it. Learning from the best and brightest helps our students develop that trader muscle which helps develop consistency and that trader instinct.

Also, be rule based. However many emotions you have before entering a trade, once you have a vested interest in a position, reason could go out the window. You are at your most objective before you're in the trade. Once you're in it, then adjusting your trade is at the whim of your emotions. Manage your trade, manage your state.

Lastly, review and be honest. Did I stick to my rules? If not, why not? Which trades won and which trades lost? What's the common pattern? When working with my traders we always start the review with:

What should have been vs What is

It can be quite confrontational to see how sticking to your rules could have paid off. This is great leverage for change to occur.

Where Do You Go From Here?

The 5 steps listed above are hugely important for a beginner and seasoned trader. In fact, our students who have been consistently profitable the longest, over many years, still do these basics.

If they do it, why aren't you?

For many, it's because they want to prove themselves right they can do this without any help. As many people see help as a type of failure. Remember this: As a trader it is not your job to be right. It is your job to make money. Fortunately you don't have to be right or win on every trade to be a profitable trader. You don't need infallible certainty in each trade. But you need enough confidence in your overall trading ability to keep taking trading setups when your edge occurs.

Of course, whilst many people have the fear of getting into the trade in case it's a loser, the other side of that coin is the fear of missing out. Just realise, this isn't Pokemon and you don't have to catch them all! Sure, trading is about taking risks, calculated risks that is. Just taking a chance should be reserved for the lottery. If a trade does not meet your rules, it could make you a profit. However:

"winning a battle here and there does not make you win the war."

It is OK to feel fear, fear only reminds you that you are human. Don't let fear guide your decisions and don't stay in this state too long. Fear and doubt cost a lot of energy. More importantly, it creates a habit around decision making that will carry over in other aspects of your life. After all, how you do anything is how you do everything. Acknowledge the fear and answer with reason. You have set out a strategy, now get onboard with it. Keep the end game and the game plan in mind!

Master peak performance coach Tony Robbins has one tip on how to overcome fear. Robbins does not engage in the internal debates too long, he goes back to the bigger picture and goes with the option that aligns with that, come rain or sunshine. He follows through on that decision and gives it no further energy. In order to help you trade with the bigger picture in mind I have a very special gift for you.

If you click on this link you'll get free, instant access to our FREE Trading as a Business Starter Pack: https://www.traderprophets.com

Natascha Sing is an investor, lawyer, entrepreneur and wealth strategist. Considered an authority on achieving peak performance through the financial markets and mastering wealth psychology, she has worked with some of the biggest institutions, financial investment houses and individual traders and investors around the world.

Through the birth of Trader Prophets, Natascha has bought together a world renowned team of traders, investors, peak performance psychologists and wealth masters to empower, educate and inspire over 15,000 people over 6 continents through her audio, video and live training programs.

With a team of over fifty years collective experience in the world's financial markets, Trader Prophets is a global leader in trader education equipping anyone, from any background with the right tools, strategy and plan to achieve success from the markets.

Whether trading Forex, Stocks or Commodities the live online trainings, workshops, coaching and personalised support has been a game changer in taking beginners with zero or little knowledge of the financial markets into confident, successful Master Traders.