Attachment to money when trading


If you have read some of the other posts of my blog, you will have seen that I mentioned attachment to money as one of the reasons why people fail in trading. In case you think I am cooking up someone elses broth here and rehashing old ideas, this isnt the case. I believe a study of attachment to money as regards trader failure is a first.


First we should examine attachment to money. What I mean by this is a trader who is unable to detach himself from the fact that in the final outcome money is at stake when you are trading. Successful traders tend to put to one side the fact that money is in play. They can do this because they have very carefully structured trading plans and they use tight risk controls, with profit and loss targets. They tend to think of achievement in terms of success when compared their trading blueprint rather than the number of  pounds taken out of the market. A good trader isnt going to congratulate himself if he takes 1K out of the market having second guessed his method, especially when his trading plan dictates that the profit target on the particular trade in question was 2.5K

Traders who are attached to money will always be looking at a trade in terms of Pounds Sterling they will never be able to detach themselves from the fact the ultimate measure of their market success or otherwise is the bottom line.


If you feel you are such a trader then you need to consider why this is. My guess is that you probably do not have sufficient structure in your trading plan, you are not aware of what it is you need to do in the market to succeed and you have no clear methodology. Without a plan you will never be sure of your trading, never truly be happy with what you are doing and this will induce fear. The fear will in turn cause you to always consider the negative aspects of trading, one of which is that you can lose your capital. You will still be attached to your money.

 

If you would like to talk trading then drop me a line.

 

This article has been published with permission. You can contact the author by emailing paul@exacttrading.com if you need any help or have any questions regarding the articles.