How to tackle anxiety when you trade
http://tradingcomposure.com/how-to-tackle-anxiety-when-you-trade/
Here are some of the usual suspects that provoke anxiety in trading…
⦿ Taking trades that doesn’t fit into a sound methodology
⦿ Past loss (or string of losses)
⦿ Trading with money you can’t afford to lose
…
And we’ve all heard the antidotes…
⦿ Figure out a methodology that identifies a reliable edge in the markets and devise a plan that allows you to take advantage of that edge
⦿ Keep your risk and position size small
⦿ Trade with money you can afford to lose
⦿ Trade a thoroughly tested strategy that you understand and like
…
Now, here’s my take…
But first, let me start by telling you that I certainly wouldn’t claim to think that I’m above issues related to anxiety in trading… at best I’m just adequate at dealing with them. One thing I’ve learned is that any difficulty fades away with time if you just keep practicing. Engagement leads to success.
Now, Meditation is certainly helpful during that process of change and improvement. I know it can be daunting to learn to meditate, and busy people certainly find it difficult to set time aside to cultivate a regular practice.
There’s a saying in Zen that goes like this,
“you should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you’re too busy; then you should sit for an hour.”
That being said, if you really and absolutely can’t find time, then try this: get into the habit of becoming mindful of your breath!
You can do it in one minute or less, several times during the day. It’s a natural way to meditate and it doesn’t require that you sit for 20-30 minutes. However, there’s a caveat: this method entails that you take 10-20 inhales and exhales with an utmost presence of mind.
For best results, keep an upright posture so that your body and mind are well balanced. When you feel anxious, as discursive thoughts and bodily sensations pop into your awareness, observe them with soft attention in a non-judgemental way. Bring your focus gently back to your breath.
Feel the anxiety. What is it? Is it not just a sensation of energy in the body? Anxiety has no philosophical or psychological content whatsoever, it is just a bodily symptom just like indigestion. You wouldn’t read a pattern of sensation in your abdomen after a heavy meal and imagine that it says something negative about you as a person, would you?
Yet, that is what we do when we feel anxious. Something about it suggests that it lands more at the core of who we are — a fearful person — and because of that, it becomes a vicious cycle that can be difficult to eradicate.
Again, I suggest practicing this easy “micro-meditation” a few times during the day, not only when you feel anxious. You’ll notice that it brings you right back home to the present moment.
Learning to guide our mind away from unskillful emotions, like anxiety, fear, or anger, and towards kindness, patience and compassion is a wonderful way to enhance our life and bring about well-being. Mindfulness meditation allows you to choose your experience of life in this very moment because the present, however you look at it, is all you have! The rest is just imagination – it doesn’t exist!
But meditation alone is insufficient. Once again, you have to do the things you’re afraid of doing if you want to rid yourself of fear.
Final words…
It’s worth pushing past anxiety. From a biological standpoint, it’s just a hormonal cascade that you can just become willing to feel and be interested in. Again, just sit with it without trying or wanting to push it away. And just keep doing what makes you feel anxious. Whether it’s your trading signals that you can’t take as they appear, or other trades that you can’t seem to trail for maximum profits, keep doing what makes you feel uncomfortable, however hard. With time, you’ll get better at it.
