Forex can be stressful, it’s one of the things that are told to us over and over again especially when things are going the wrong way, but does it need to be stressful? There are things that we can do that help us to reduce the amount of stress that we are put under and ultimately to show us that forex trading really isn’t anything to be stressed about.
Why can it be stressful?
It is important that we understand why trading can be stressful and in the right situation, it can be very stressful. Each and every person will have different feelings and will have different reactions to how the markets are going and also how their individual trading is going. Stress often comes from losses, when we lose it is not a nice feeling, as soon as we take a loss we have lost a bit of our money, money that we like. If that money is money that we actually could not afford to lose, then the stress levels will continue to rise further. For many stress can also come upon us when a trade is in the red, we can see it going the wrong way and this can cause us to worry that we will lose some additional money. Stress can come at any time and so we need to work out how we can work through it and help to reduce it.
Use proper risk management.
Take regular breaks.
At times it will be impossible to prevent any stress from building up, so then we will need to try and deal with it. One of the best ways to do this is to simply take a break, breaks are a fantastic way for us to reduce our stress levels. Getting away from what is causing the stress is the first step, it will prevent any new thoughts or new stresses from being added to the equation. Secondly, being away and doing something else will help to take our minds off of things that are already causing us stress. This way we think about something rose, something else that gives us enjoyment or at least doesn’t add to the stress. Doing this regularly can help you to regulate the stress that you are under. Do this regularly, multiple times a day, it is even a good idea to do it even if you aren’t currently experiencing stress. Just ensure that you are not sitting in front of the computer for hours and hours without any breaks. Coming back with a clear and calm mind can really help you to improve your productivity and trading results.
Ensure we trade with money we can afford to lose.
The golden rule of trading and investing, only to trade with money that you can afford to lose. It remains true in this situation too and is certainly a way to help prevent certain stresses that you would otherwise experience. Think about it, you deposit some money that you actually need for your rent as an example, how would you feel as a trade goes into the red? You will be in a constant state of stress and panic, you are about to lose the money that you need for your rent and you won’t be able to say it this month. Why would you put yourself under that? Reduce or completely remove that level of stress by only trading with what you can afford to lose. If it will affect your life, do not trade with it. Also do not borrow money or take a loan in order to trade, that just puts you in debt and you will end up owing a lot of money should things go the wrong way.
Understand that losses are a part of trading.
Losses are a part of trading, a big part of them, every single person that has ever traded (apart from those that only do a single trade) will have experienced losses, all of the most successful traders in the world have experienced losses and a lot of them. In fact, they are so much a part of trading that we factor them into our trading through our trading strategies and risk management. Ever heard of the risk to reward ratio? This is where we decide how much we will risk with each trade and how much we want to win. Knowing this means that we know exactly how much we might lose with each trade and that each trade is actually a fantastic way for us to learn from what we have done and for us to improve. Look at why the trade lost and what we can do differently.
Those are five of the reasons why you should stop stressing about your trading. We understand that trading can be stressful, of course, it can, anything to do with money can be. It is important that we do what we can to reduce those stresses, if things get too stressful it can make us want to quit entirely, so try and include and think about the things that we mentioned above, it will help you to be calmer when trading and in the long run will enable you to be a much more successful trader.
