Developing Your Trading Psychology Process

Many traders work on developing a trading process that captures what they define as opportunity and how they want to implement that opportunity. 

How many traders have a process for trading psychology?  As I note below, this will be the topic of an upcoming four hour seminar for traders at Trading Expo.

A trading psychology process is one in which we systematically engage in the activities that place us in a peak performance mindset.

That means we need to study our mindsets and identify the factors that aid our performance and factors that hinder.  Once we identify what helps us be in the right mindset for trading, we can begin to assemble those elements into repeatable processes.

One of the keys to success is creating processes that are so intrinsically rewarding that you will *love* engaging in them.  That is what helps you engage in the right activities daily, and that is what creates positive habit patterns.

Some of the elements of peak performance that I've observed among successful traders include:

*  Pre-trading rituals to prepare for various market scenarios;
*  Meditation, biofeedback, self-hypnosis and similar activities to increase our focus;
*  Mental rehearsal of plans for the day;
*  Physical exercise to be energized for the day;
*  Taking breaks to renew concentration and stay in the right mindset;
*  Constructive self-talk through the trading day;
*  Looking at markets through multiple lenses to see fresh sources of opportunity and threat.

It's when we assemble these kinds of practices into daily routines that we take control of our trading psychology.

So, about that trading psychology seminar:

On February 26th, I'll be at the New York City Traders Expo and will offer a four-hour workshop on the best practices of best traders--and how we can implement them in our own trading.  The beauty of a four-hour workshop is that we will have ample time for coaching:  applying the ideas to our specific situations and finding ways to create processes we will so love that we will naturally make them daily routines.

The bottom line is that trading psychology has to be something we do, not just something we think about.  I look forward to working with you on the doing!

Further Reading:  Four Pillars of Trading Process
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