How to Deal with Losing Trades in the Forex.
Can we avoid losing trades?
The
simple truth about trading the forex markets is that there is no way
any trader can go without experiencing a losing trade. Getting to grips
with this fact will hopefully mean we are able to learn to accept that
trades can fail and in doing so should prevent them from having any
adverse reaction on our trading. There is no magic formula out there to
remove them from trading and so learning to let them become a part of
our trading business is the first step we need to take.
The
results a trader achieves in their career will never be as a result of
any kind of luck, or having a lucky mascot sat on their desk. The forex
markets must be viewed as an untameable beast and so trading boils down
to a very simple game of probability and learning to find and take the
high probability trades is the aim of the game.
The reasons for losing trades.
Trying
to trick ourselves into thinking losing trades don’t exist or are a bad
habit we can remove from trading is not realistic. Yes, we want to
remove the poorly chosen trades and focus our attentions on only taking
the very best trades. However, removing them from trading completely is
an impossible task and being able to accept losing trades is just a must
if we want to move on.
Losing trades can be caused by many
different reasons, sometimes they can be due to human error, like taking
a trade from a weak level or using a weak price action signal, etc….
but other times the trades that look great, which tick all the boxes,
still result in a failure. This can confuse traders because when they
spot a great setup they automatically see a winning trade rather than a
trade setup that yes may look great and have a high chance of working
out but still understand that there is a chance although much lower,
that it could fail.
The forex markets are all about playing the
probability game and learning which trades have a high chance of being
successful and which have a lower chance of being successful and then
using this information to give us our edge.
No trade should be looked at as a “certainty”.
How to deal with losing trades
Understanding
that losing trades are just another part of trading that we need to
deal with, allows us to cope with the losses much more professionally.
The reaction to a losing trade should be the same as for a winning
trade, the only difference being the outcome. If we enter trades using
strict rules and from key levels then the trades we take should be
consistently very similar. Remember every trade we take is just another
trade in a long list of trades and this should help to give us
perspective and realise that we have to take the losing and winning
trades equally as well.
The biggest hurdle is to de-personalise
the forex markets and removing the emotion from trading, emotions can be
very easily added to trading but this can cause a whole heap of bad
habits.
If the losing trades leaves a bad taste in your mouth and
the winning trades make you feel on top of the world. You are trading
with emotion, its fine to feel proud of your achievements but letting
the trade results impact on your trading is very unprofessional. We need
to keep a cool head at all times.
The markets are not a tool to
be used to make you feel good about yourself. If anything they have the
power to do the opposite, any weaknesses we possess will be exposed I
guarantee.
It’s impossible to know before entering any trade what
the outcome of each trade will be and wasting our time on guessing how
it will play out is pointless. The simple fact is that the markets are
able to do what they like at any point, irrespective of what we think.
Once we enter a trade the markets are in control and all we can do is
manage the trades to our best ability.
The biggest reason traders
can find themselves riding a losing streak, is because they let the
first losing trade affect their trading to a point where they start to
trade with emotion, these emotions can cause problems like, a fear of
trading or trading to get back the money lost are very destructive
indeed and a habit we don’t want to get into.
A losing trade can
do all kinds of detrimental things to a trader mind-set, for example,
they can lose faith in their technique, or over analyse trades and
simply end up just going round in circles. What’s scary is that this
downward spiral of over thinking and trade paralysis can happen very
quickly and be caused by just one losing trade.
If we experience
the feelings that the markets are out to get us or against us in some
way after a losing trade, we really need to reassess our mind-set for
trading.
Learning to live with the losses.
The
fact is we have to learn how to deal with losing trades and accept them
as part of being a trader. No single trader will trade without them and
so letting the losers come and not allowing them to affect our overall
trading style is the big challenge.
If you are unable to stomach
the losses then trading is going to be an even bigger struggle. The
ability of a losing trade to raise questions about our whole trading
technique really highlights if a trader does truly believe in themselves
or if they are not really that confident in their trading style of
choice.
The best advice I can pass on, is to learn how to draw a
line after each trade and start a fresh, trying not to dwell too much on
the previous trade and let it affect our overall trading. Each trade is
just a number in a long list of trades you will take.
Author.
My name is Jeremy Poor, I am a professional Forex
trader and my aim is to help aspiring traders to learn all about trading
the Forex using
Price Action
and where to look and hunt for the best trades. With lots Forex
articles, videos and a dedicated price action forum to look at, its a
great place to learn how to become consistently profitable at
trading the Forex.