The Daily Market Forecast... the re-focus hack

Today’s Lesson: Re-focus

Novice traders focus on how much they are winning and losing. Every entry, hoping for a winner. Every stopped exit, wishing it didn’t happen. This is incredibly destructive behavior. You’re teasing your emotions, begging them to overrule your common sense.

Here’s how to stop:

1. You have a rule-based trade plan (if not, get one or quit trading).
2. You’ve been documenting every trade opportunity including the trades you didn’t take.
3. Your database of evidence is rich, hundreds of trades, maybe thousands.
4. You know the win/loss percentage of your strategy.
5. You know the average winning and losing trade in dollars.
6. Calculate the net gain and divide by the total number of trades.

Now you know the amount of money you make every time you click to enter regardless of outcome. That is what your mind should be focused on when a trade setup triggers. Not winning or losing. But knowing with statistical relevance that over the long haul your strategy earns $X per trade.

For example, in our volatility reversal strategy trading gold futures, the average gain per trade is $2.15. That’s $215 trading GC or $21.50 trading MGC. If you were confident in that result, why would you focus on winners and losers? Why focus on how much you’re up or down today? Why ride the emotional roller-coaster? Re-focus. Think about the big picture.  Trade Well,

Mike Siewruk

P.S. Join us every Saturday morning @ 10:00 ET for our weekly LookBack (5) trade review session. Every trade for the week is analyzed. Now open to the public. Meet the team. Ask questions. Register here.