Is emotion free trading even possible?

For those of you who are just starting out, this may not seem like it is that big a problem. I mean, surely if you know you have a good method that makes money, isn’t it easy to just stick with it and laugh all the way to the bank. Unfortunately for those of us that have been trading for a while, controlling our emotional impulses while trading is one of the hardest things to do.

Trading is really quite different from everything else we do. For example, there are so many black and white outcomes available to us in our environment. If we choose to take an action like pressing the power button on our computer, it will most likely come on or if you turn the key in the lock the door will probably open.  These are things that we make consciously happen because we are changing the environment around us.

In trading we cannot control what a stock or the market is going to do, so we cannot control the environment. No matter how much you want your stocks to go up, they don’t always cooperate. So we can’t just turn the lock or push the button to make things happen. The only thing we can do is continually control our actions, which is much easier said than done.

So finding the best technical method or mechanical system is really only half the battle.

“A person with good self-discipline but a poor trading method will outperform a person with poor self-discipline but the best trading method currently available” Larry Levin

Having discipline is the best friend we have in trading. But only if you learn self-discipline, it is the most important concept there is and without it your mistakes will only frustrate you. In fact if you make a mistake, physiologically it is best to clean it up immediately and not wait for it to become a bigger problem.