Corporate News

25 Feb, 08:03

The Five Deadly Sins of Trading

Trading Strategy - Teletrade Trading in financial instruments is not about you and the markets; it’s about you and yourself. The saying goes that your worst enemy is yourself and this can become very clear once in the trading arena. Mastering the psychology of trading is one of the most difficult challenges for a trader, as poor management of emotions can often lead to misjudgment and great losses.

Many traders from time to time have a feeling of an invisible force reaching into their trading account and stealing their hard-earned money. It doesn’t seem to matter how skillful they are or how many years of experience they have on their backs, they just cannot seem to stop it from mugging their money.

So, the main question is how do you prevent this inexplicable force? Regardless of whether you are an experienced trader or a novice investor, the ability to prevent the theft of your money is associated to how well you overcome the five sins of trading. For each sin represents an element of the force that ravages your trading account. A clear identification of them enables the intelligent investor to stay out of trouble, by lighting the way to combat his individual weaknesses.

We shall, therefore, take a look at these five dreadful sins and demonstrate how they affect a trader from following a logical and systematic approach to trading.

#1. Fear

Fear of taking losses can lead to even further losses. A trader, for example, may enter a trade and set his stop loss 20 pips away according to his trading strategy. However, if he senses fear, he may overreact and close the position too early, just because the price movement has temporarily gone against him. In the event that the trade proves to be successful, then the investor has converted a winning transaction into a failed one, simply out of fear.

Another situation of experiencing fear, is when a trader closes his position right after it becomes profitable and not letting it run its full course, because he is afraid to lose that profit. In case that the transaction moves towards his profit target, then he sentenced a great win to a much smaller one. These reactions eventually transform a money-making strategy into a failed one, as the trader minimizes the amount of successful trades or decreases his overall profit, because he is afraid of losing.

#2. Greed

When feelings of greed overtake a trader, he diverges from his initial trading strategy in his quest to harness all the profit he can get. This emotion causes him to hang on winning positions too long, trying to get every last pip. This trait can be devastating in terms of returns, as the trader is always running the risk of getting blown out of a position.

Normally, a trader places his profit target to a certain point, based on a fundamental or technical reasoning. When he experiences greed, he does not close the trade when his strategy indicates to do so, and goes for more profit. In that case, there is a great possibility that the trade can turn against him, ending up with less gains, or even worse, a loss. This implies that he actually reduced the profitability of his strategy in his attempt to increase his profit out of greed.

#3. Gambling

A trader who is trading just for the sake of trading or just for the excitement of being in the game, is simply gambling. The key difference between trading and gambling is information. The less information you have, the more likely the odds are that you are gambling your money. A person who is trading without a trading strategy and without any sound information, is completely exposed to the random whims of markets.

A fundamental trader who responds instinctively to the latest economic news, without looking at the previous market forecasts and counterpart data on the other currency, is gambling his money. Likewise, a technical trader who only considers five minute charts to estimate his support and resistance lines, is also gambling. Whereas, a trader who examines the economic calendar, scrutinizes the hourly, daily, weekly and monthly charts, estimates Fibonacci retracement positions and only takes action when multiple time frames endorse his analysis, has a much greater chance of success.

#4. Lack of discipline

A lack of discipline to follow your trading plan is a major ingredient of the crash and burn recipe. If the way you look at a chart or assess a prospective trade entry is different from the way you did it a few weeks ago, then you have either not defined a methodology that works for you or you lack discipline to follow the strategy you have developed. The formula for trading success is to religiously follow a proven strategy.

The reason that following a solid trading strategy is so important, is because prices make rapid movements towards either direction on short notice and force the traders to react quickly. To make a good decision, you need discipline, so that you stick with your formerly defined trading plan and know when to take profit and losses. Improvising or following your gut instinct, simply can’t work for trading.

#5. Lack of patience

As trading is an inherently exciting activity due to its money-making nature, it is easy to feel like you’re missing the thrill, if you don’t place a trade. This lack of patience results in spreading yourself too thin by placing trades of lesser and lesser quality and thus over-trading.

In order to overcome your lack of patience, you have to remind yourself that every week, there is another trade of the year. In other words, do not worry about missing an opportunity today, because there will be another great one tomorrow, next week and next month.

Trading with success is not an easy endeavour. It requires hard work. But this hard work can be very rewarding, as large profit is attainable and the sense of fulfillment one feels after a few good transactions is absolutely priceless. To get to that point, however, you must first fight your own worst enemy that holds you back and steals money from your trading account. Once you acknowledge and master the particular mind-traps you tend to fall into, you will find your trading results significantly improved.

15 Sep, 11:26

Dear TeleTrade Clients, Please view the following changes to trading sessions of the below CFD instruments on Monday, September 18, 2023, due to Respect for the Aged Day in Japan:  Asset...

06 Sep, 11:30

NICOSIA, August 2023 - TeleTrade Europe https://www.teletrade.eu/acuity-and-signalcentre is thrilled to announce an innovative collaboration that will empower traders with unparalleled insights and opportunities....

31 Aug, 10:23

Dear TeleTrade Clients, Please view the following changes to trading sessions of the below CFD instruments on Monday, September 4th, 2023, due to United States Labor Day: Asset...

24 Aug, 08:54

Dear TeleTrade Clients, Please view the following changes to trading sessions of the below CFD instruments on Monday August 28th 2023 and Tuesday, August 29th, 2023, due to the Summer Bank Holiday...

© 2011-2023 TeleTrade-DJ International Consulting Ltd

This website is operated by TeleTrade-DJ International Consulting Ltd which is registered with the Department of Registrar of Companies and Intellectual Property of the Companies of the Republic of Cyprus as a private limited company with registration number HE272810 and is authorized by the Cyprus Securities and Exchange Commission ("CySEC") to act as a licensed Cyprus Investment Firm ("CIF") with license number 158/11. TeleTrade-DJ International Consulting Ltd operates in accordance with Markets in Financial Instruments Directive (MiFID).

The content on this website is for information purposes only. All the services and information provided have been obtained from sources deemed to be reliable. Teletrade-DJ International Consulting Ltd ("TeleTrade") and/or any third-party information providers provide the services and information without warranty of any kind. By using this information and services you agree that under no circumstances shall TeleTrade have any liability to any person or entity for any loss or damage in whole or part caused by reliance on such information and services.

TeleTrade cooperates exclusively with regulated financial institutions for the safekeeping of clients' funds. Please see the entire list of banks and payment service providers entrusted with the handling of clients' funds.

Teletrade-DJ International Consulting Ltd currently provides its services on a cross-border basis, within EEA states (except Belgium) under the MiFID passporting regime, and in selected 3rd countries. TeleTrade does not provide its services to residents or nationals of the USA.

Please read our full Terms of Use.

To maximise our visitors' browsing experience, TeleTrade uses cookies in our web services. By continuing to browse this site you agree to our use of cookies.

Risk Warning: Trading Forex and CFDs on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 64.58% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Prior to trading, you should take into consideration your level of experience and financial situation. TeleTrade strives to provide you with all the necessary information and protective measures, but, if the risks seem still unclear to you, please seek independent advice.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 64.58% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.
Choose your language/location