Mindfulness in trading
On my previous posts, I spoke to you about FOMO and other FEARS in trading...one of the most powerful way to overcome those fears, is to practice mindfulness.
When I started my trading journey, I was extremely impatient, I got easily frustrated and I can't control my emotions. I improved with time, although it is still very hard, but good practice made us better. I spoke to my trading coach about the difficulties I encountered and he wisely guide me through the practice of mindfulness.
Many might think that mindfulness is limited only to the wise ones, the monks and the religious. You will be surprised knowing how many World leaders, entrepreneurs, and legendary traders / investors are practicing mindfulness on a daily basis.
But what is mindfulness?
Mindfulness is the process of bringing one's attention to the present moment. When your mind is fully attending to what’s happening, to what you’re doing, to the space you’re moving through. Mindfulness is the ability to be fully present, and not overly reactive or overwhelmed by what’s going on around us.
Mindfulness is not easy, but it can be cultivated through proven techniques, particularly seated, walking, standing, and moving meditation; short pauses we insert into everyday life.
How mindfulness can help us to be better traders?
When you look at your trading charts, what do you see? Are you confused by all the indicators? Do you get annoyed by the latest news? Do you feel lost and insecure by your setups?
When we’re mindful, we reduce stress, enhance performance, gain insight and awareness through observing our own mind, and increase our attention to others’ well-being.
3 simple steps on how to apply mindfulness?
1) A simple mindfulness exercise is simply paying attention to your breathing. Breath in, breath out, follow the airflow that goes into your nostril and fills your lungs when you breath in, and the air that empty out of lungs and flow out of your nostril when you breath out. Pay close attention to everything involved with your breathing (the breath in, the air filling up your lungs, the rhythm, the breath out, your diaphragm rising and falling).
2) If while you’re concentrating on your breathing, your mind starts to wonder with other thoughts, recognize the distraction and focus your attention back onto your breathing.
3) The more minutes you can stack together, the better you’ll get at being mindful.
Practice Mindfulness When You Trade
1) Preparation
As trader you must be prepared. It means that you’re always ready and alert to what is happening in the present moment and don’t need to "interpret" the information as it presents itself to you. Have a detailed framework that you can depend on as new information comes in. Follow your process and trading plan diligently.
2) Observation
These observations must be unbiased. Understand what you are looking will cut down the amount of stress you will feel when trading. You must at all time remain focused on the task you are doing. As you become more adept of mindfulness, you are able to pay attention to what truly matters, and distractions are less of an issue.
3) Calmness
As trader, its not always easy to stay calm, specially on a very volatile market like we are experiencing since February 2018. Being calm as a trader is not always easy. Taking trades from an emotional state of mind ultimately leads to big losses.
Remaining calm, centered and ready to act is what every serious trader should be striving for.Understand that losing trades is part of the game.
Mindfulness practice will make you realize the importance of the present moment, and help you get rid of all the superfluous information and noise.
Here's the link to the 28 days mindfulness challenge in trading I took.
VTL
