Trading Psychology Management Group

In November of 1997, I started a trading group after the prompting from four other traders that I had met through a group that we were a part of.  Basically I had 'picked it up', and they wanted me to leave that group and start one of our own, in order to 'teach' them how to trade. 

One day soon after we got started, I had asked one of the guys in the group how things were going; they told me that they were getting killed.  I normally would have said what's wrong-what happened, but for some reason I started laughing and said, 'if you are dead, at least you won't have to trade any more'. 

We then started discussing what was going on, and how these kinds-any kinds of exaggerated responses 'spiraled' emotions, and as this continued there was no way that they were thinking about method, or trading their method.  We also discussed whether they could remember when the thought first came into their mind, and what were the preceding trades that had been done - were these base method trades that the trade risk had been accepted for, or were these some 'other' trades and/or situation where the actual loss was larger than the accepted risk.

The trader had been over trading indicators inside of congestion, lost $150 each of two trades, and then lost $300 on a third trade, as they assumed the congestion would at least hold and they didn't 'take their stop'.  It was this third trade that 'killed' him, a combination of non-method trade losses follow by the bigger loss AND also 'knowing' that the trade that they wouldn't exit had coincided with a base method trade that wasn't done - a trade that was a big enough winner to have covered the two losing trades and be net ahead BUT this trade was never done.

This is when I remember starting to discuss trading psychology management as a concept, and how a trader typically gets involved with a series of non-method actions and decisions, leading to an escalation in emotions, where the emotions now direct anything further that the trader does - where emotion replaces method.  As result my approach in teaching trading became additionally focused upon learning progression, and the understanding of method selectivity, along with the idea that discretion based upon method strengths could be done in a repetitive and non-random way.

Interestingly, my own trading has always continued to improve as result of being accountable as a trading educator, as well, I have also found out through the years that I have very much enjoyed teaching; these being the basic reasons why I have continued Tactical Trading this long.

Trading Psychology Management Group Objectives

I have done many things through the years with trading-managing-education, and have always wanted to start a group that wasn't related only to the teaching of a specific method, but that was involved with learning to trade and controlling trading psychology through the concept of trading psychology management.  I want this to be relevant to anyone who is involved with day trading a method, and feels that they are being held back by their trading psychology issues and/or trading learning approach.

I would like to do this by continually providing discussion-training resources derived from my own personal experiences, as well as those attained from working with many traders through out the years.  I also want to establish an active trading psychology management forum, a place where we can work together as a group, identifying and discussing the various trading psychology and trading method learning issues and problems that exist.

What Is The Trading Psychology Management Forum

TPM Forum

Click the link above, and you will be able to see what the forum looks like; it's a place where the group will be able to read posts-reply to posts-initiate posts - all in an effort to enable group trading progression.

What are you thinking now?  Are you thinking that you would like to read what others are saying, but you don't want to participate yourself?  Why are you thinking this?  Is it maybe because you feel that it's bad enough that you have problems, you sure don't need others to know about them?  Or is it because you don't think that you have anything valuable to add to the group?

Whatever you may be thinking, I can only tell you that if you will work as part of a group that has common issues and goals, committed to getting help and answers for your problems so that you can go forward, or providing help to others because of things that you have been able to accomplish for yourself - you will find this to be very beneficial to both yourself personally, and to the group as a whole.  You don't have a problem that someone else doesn't also have, or hasn't had, there is nothing to be embarrassed about AND everyone has something of benefit to contribute.

Join The Trading Psychology Management Group

 

Trading Psychology Management Group Membership

 

If you have any questions, or need any other information, you may contact me at blutz@tradingpsychologymanagement.com