There's an old saying that when the going gets tough, the tough get going. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and the Forex market is as bound by statistics as everything else. There will be times when your best-laid plans just fall apart and you end up having to take a Stop Loss to avoid losing your shirt.
Some say life is more about how you deal with a situation than about the situation itself. How you react to the inevitable unprofitable trade says a lot more about you than how you do when everything is going well. The following ideas will help you manage unprofitable trades in a healthy way.
Plan Effectively
You can solve a lot of problems in life by not having them in the first place. The best way to minimize the number of unprofitable trades you make is to plan very carefully. Why are you going to trade a particular pair? If you can't answer that question thoughtfully, don't make the trade in the first place. You can take as long as you want to plan your trades, and every trade should contribute to your ultimate plan.
The better you plan, the more effectively you'll trade.
Learn From Your Mistakes
Sometimes, a good theory just isn't that great in practice. If most of your trades have been less profitable than you wanted them to be, stop and consider why. Are you making assumptions that prove false? Are you favoring a particular currency or a particular pair for emotional reasons? Your ideas should always be flexible enough to change as your experience grows, and the Forex market is no place to be sentimental.
Your trades exist only to make you money. Be ruthless in cutting out any beliefs or ideas that keep you from turning a profit.
Shrug it Off
No matter how solid and well thought out your plan is, sometimes a trade won't work out as planned. If you react to one or two unprofitable trades by completely rethinking your entire plan, you'll second guess yourself into analysis paralysis. At that point, you'll barely trade at all. The most important part of getting over an unprofitable trade is to realize that it's inevitable. Even Warren Buffett, one of the best investors in the world, has occasionally made bad decisions.
Some say that failure is the seed of greater success. So long as your plan is fundamentally solid, the occasional mistake just means you're taking some risks. Since the future will always be uncertain and mistakes come from this uncertainty, a few unprofitable trades just mean you're taking enough risks to ultimately succeed.
Subject: CONTROL YOUR EMOTIONS 
Wed Dec 31, 2014 10:42 pm
