I don't like listening nor spreading any half truths. Many traders say that we don't trade the market, we rather trade our psychology. This statement is as absurd as the opposite statement, that "we don't trade our psychology, we trade the market".
My mentor used to say that trading is 90% professional knowledge, 10% psychology. I think the true answer lies somewhere in the middle.
If you say that trading is only about psychology, that would imply that you can take any well defined and backtested strategy and trade it successfully "if only you fixed your mind". Which sounds ridiculous and it's simply not the case. If you trade the retail side of the market or if you act according to retail traders beliefs there's simply no way you can make money trading the forex market long term. It's as simple as white and black. You can spend 10 years fixing your mind and if you succeed in that, you'd still be not an inch closer to trading success if you trade the retail way.
However, if you do possess professional knowledge about the market and have a working strategy that is based on professional beliefs, does that guarantee long term success? Well, you're in a much better position than a retail trader, but if you can't execute your strategy properly due to the turmoil that's going on in your mind, your odds of success are also very low. And it's not only about strategy execution flaws, but also about your ability to learn. If your mind is clouded with illusions then you'll have a hard time accepting that you still lack knowledge and you will not really learn. You will look at the charts as if you know it all already, but you actually missed some small details which were always there in front of you but it's impossible for you to see it and understand it because your clouded minded filters out information that it deems "unnecessary".
So we're coming to a conclusion that psychology does play a role in professional trading as well. But what exactly do we want to achieve when we say "fix your mind"? Is there anything wrong with our minds? Not really. Our mind is a wonderful creation. It can do so much and help us realise our biggest dreams. It lets us dream, solve problems, learn, talk to people and much more. There's nothing inherently wrong with our minds. And it's definitely not a mistake that God gave us a mind. In actuality mistakes do not exist and everyone's playing a Divine role in this Universe, everyone is important.
We're here on this planet to learn to love. Love is the synthesis of opposites. When we feel depressed or elated - these are illusions. When we neutralise emotions, we come to the balance of Love. Then our heart opens and then we're in the present moment - here and now. That's the "bliss" we're so desperately searching for. The same applies for judgements - we've been taught by the society, media, etc. to judge everything, to put it in either the "good" or "bad" box. For example, teachers are considered "good" people, while criminals are seen as "bad" people. These one-sided perceptions are simply parts that we didn't learn to love about ourselves, because we possess every trait that we see in other people. These illusions cloud our mind and prevent us from being able to love and from being in the here and now. Clearing out illusions is learning to love. After each illusion cleared you're stepping up on the ladder of wisdom.
When it comes to trading, you've probably already understood that whenever you're not here and now, you're affected by either greed or fear. These are strong one-sided emotions and whenever you fall into those, your reticular formation filters out any information that doesn't correspond to your current mood. To put it simply, when you're greedy you're chasing trades and seeing more setups than there actually are, and when you're fearful you're hesitant to make entries and you find ways to talk yourself out of setups that were actually correct. Also, being in one-sided emotional state prevents you from learning about how the market actually works, because your mind is clouded with illusions.
When you clean your mind of illusions and learn to be in the here and now, with an open heart, your trading flourishes. Finally you're able to wait it out for perfect setups and money just keeps coming in. After each win you don't go into a state of elation that brings devastating losses afterwards. And after each loss you don't go into depression that makes you miss profitable setups afterwards because you stopped believing in yourself.
So how to live in the Truth of Love and balance your mind? I believe there's many ways, but I've found the method offered by Dr John Demartini to be a straightforward, logical and, most importantly, a working one. I can't explain the process better than he does because he spent his entire life to studying the Universal laws, explaining them in a human language and creating a workable method for achieving that "bliss" we're all striving for. So what you need to do now is find his book "The Breakthrough Experience: A Revolutionary New Approach to Personal Transformation" and study it diligently. Every sentence in this book is a masterpiece. Don't just run through it, don't just read a summary - read it slowly, think about what he says, and of course, do the practical exercises. I'll repeat it once again - every sentence in that book is a masterpiece, take it slowly and let it truly sink in.
If you follow my advice, your trading composure will improve. It's not a "maybe" - I'm 100% certain. So get that book now.
