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Lesson 6: Staying Emotionally Aware in TradingWelcome to Lesson 6 of the Hercules Trading Psychology Course—Staying Emotionally Aware in Trading. Building on the essential traits of Patience, Initiative, and Discipline covered in previous lessons, today we explore the critical role of Emotional Awareness in achieving long-term trading success across all financial markets, including stocks, commodities, cryptocurrencies, and forex. How Can You Stay Emotionally Aware in Trading? Listening to advice and consuming educational content can significantly boost your confidence and help you achieve impressive monthly returns. However, there’s a catch: experiencing high returns can lead to emotional blindness, much like speeding in a fast car without recognizing the potential for a crash. Once you encounter this emotional wall, the decisions you make next are pivotal for your trading future. That’s why maintaining emotional awareness is crucial. Understanding that there are both right and wrong ways to win in trading, especially during periods of success, is essential for sustainable profitability. This lesson breaks down the importance of emotional awareness, covering both the big picture and the intricate details, while emphasizing the fundamental role of money management in any trading strategy. Why Should You Care About Trading Psychology? Risk management is undeniably important, and many traders are becoming more adept at it. While focusing on finding the best trade entries is essential, many overlook another key player: Trading Psychology. This aspect can profoundly influence your trading results. Despite the growing emphasis on risk management, not enough traders are tuning into the psychological components of trading. This gap highlights just how crucial trading psychology is. When traders believe they have everything under control, they might ignore the emotional rollercoaster that trading can bring, undermining their success. What Are Key Strategies for Trading Success? To excel in trading, one golden rule is to avoid unnecessary interference and resist the urge to act as if you know more than your trading system. Stick to these three principles, and you might find success in the long run, even amidst the emotional ups and downs that come with trading. Emotions play a significant role in our lives—from music to relationships—but in trading, it’s vital to keep them in check. It’s perfectly normal to feel emotions, but letting them dictate your trading decisions can be detrimental. Professional traders know how to stay calm under pressure, maintaining a clear and objective mindset. New traders often experience a rush of emotions during winning streaks, leading to common mistakes. Understanding these pitfalls is essential for maintaining a disciplined approach during both profitable and challenging times. How to Set Realistic Trading Expectations Managing your trading success requires balancing consistent returns with emotional control, which can be a rollercoaster ride. Achieving milestones is exciting, but it’s not just about securing wins; it’s about venturing into new territory with realistic expectations. A common trap is believing that your wins are guaranteed—thinking you can achieve a steady 15% profit every month without setbacks. This mindset can lead to overconfidence, making it difficult to sustain long-term success. It’s crucial to set realistic earning goals and understand that trading involves ups and downs. Anyone claiming otherwise might be misleading you. Prepare for challenges instead of assuming trading will always be smooth sailing. How Should You Approach Risk and Returns in Trading? It’s important to remember that if you’re not hitting that 9% monthly return and only achieving 1.5%, it doesn’t mean you’ve failed. Instead, it’s a classic case of regression to the mean. A steady 1.5% monthly return is actually impressive and can pave the way to becoming a professional trader over time, even if some high performers overlook this perspective. Avoid the temptation to increase your risk just because you think you’re on a winning streak. Such actions can lead to unsustainable returns and significant losses. Look to seasoned investors who stay calm and play the long game, consistently achieving impressive annual returns by focusing on disciplined strategies. When markets take a downturn, refocus on these core concepts to avoid emotional trading and strengthen your grasp on risk management. Why Is Trading Experience So Crucial? Jumping into trading without real experience sets you up for significant struggles. While making a profit feels great, the reality of trading can hit hard sooner or later. When things go sideways, it’s an opportunity to pause and reflect—did you stick to your rules or make impulsive decisions? These mistakes can lead to overtrading, making it essential to review and learn from setbacks. Learning from these challenges allows you to bounce back and tackle the market with renewed strength. Grasping the bigger picture and applying those lessons is key, especially when practicing on demo accounts. How Can Emotions Affect Your Trading? Trading can be an emotional rollercoaster! Many traders find themselves spiraling into different emotional states that can significantly impact their decision-making. To manage these emotions effectively, consider three simple actions: Stay Regret-Free: Avoid feeling regret over successful trades. Instead, focus on the strategy and the process that led to those wins. This mindset helps maintain a clear perspective by the end of the trading year. Avoid Emotional Trading: While it’s natural to feel emotions, don’t let them take control of your trading decisions. Keeping emotions in check allows for more rational and objective trading choices. Learn from Mistakes: Acknowledge that mistakes are part of the trading journey. Use them as learning opportunities to improve your trading strategies and emotional control. By adopting these practices, you can enhance your trading performance and maintain a balanced mindset. How Does Trading Psychology Impact Your Success? Many traders feel disappointed when their performance drops from high returns to moderate ones. Instead of celebrating their wins, they focus on what they missed, which can lead to a negative mindset and hinder future performance. It’s essential to stay flexible and not become fixated on specific performance metrics, especially in volatile markets. Regret can interfere with your trading game, so sticking to a reliable trading system is crucial. Always monitor your risks and be strategic about when to take profits to prevent unexpected losses. How to Move Past Trading Regrets Regret is a common emotion among traders, especially when reflecting on missed opportunities, such as exiting trades too early. Straying from your trading system invites losses over time, as these systems are designed to be effective when followed consistently. Relying on emotions for trading decisions often leads to chaos, particularly for those who can’t adhere to their rules. It’s tempting to increase risks during seemingly easy trades, but this is a result of hindsight bias complicating decision-making. Instead, focus on three key principles to simplify trading and achieve long-term success without overcomplicating the process. Why Staying Focused in Trading Matters Reaching your trading goals is the ultimate objective, but many traders encounter obstacles due to emotional fluctuations. Choosing the right trading path is vital, as the decisions you make are crucial, especially when emotions run high after a win. This lesson delves into not just technical analysis but the entire spectrum of trading, highlighting the essential aspects of trading psychology and money management. For beginners, it’s important to absorb these foundational insights to build a solid trading career. Staying committed to your trading system and continuously improving your strategies ensures sustainable success and minimizes the risks associated with emotional trading decisions. Conclusion: Embrace Emotional Awareness for Trading Success Emotional Awareness is more than just recognizing your emotions—it’s about managing them effectively to enhance your trading performance. By staying emotionally aware, you empower yourself to navigate the complexities of all financial markets with confidence and resilience. In Lesson 6, we’ve explored the importance of staying emotionally aware, the impact of emotions on trading decisions, and strategies to maintain emotional control. These elements are essential for building a strong foundation and achieving consistent profitability across all financial markets, whether you’re a swing trader or a day trader. Action Steps: Reflect on Your Emotions: Assess how your emotions influence your trading decisions. Identify triggers that lead to impulsive actions and work on managing them. Develop a Comprehensive Trading Plan: Create a detailed trading plan that outlines your strategies, risk management techniques, and criteria for entering and exiting trades. Ensure that this plan emphasizes emotional control and disciplined execution. Implement Robust Risk Management: Protect your capital by setting appropriate stop-loss orders, limiting trade sizes, and diversifying your portfolio across different financial instruments. Maintain a Trading Journal: Document every trade to gain insights into your trading behavior and identify patterns that need improvement. Reflect on your trades to reinforce emotional awareness and disciplined strategies. Practice Emotional Control Techniques: Incorporate mindfulness practices, meditation, or journaling into your daily routine to manage stress and maintain emotional equilibrium. Engage with the Trading Community: Join forums, attend webinars, or participate in trading groups to share experiences and gain support from fellow emotionally aware traders. Trust in Your System: Have confidence in your trading system. Understand that managing emotions is a continuous process that contributes to long-term profitability. Ready to take the next step? Continue your journey by enrolling in Lesson 7: Emotional Awareness continuation, where we will develop even further this subject so that you’ll learn how to enhance your trading performance across all financial markets.
CME_MINI:ES1!Education
by exlux
SPX Key $ Levels | 70%+ Accuracy! | WednesdayNew price targets for Sep 25 using Statistics and Data to drive a 70%+ historical accuracy. Topics: - Today's Targets Overall we use stats and data pulled from a wide array of TradingView indicators and scripts so that I can have as much data as possible - even if it's unstructured or uncorrelated data. I then use AI and SOP's to systematically calculate a weekly and daily framework. My predictions are never 100% but ALL of them are mathematically proven to be 70%+ accurate historically or I wouldn't use them. Most indicators I use on my Data Dashboard chart has the stats in their associated boxes that I show during the recording if you'd like to verify yourself. Please leave me feedback as I am new to creating content and would like to improve. Personally I use these targets in combination with ICT Concepts to trade. Nothing I say is Financial Advice - Previous performance does not guarantee future success.
CME_MINI:MESZ2024Long
by DIY_Trades
ES Inverse Head & ShouldersWe have a potential inverse head and shoulders here on ES. It closed just off all time highs and near today's premarket high. In addition we have the upper trendline from its ascending wedge. Lots of resistance around here, but lately all resistances have been getting broken. New ATH today for the S&P. I'm still pretty suspicious because of the VX activity, but if we do get the breakout I'll probably try some longs on a retest. It would be a blue sky setup at that point. To the downside, we have the lower end of the wedge and the neckline around 5775. If we end up breaking the wedge down I'd just be looking to take profits on shorts as we test previous lows. So far dips have been short lived so it's important to take your money on puts when you get it until we start trending down. Bulls are in full control right now, we'll see if they push us to another ATH this week or not.
CME_MINI:ES1!
by AdvancedPlays
2024-09-24 - priceactiontds - daily update - sp500Good Evening and I hope you are well. tl;dr Indexes - More continuation of the expected. Bears trying to get lower with some spikes but enough bulls are happy to buy it. We will have a breakout either tomorrow or Thursday because one side will give up. As of now I favor the bulls for another leg up to kill the last shorts. (does not apply to DJI for example, where we basically make new ATH daily) sp500 e-mini futures comment: 1h chart tells the story. Bulls buy every dip but are not finding enough buyers above 5790 to push for 5800. One side will give up soon and I expect it to be the bears. This is the last push bulls have inside the smallest wedge and it’s either breakout above or below tomorrow. Don’t over analyze 50 point trading ranges. Clear support and resistance and you have to buy in the lower third and sell in the upper one until it clearly does not work anymore. current market cycle: trading range (bull wedge) key levels: 5730 - 5800 bull case: Bulls are poking at 5800. Couple more times and bears will probably give up. If we get above 5800, I don’t expect market to stop there. Might as well do a spike to 5850 or so. Look for longs around the 4h ema which is currently at 5768. Every touch has been bought for two weeks. Invalidation is below 5750. bear case: Bears need a lower low below 5750. They manage to print some spikes but no follow through what so ever. I don’t think they will fight 5800 much longer. We have almost daily bad news and market refuses to sell. Get the hint. Probably a gigantic short squeeze coming before we meaningfully correct before the year end rally. Invalidation is above 5810. short term: Buy low sell high inside given levels but breakout will most likely happen tomorrow. Can wait for it and hop along. medium-long term - Update from 2024-09-01: Very much like my outlook in dax. Trading range on the daily chart and we are at the highs. We could make higher ones or not. Does not matter much. I expect 5000 to be hit again in 2024. current swing trade: Nope trade of the day: Buying 5775 and selling 5790. Sometimes it’s not rocket science but still hard to do mentally.
CME_MINI:MES1!
by priceactiontds
SPX Key $ Levels | 70%+ Accuracy!New price targets for Sep 24 using Statistics and Data to drive a 70%+ historical accuracy. Topics: - Today's Targets Overall we use stats and data pulled from a wide array of TradingView indicators and scripts so that I can have as much data as possible - even if it's unstructured or uncorrelated data. I then use AI and SOP's to systematically calculate a weekly and daily framework. My predictions are never 100% but ALL of them are mathematically proven to be 70%+ accurate historically or I wouldn't use them. Most indicators I use on my Data Dashboard chart has the stats in their associated boxes that I show during the recording if you'd like to verify yourself. Please leave me feedback as I am new to creating content and would like to improve. Personally I use these targets in combination with ICT Concepts to trade. Nothing I say is Financial Advice - Previous performance does not guarantee future success.
CME_MINI:MESZ2024Short
by DIY_Trades
SPX Key Levels Using Crazy Accurate Stats new price targets for Sep 23 using Statistics and Data to drive a 70%+ historical accuracy. Topics: - Today's Targets Overall we use stats and data pulled from a wide array of Tradingview indicators and scripts so that I can have as much data as possible - even if it's unstructured or uncorrelated data. I then use AI and SOP's to systematically calculate a weekly and daily framework. My predictions are never 100% but ALL of them are mathematically proven to be 70%+ accurate historically or I wouldn't use them. Most indicators I use on my Data Dashboard chart has the stats in their associated boxes that I show during the recording if you'd like to verify yourself. Please leave me feedback as I am new to creating content and would like to improve. Personally I use these targets in combination with ICT Concepts to trade. Nothing I say is Financial Advice - Previous performance does not guarantee future success.
CME_MINI:MESZ2024
by DIY_Trades
SPY/ES Weekly Analysis of Sept 27Monday September 23 we are expecting Flash Manufacturing PMI data! From the daily timeframe perspective, price action may continue to rise and create a new all time high, as we end the month of September. If we drop, we will likely find support around 5700 for ES and 563 for SPY. If support fails, we could fall further, as low as 5570 for ES and 550 for SPY. Keep in mind this week we have several red folders on Forex Factory to keep an eye out for. These include Consumer Confidence, Final GDP, Unemployment Claims, and Core PCE Price Index!
CME_MINI:ES1!Long
by RandiMichelle
2
#202439 - priceactiontds - weekly update - sp500 e-mini futuresGood Evening and I hope you are well. tl;dr sp500: Similar structure to dax. Nested bull wedges inside a big broad bull channel. The current bullish structure has a potential to lead to much much higher prices but I favor the trading range continuation more. The bull wedge will break over the next 2-3 days and we will likely have an answer on the next direction. Bulls need a strong break above 5800 and bears below 5670. Quote from last week: comment: Favored the bears last week and wanted to load on shorts on this pullback but bears were practically gone, so no shorts for me. Lower highs and higher lows. Triangle on the daily chart until broken. Not much difference to the other indexes. Above 5670 bulls are favored for 5700+ and maybe a new ath and bears would need a strong reversal below 5650 for bulls to cover their longs again. Similar to 2024-09-03 where bears printed a huge bearish engulfing bar, that is that they would need here as well. comment: Bears did absolutely nothing last week except selling highs. Not a single daily bar below the previous one. Very strong buying with resulted in an obvious new ath on Thursday. Are bulls done or will we get hit 5800? Most likely we will hit it because of the obvious liquidity grab (stop running) above it. current market cycle: nested bull wedges key levels: 5670 - 5850 bull case: We are trading around the ath. Will the market find more buyers to push this even higher? We are inside nested bullish patterns and bulls are favored but buying near the ath without a better pullback is not the best trade you can do right now. On lower tf you can find reasonable longs but not on the daily. I’d rather wait for a breakout of the smaller wedge and see where the market wants to go. I do think bulls can print 5800 and some next week. Most outrages target I have on sp500 is 6144 but I will only address this once bulls close a weekly bar above 5800. Invalidation is below 5670. bear case: Bears want the breakout below the wedge and test the daily ema around previous support 5670. If they are strong, they could hit 5600 next week but as of now the bears have nothing to support this but hope. Best they can probably get is some sideways around 5760. Invalidation is above 5810. outlook last week: short term: Neutral between 5400 - 5670. I slightly favor the bears when they print a good bear bar on Monday because of the triangle. Above 5670 I scalp long and see how high we can get. → Last Sunday we traded 5629 and now we are at 5762. I leaned bearish but only if… If never came true since bears could not get a lower low all week. My read that above 5670 it’s a long, was good for 110. short term: Neutral around 5760. No interest in buying besides small long scalps on the 5m or lower tf for 5800. Market is contracting in a tight range, best not to do anything and wait for a clear breakout. medium-long term - Update from 2024-09-22: Very much like my outlook in dax. Trading range on the daily chart and we are at the highs. We could make higher ones or not. Does not matter much. I expect at least 5300 to be hit again in 2024. current swing trade: None chart update: Only bullish pattern left and added an outrages measured move target.
CME_MINI:MES1!
by priceactiontds
Full ES Trading Plan for MondayPlan For Monday: • Supports: 5755 (major), 5751, 5746, 5738-40 (major), 5733, 5729, 5726 (major), 5721, 5711, 5698-5702 (major), 5690, 5685, 5680, 5675 (major), 5666, 5661, 5655 (major), 5646, 5638 (major). • Levels to Bid Direct: • After a 120-point squeeze last week, ES spent friday in consolidation mode. Remember, trend days like last Thursday are anomalies and are typically followed by either a price correction (selloff) or time correction (consolidation). Friday, we saw the latter. • For Monday, I view 5738-40 to 5782 as potential chop. We could see a repeat of friday’s ping-pong price action, requiring flexible level-to-level trading. 5738-40 is now range support, and while it’s been well-tested friday, it may have one more bid left in it, provided we don’t break above Thursday’s highs first. • If 5738-40 fails, 5726 becomes the next magnet. While we’ve consolidated, there hasn’t been a significant selloff after the rally, so caution with new longs below 5738-40 is warranted. Markets love to condition dip buyers before flipping to deeper pullbacks. If 5726-28 breaks, 5698-5702 is the final support before a sharper leg down, where a small knife catch long could be considered. Below here, 5675, 5656, and 5638 are potential reaction points. • Resistances: 5763, 5766 (major), 5771, 5776, 5782 (major), 5791, 5797, 5807 (major), 5812, 5818, 5830, 5843-45 (major), 5847, 5856 (major), 5866 (major), 5870, 5879, 5885, 5895-5900 (major). • As always, I don’t short strength in ES uptrends. For those looking for countertrend trades, 5782 might have a final reaction left before breaking out, while 5807, 5845, and 5866 are other potential reaction levels. • Bull Case for Monday: • In the short term, the bull case centers around a potential bull flag. Support is at 5738-40 with 5725 as the absolute lowest, and resistance around 5782. We could ping-pong within this range for days, but as long as 5738-40 holds, we continue upwards. • This could lead to another test of 5782, followed by a potential dip and a move to new highs at 5806+. From there, if ES stretches further, 5845 and 5866 are next targets. As of writing, we are defending 5755 support, and one could consider buying here at open or waiting for a 5766 recovery to target 5782. (Safer route) • Bear Case for Monday: • Shorts remain difficult, particularly breakdown shorts, which are notorious for trapping traders. For Monday, failure of 5738-40 could open the door for downside, with the next critical support at 5726. • These breakdown trades are tricky as 80% of them typically fail. I prefer failed breakdown setups, where one could wait for a recovery above 5738-40 or for a flush below 5726 that recovers. A test of 5724-25 might trigger a short if the structure is right, with the next downside target at 5702. • Summary for Monday: • My general lean is to defer to the trend, with 5738-40 to 5782 forming a new consolidation range. We could see more chop inside this range for a couple days, but generally as long as 5738 holds, and any dips below are quickly bought up, we should revisit 5782 first, followed by a potential dip and then a move to new highs. • If 5738-40 fails, we could see a more sustained pullback. Volume will be critical at these levels—if we don’t see strong buying volume, expect any breakdowns to accelerate the downside move.
CME_MINI:ES1!
by ESMorg