Day Trading - The Challenge Of Real-Time

Real-time trading is addictive.

Like a great drama being played out in front of you… there's the constant pull of "what happens next?". Each price bar is a cliffhanger ending as the story unfolds.

Only you're the main character in this drama. It's not fiction - it's for real. And it's your financial life on the line.

Can you imagine how much stress builds up when you day trade?

Trading the 1-minute chart, you have 60 decisions an hour. Violent price moves are common. And every time the price changes, it takes you one step closer to your dreams, or one step towards poverty.

No wonder then that most day traders eventually "burn out".

Actually, what happens is, they just snap. One day they decide to "get back at the market". And they commit financial suicide.

Makes you wonder why anyone day trades at all, doesn't it!

Well because it's the best business in the world, that's why. (If it's sounded like doom and gloom so far, don't worry. You're about to get to the good part!)

First though, let's understand the problem of real-time trading in more detail…

Why "Trading On Emotion" Is The Road To Ruin

The dictionary defines emotion as a "physical disturbance in the body caused by strong feelings".

Anyone who's ever traded the S&P500 intraday can relate to that!

Typically, day traders experience any or all of the following:

• Heart starts racing
• Light headed, feeling "spaced out", not real
• Muscle tension - especially upper body, shoulders, arms
• Sweating, especially hands
• Panic, need to escape
• General feeling of dread and unease
• Tight facial muscles,
• Shallow breathing

There are many emotions you can experience in trading: Hope… Anger… Pride… Thrill… Sadness… Regret… Shock… Guilt… Euphoria… to name but a few.

However there are two that stand head and shoulders above the rest. Fear and Greed.

Much has been written about these "twin evils" of trading. Together they cause most of a trader's problems:

• Feeling too scared to enter a trade, waiting for "confirmation"
• Procrastinating, not knowing what to do in a trade
• Not taking a small loss, resulting in a serious loss
• Trading too big a position for your account
• Playing too conservative, trading too small a position
• Exiting a trade too early, leaving the big profits behind
• Staying too long in a trade and giving back profits
• Or even worse - the Trader's Sin - allowing a profit turn into a loss…

And at the root of all this emotional turmoil is one thing.

Money.

Our relationship with money is highly emotional. Money buys dreams. Status. Freedom.

And to quote William Shakespeare… "Therein lies the rub."

Because when you see something start to steal those dreams away from you, naturally you fight back. Problem is… you can't fight the market. Like any force of nature, it's simply too big.

But you'll try anyway. "Just one more trade. To break even. To cover my losses." Then begins a frantic downward spiral.

How To Manage Yourself In Real-Time

The message is clear. You can't trade on emotion. If you do, then sooner or later you'll self-destruct.

Your job as a trader is to make the right decisions. And the only way to do that… the real key to successful trading… is to eliminate emotion.

That's right. Eliminate emotion.

Easier said than done, huh?

Yes.

The fact is, your emotions are an inherent part of you. You can't "eliminate" them any more than you can eliminate breathing!

But what we've discovered is - emotions can be managed.

Learning to manage your emotions is the real key to trading success. You'll be able to think clearly and calmly, and do the right thing in the middle of a trading blizzard.