Page 7 | Tradingmindset — Trading Ideas on TradingView

Why you should never HOLD a boring trade - Rule I follow Get in and get out in the shortest time possible. This is the science of successful trading. But what happens when a trade turns out to be more like a non-performing investment? When you hold a long-term trade, there are a few issues that will follow including the: Opportunity cost You can find other higher probability trades, instead of having your money tied up aimlessly in a sluggish market. Unnecessary impatience You’ll eventually feel rather anxious and frustrated holding onto a long-term trade, when you are better off trading in a market that is moving. The fake-out With an ongoing trade, the breakout pattern may fizzle out into a low probability fake-out trade (a trade that turns against you). I created a rule to avoid this situation from ever occurring again. I call it a time stop loss... After 7 weeks of holding a trade, exit the trade and look for a better opportunity. Worst case you take a smaller loss than you thought. Best case you take a smaller profit than you expected. But you'll stop holding trades that aren't performing and stop paying daily costs with trading.... Sound good? Trade well, live free. Timon MATI Trader

My Interview with US Successful Trader Peter L. Brandt The Internet has truly made the world a smaller and a more accessible place. In 2013, I stumbled across world-renown trader, author and owner Peter L. Brandt, on Twitter and his blog. I sent him a request for him to join one of the most elite South African trader groups on Skype. We had some fantastic chats over the next couple of days. There are words of wisdom that are far too essential to let them slip by. I’ve collated some of the timeless lessons Peter L. Brandt shared with me. I hope you enjoy the interview and find it useful for your trading career. Timon: I’ve never met a trader who trades long time-frames on Forex and commodities, do you believe technical charts can be used to predict market movements? Peter: I absolutely positively do NOT believe I can predict the markets. I absolutely positively do NOT believe charts are predictive tools any more than a MACD, COT, Moving Averages or anything else. My win rate is historically around 38%, although I made some changes to the system in an attempt to boost that to 45%. Generally, 100% of my profits come from 10% of my trades. It is a matter of trying to keep the other 90% from being a net loss. Timon: I agree with no one being able to predict the market movements, however, I believe in probability predictions. If there is a breakout to the upside, there is a higher probability for the market to continue moving in the direction of the breakout. What is your take on when unfavourable markets bring about a 15% or more drawdown on your portfolio? Peter: Drawdowns come with the territory. The question to always ask for discretionary traders is, whether their trading rules are out of sync with the markets? If they are out of sync with their rules? or both? If I know the problem are my rules being out of sync with the markets, I will never stop trading because I cannot time my rules. I may cut back on the size during a losing period. Timon: As my trading mentor and dear friend Igor Marinkovic says, “Your biggest drawdown is still to come and so is your biggest winning streak.” What are your thoughts on risk management principles? Peter: As a general rule — very general rule — an excellent trader with a great grasp of money management should have an average annual ROR that is 1.5 to 2 times their worst drawdown, over the past three or five years. For me, this is mandatory Even daily patterns are made up of many hourly patterns that morphed, which are made up of many 15-minute patterns that morphed etc... — I call it ‘Chart Morphology’. The trick is to determine which patterns are real and which patterns are more likely to morph. Sometimes a market reveals itself by failing. It is because of morphology that I seek patterns that are 10 to 12 weeks or longer. I’m also not worried about markets changing so drastically that all conventional systems stop working. The reason is my belief that markets are and have always been driven by fear, greed and money flows. These things will always be the same. Timon: Yes, that’s why I don’t believe in Holy Grail systems. I believe in finding the system that suits your personality and risk profile. Along the way, one should not feel scared about making mistakes, but be sure to avoid them from being too costly. What would be your final feedback on trading in general? Peter: Sounds like you are well on your way to a long and profitable career trading. Mistakes are the tuition charged by the markets for learning. Unfortunately, the markets often decide the tuition rate, not us. Hence, I only risk 0.5% per trade. You have to develop your own style. I have never met another truly skilled trader who has copied his or her style from another trader. This is true from a tactical standpoint, but from a money management standpoint most skilled traders think very much alike.

Forget about motivation and implement this instead There is an over-estimated word that people say. I’m talking about MOTIVATION. “I need motivation to keep to a healthy diet.” “I need motivation to go to gym six days a week.” “I need motivation to see my friends.” If I needed motivation to trade, I would have stopped trading over a decade ago. From today, I want you to remove the word motivation from your life and replace it with… INTEGRATION Integration is when an action becomes a habit without any effort and without any force. You make it a part of your daily life where you don’t need the motivation to do something. To integrate something is to naturally enforce great discipline, passion and determination into your life. I bet you already integrate certain aspects into your life such as, Getting dressed Brushing your teeth Cooking food Just like you’ve integrated a few of the above aspects into your life, so too have I done with trading. For well over a decade, I have the same morning trading routine I’ve incorporated into my life. I make coffee Open my trading and chart platform Look at the main index Analyse charts using my MATI System Place my trade orders Let the market do its thing That’s it. It’s what I do. I don’t need the motivation or discipline from friends, family and colleagues when I follow my morning routine. I’ve just integrated trading into my routine. It’s time you stop the motivation and start integrating certain aspects into your life with everything that you are passionate about. Trade well. Timon (MATI Trader)

Secret Key to Becoming a Disciplined Trader Discipline is the hardest trait to become good at in trading. We need it in analyzing charts and news updates as well as being aware of risk management and psychology. It's difficult to keep track of all those all at once. It can overwhelm us to become impatient and not aware of our mental and emotional states. Which results in poor performance. I was in that phase in my life for 4 years straight. No coach was on my side guiding me through the journey. I had to teach myself everything that makes a person become a successful trader. It was tough, especially mastering the mental and emotional side of the game. Not being aware of those two and how to improve them is what led to consistent failure. But when I began studying and applying what profitable traders do to be successful, I became one of them. It was hard though. I had to change my internal monarchy by facing my demons and tearing down old limiting beliefs. I used various techniques to make that happen. The results were astonishing. I became more mindful and self-aware. I understood my emotional nature, which allowed me to be quick to spot and tone down bad emotions. I did the following to achieve that results: 1. Journaling. It is a process of recording the what, why, and how behind the trade as well as your thoughts and emotions before, during, and after the trade. Doing this will keep a record for you to reflect on in the future when you want to improve your performance. That feedback will raise your self-awareness which will protect you from sabotaging your trading performance. 2. Meditating. It is a mental exercise that trains the brain to be mindful and self-aware of your emotional triggers and behaviors that disrupt your performance. Moreover, it will allow you to improve your focus levels for a trading session. So, every day, sit quietly on your chair with your back straight and your eyes closed, then focus on your breathing pattern for 10-15 minutes. 3. Breathing. I know you can breathe, but I bet you that your breathing is incorrect. Most people breathe through their mouths, which is wrong because the air doesn't get to the brain. The air we breathe through our nose releases certain chemicals in the brain that makes it awake and calm. It also does other things in the body that helps control it when fight/flight emotions trigger. Breathing techniques allow us to gauge those triggers during the trading session. Thus, whenever you tap into a negative state, stop and sit back on your chair, then do the following 4-7-8 breathing exercise. Inhale on the count of 4. Hold your breath on the count of 7. Then exhale on the count of 8. Do this 3-5 times.

Your OWN EXPECTATIONS are the BIGGEST thing HOLDING YOU BACK! 🤷HOW you can get control of your emotions when trading So if trading is stressful or a rollercoaster, you're not alone. 🎢 BUT, its quite a simple fix really.🤔 You're pushing things a little too hard. Chasing an expectation that in return is causing you stress. 😢 Thing is, its actually pushing you further away from your long term goals too. Long term hopes and dreams, short term thinking, greed and poor decision making. A fear over your running trades constantly watching them on screen. You aren't listening or paying attention to what is going on around you.📱 It can be different though.... Think about it..🤔 If you had a £10,000 account and traded 0.01 on 1 or 2 pairs - would you be stressed? 🧘‍♂️ No. Thought not.😅 The fear would be gone, you wouldn't be bothered - why? Because your risk is F all. The other upside is you would be fine letting your winners run too.💪🏻 So, instead of chasing money - focus on how you want to feel and work back from it.😳 If you have a £500 account - what risk are you truly comfortable with at any one time? What losing run could you experience based on your strategy win rate his could you factor this in too. If you traded 1 pair at 0.01 I am confident you would feel ok; but trading 0.1/0.2 etc on a few pairs and you won't be. So, what am I saying? Strip it back, get comfortable - no one likes to feel stressed and worried over their trades BUT in return you will need to realign your expectations to the long game. 🤝 Think - 2-5 years.🤔 Not how much you can make in a day/week.... you simply won't survive.👍🏻

Trading Mindset Be disciplined. 90% is mindset, rest is strategy !