Mindfulness: Key to Success in Trading

[Ex.ness Support]

Are you allowing the �noise� to distract you when you are about to get in or you are already in a trade? Noise can be the news, the TV, the temperature in your office, your dog Fido that keeps coming into your office, the charts or your spouse asking you a question. Noise is anything that is in that moment secondary to your trading; in other words, something that is taking your mind away from where it should be, i.e., focused only on the things that are most important to your trade. Those things for the most part are your plan, your rules and the price action. One of the ways to remain focused is to use a process of �mindfulness.� It is a process that keeps your purpose firmly on your dashboard and your intentions for the trade in line with your attention.

Mindfulness in your trading, that is, to be in the moment for the moment, fully available, fully present and in the NOW is crucial to doing what it takes to be consistently successful. Some people are focused on the past. They are inundated by the residue of what has already transpired and ruminate on past trades. It is very difficult for them to move on. On the other hand, there are many traders who are constantly thinking about what might happen and are focused intently on the future. They ask what will be for dinner as they are eating the mid-day meal. The only moment that truly matters is the one that you are experiencing now. The past is important, but you can only learn from it after you have experienced it, you can never return. It is important to learn from it, accept the reality and move on. By the same token, if you are so focused on the future to the exclusion of what is taking place you are reducing the percentage of attention that is available to stay on purpose and on task with the current trade. You only have 100% of attention to expend on any situation or trade. If your thoughts are caught up in the past or the future that percentage available for the trade can be significantly compromised. The present moment is not only the only moment in which you can live; it is critical to your ability to focus with laser precision on the demands of the current trade. If you are distracted by what just happened last trade, last week or last month it can also lead to distorted judgement regarding what is in the charts and relevant data.