In my first few years in trading, I was addicted to constantly watching my charts, always trying to find opportunities to buy and sell, and tracking how my trades were doing. This led me to bad trading habits that eventually led me to blow up my trading account. In this article, I’ll share with you my trading story and 3 action steps that I took to be able to overcome this bad trading habit of constantly watching trading charts.
The Impact of Constant Chart Watching on My Life
My addiction to trading charts affected my work, my spiritual growth, and my overall well-being. I was always thinking about trading, even during work or while attending church. I believed that the more time I spent on the charts, the better I would become as a trader and the more money I would make. However, this led me to overtrade, blow up my trading account, and experience a lot of stress in my life.
1. Engage in Other Activities to Divert Your Focus
The first solution I found to overcome this addiction was to find other engaging activities to focus on, other than trading. I learned from my mentor to set aside a certain amount of time every day to trade and stick to that schedule. For me, that was 30 minutes every morning before I went to work. During the rest of the day, I picked up hobbies, got busy at work, and found other ways to keep my mind off trading.
2. Ditch Mobile Trading Apps
The second action step I took was to ditch mobile trading apps. I used to justify my constant chart watching by believing that I was missing trading opportunities while I was at work. However, having a mobile trading app on your phone tempts you to constantly check your trades, leading to impulsive decisions driven by fear or greed. Instead, I started trading from a laptop or a PC, which helped me to stay disciplined.
3. Set Stop Loss and Take Profit Prices Before Entering a Trade
The third and final action step I took was to set my stop loss and take profit prices before entering a trade. This helped me overcome the need to constantly watch the markets and make impulsive decisions to close trades early due to fear or greed. By not looking at the markets all the time, I could let the market hit my predetermined take profit price or stop loss, keeping my emotions in check.
Free Training: 7-Steps to Financial Freedom through Trading
Implementing these steps helped me to overcome my bad trading habit and eventually become a profitable trader. If you’d like to learn more about How you can Start Trading for a Living, then sign up below for my Free Training on the “7-Steps to Financial Freedom through Trading”.
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