We’ve all heard that trading is 20% technical and 80% psychological.

Want to know why?

It’s because our emotions short-circuit our logical brains.

This “emotional sabotage” is the main reason why most traders never make it.

… And it’s also why seasoned traders struggle to reach higher monetary gains.

There are a few emotions that can short-circuit our logical brain, such as:

Fear

Frustration

Anger

Self-doubt

Overconfidence

But why does emotional sabotage happen in the first place?

Why do those emotions come up and overtake our rational brains?

Well, there are a few possible triggers for these emotions:

Winning a trade

Losing a trade

Having an opinion

Trading your opinion

Over-analyzing

Impulsivity

Gambling

Playing “catch up”

Those triggers can give rise to negative emotions that can lead to:

Not taking the trade setup

Moving stops or targets

Entering trades that don’t align with your trade plan

Reversing a losing trade

Placing entries slowly

Closing a winning position before it hits the pre-defined target or stop-loss

And all of these usually share one common result: losses.

Successful traders do things differently…

They:

Identify their emotional obstacles

Separate those emotions from their trading

Trade what they see

Are consistent and clinical in their execution

Do not think of the potential financial reward of each trade

Think in probabilities- not of winning or losing

Do not trade opinions

So how do you increase your odds of being a successful trader?

You need to change some of your thought processes…

Having a minus day does not make you a bad trader
You cannot “will” the market to do what you want
You cannot “predict” where the market is going — because the market will go where it wants, when it wants, how it wants

Something else about being a successful trader that we’ve all learned the hard way is that we do not have to work 12 hours.

In other words: Trade smarter, not harder.

Finally, in case you are struggling with emotions and trading… I want to leave you with some important questions to ask yourself.

These will help you catch yourself when your emotions are interfering with your logical analysis of a trading scenario:

Why did you enter the trade?

Why did you exit the trade?

What were your thoughts and emotional reactions when you had a negative trade?

What were your thoughts and emotional reactions when you had a positive trade?

I suggest tracking these questions in a trading journal and trying to spot negative patterns that are harmful to your trading.

You just may uncover a lot of the bad habits and thought processes that are diluting your trading gains.

If you want more information like this, I personally do a weekly call with Hawkeye members where we review the markets and important lessons (like this one) to help you grow as a trader and make more money.

>>> Click Here To Get 3 More “No BS” Lessons Like This One…