Equip yourself with the right tools and strategies to fight anxiety in your forex trading career
To fight anxiety in forex trading, prepare efficient strategies and a strong mindset. Anxiety is a natural response when building a career in forex trade. Whether during initial stages of refining your system or during executions, forex trading can inevitably cause a certain level of anxiety. Eventually, chronic anxiety can lead to unhealthy mental well being. To profit as well as enjoy the trading experience, be aware of your state of mind and use any worries to your advantage.
“ When worry plays a role in helping us to solve our problems, it does a fantastic job. So I want you to love worry when it serves you. But when it becomes a bothersome noise in your head, it has no redeeming value and you need to kick it to the curb.” Reid Wilson,Stopping the Noise in Your Head: The New Way to Overcome Anxiety and Worry
Get to know Anxiety
What is anxiety in a forex trading career?
Anxiety is a common behavior in most work environments. It generally describes a feeling of worry, tension, fear or nervousness. When these emotions become unmanageable, anxiety can lead to unnecessary reactions that can put mental health at risk.In a forex trading environment, anxiety can be a difficult mental state to overcome. When you examine every aspect of your performance, you tend to build up emotions like hesitation, distress or doubt. Despite the good intention of having perfect trades, high anxiety actually hinders overall growth and productivity. If you begin to scrutinize each step of trading, you risk increasing anxiety levels and decreasing quality performance.
What are some of the facts about anxiety?
“Anxiety is the most commonmental healthcondition in Australia. On average, one in four people – one in threewomenand one in fivemen– will experience anxiety at some stage in their life.” -Beyond Blue
“For a person with an anxiety disorder, the anxiety does not go away and can get worse over time. The feelings can interfere with daily activities such as job performance, school work, and relationships.” -National Institute of Health
“General worriers tend to spend an average of 55 minutes a day worrying, while people with GAD often spend over 300 minutes a day worrying — over five times as much.”Elements Behavioral Health
“Signs and symptoms of anxiety may be physical (racing heart, shortness of breath,sweating), emotional (panic, feeling worried, stress), behavioral (nervous habits, compulsions), and cognitive (racing thoughts, worries, obsessions). Many of these signs and symptoms are similar to the body's normal "fight-or-flight" response to danger.” -Medicine Net
What are the symptoms of anxiety when forex trading?
Do you feel excessively worried about both small and big aspects of forex trade?Are you experiencing recurring panic attacks?Are you frequently second guessing every step of forex trading?Do you have irrational compulsive behaviors or habits of perfectionism?Have you noticed chronic muscle strain or headaches?Do you completely avoid trading after a bad trade?Do you have trouble sleeping or feel restless?Are your worries increasing beyond forex trading?Is anxiety affecting your decision making in your personal life?If you’ve answered yes to these questions, you may be experiencing anxiety from forex trading. Anxiety is normal especially when dealing with capital or financial pressure. But once you experience anxiety that is excessive or forceful, it is time to manage your emotions and plan strategies to confront it.
The best reason to manage anxiety
The best reason to fight anxiety is for optimal health. When you are constantly anxious, both physical and mental health become weaker. In the long run, this puts your health and your trading performance at risk. Once you allow anxiety to control your trades, it can be difficult to shake off and bounce back from. If you are not careful, anxiety from forex trading could affect your outlook on work and life.It is important to remember that chronic anxiety often happens alongside depression. Because of this, it is crucial to take care of psychological health at all costs and fight anxiety. If you need extra help, do not hesitate to find solutions or professional assistance.
How to fight anxiety in a forex trading career
Overcoming anxiety is a good way to stay positive during your forex trading journey. To become a successful and healthy trader,learn the best ways to fight anxiety in your forex trading career:
Address the cause
Acknowledging the main cause of your anxiety is the first step to better trading performance. If you keep finding yourself in stressful scenarios, there has to be a reason. Here are a few common causes of anxiety for forex traders:
You might be increasing your risks too soon. Find a way to slowly increase at a comfortable pace.
You are trading in an unfamiliar market. Start with what you know and what you’re confident with.
You may be trading too much especially if you’ve hit yourmaximum trading loss. Learn when to stop.
You keep getting flashbacks of previous losses. Focus on room for improvement instead of failure.
You have financial concerns. Only trade with an amount of capital you are comfortable with.
You have not refined your strategy. Make use of ademo accountto perfect your system.
You are facing too much pressure to do well and make money out of trading.Avoid chasing recognition and focus on performance instead.
Engage with other forex traders
Reaching out to other traders is one of the best ways to fight anxiety. Getting advice or opinions from fellow traders gives a great feeling of support and understanding. When you engage with people who are going through the same process, you can find comfort and encouragement. Once you find a great online community to share your struggles with, you can surely lessen your anxiety and inspire progress.
Confidence is key
Confidence in your system
Confidence in a strategy comes from truly understanding the forex trading market. For a trader to become confident in a system, they have to be in control during any market condition. Without fully comprehending the forex market, you will not be able to properly calculate your strategies. This results in feeling unsure and anxious during every trade.Confidence in your system will fight anxiety and optimize your trading strategy. From forex education to current global events, the best way to overcome lack of confidence is to continually educate yourself with any vital information for successful trading.
Confidence in yourself
If you lack self-confidence, it is time to challenge your comfort levels. To build more backbone in forex trading, strengthen your self-esteem with these great ideas:
Do physical activities that improve your confidence like kickboxing or a form of sparring. Also try workouts for wellness like yoga, meditation or tai chi.
Stanford’sDeborah Gruenfeldshares that simply having good posture can boost confidence. She shares that to feel confident, you want your posture to send that message to your brain.
Challenge yourself by facing your fears. If you fear heights, try going bungee jumping. If you fear public speaking, go to classes and practice.
Overthinking can weaken self-esteem. If you are an overthinker, do things that prevent you from being too serious. You can go bowling with friends or join a social group or club for fun.
Outsmart your emotions
Trading with emotions is one of the biggest causes of trading loss. When you trade impulsively and abandon your strategy, you risk losing money and increase anxiety. Forex traders should rely on good mental well being for better forex trading performance. To avoid anxiety, it is essential to know your own reactions and study your emotions. By learning your strengths and weaknesses, you can get a better handle of your anxiety. Through ademo account, test yourself during multiple market conditions.If you can outsmart your own emotions during a trade, you can manage any feeling of worry, fear or apprehension.
Value your personal life
Forex trading can be a rewarding experience if you maintain good work life balance. Oftentimes, forex traders prefer to devote all of their time and effort to trading. Although it is essential to be diligent and hardworking, anxiety can also come from focusing too much on the forex market. As a result, any challenges become magnified and lead to higher anxiety levels. To fight anxiety, forex traders need to see the importance of enjoying personal time.Success not only comes from hours dedicated to work but also from time spent away from the desk. Much like any other job, it is important to also make time for yourself or for family and friends. When you value your personal life, you strengthen mental health and gain a support system to help you get through any adversities of trading.
Face your losses
Loss is one of the biggest causes of fear and anxiety in forex trading. Despite having the perfect strategy, the fear of losing trades is something every trader will need to deal with. Successful forex traders learn from every trade whether good or bad.When experiencing trading failure, you have to study your process and optimize from there. Be sure to face your failure instead of avoiding it. Execute a better approach for improvement and prevent future losses. If you get anxious from past memories of failure, you will need to practice and understand theLogic Behind Reevaluating Trading Failure.
Prioritize performance, not profit
When you feel your anxiety levels rise during a trading session, it is time change your way of thinking. If you constantly worry about your capital or finances, try to prioritize performance instead of profit. Oftentimes, financial pressure can cause a great wave of stress. Instead of increasing your rewards ratio, focus on improving strategies and enjoying the forex trading process. As much as possible, do not allow yourself to think about money when anxiety kicks in. It can affect your decision making and lead you to stray from your calculated strategy. Instead of being profit oriented, think about your performance and how to master your skills as a forex trader. Practicing this will improve overall trading performance. Soon enough, profit will follow.
“Mild anxiety is vague and unsettling, while severe anxiety can be extremely debilitating, having a serious impact on daily life.” -Medical News Today
Practice makes perfect
Anxiety is a part of life. The only way to benefit from it is to use these feelings to your advantage. Instead of negativity, the fear of the unknown should inspire forex traders to optimize their strategies. By properly managing your anxiety, you can encourage growth and successful trades.To fight anxiety in forex trading, be mindful of the way you process the outcome every session. Whether you are a young or veteran trader, you should always fight anxiety for better control of your mindset and trading performance. Worry and fear can provoke unnecessary thoughts and actions. With the help of correct tools and strategies, you can begin to take control and fight anxiety throughout your forex trading journey.
