Is Trading Really Emotional or Is That a Myth?

Hi, Brian McAvoy here with Inside Out Trading. And I've got a question for you. True or false? Trading is inherently emotional. There's just no escaping it. It is an emotional activity. True or false? Most traders would say true, and there's good reason to think that, but the answer actually is false. It is not inherently emotional, and it doesn't have to be. Now, I'm not talking about some emotional areas, some psychological hack or trick to turn your emotions off and that kind of stuff. I'm talking about being a regular human being and having human emotions. Trading doesn't have to be a big emotional ride. It doesn't. And the thing is, if you're feeling that it is just inherently emotional and your entire trading experience has been an emotional one, it's entirely likely that the problem, and it's very. That can be as simple as this, is you're trading outside your comfort zones. And that's extremely likely that this is the case. And here's what I'm talking about. If you think about it, by definition, your comfort zones are where you're comfortable and your emotions are calm. When you're in your comfort zone, your emotional. Your emotions are not flaring up at you. When you're outside your comfort zones, by definition, you are in an emotional state. This is a big deal, so pay attention. Seriously, if your trading is always emotional, it's almost impossible. And you're constantly having to fight your emotions. Excitement, fear, eagerness, urgency, anger, hurt, all that. Like I said, if you're trading is an emotional experience and pretty much always an emotional experience, it's very likely you're trading outside your comfort zones. And this is something, this is good news because this is something you can affect and do something about pretty quickly. The cool thing is, again, it's. Your emotions are telling you something. That discomfort that you feel when you're trading, that anxiety, that impatience that you know that I've got to make money or got to be busy or I just got to get in on that trade. I'm seeing the moves and, oh, I got missing out, all that kind of stuff. What that discomfort is telling you is that something is wrong or something is missing. Seriously, if you had a solid handle on everything, you're at peace with your skill set, with your strategy, with the markets. If you're at peace with all that, you're not going to be in an emotional state. You're going to be in your. You'll be in a comfort zone when you're skilled up to where you need to be, and you, like I said, you've got a solid system, you know it's solid, you know you're solid with the execution, you know how to select a strategy, you know how to sort through all the details, all the questions, all the filters that are part of being a trader and deciding how you're going to trade, what you're going to trade, time frames, all that kind of stuff. There's a jillion questions to work through just to get to start trading. And again there's skill sets to go with this. So if you're missing some of the skill sets or you're missing certain key pieces of knowledge that you need to be a good, competent, proficient, very comfortable. And again, competent where? Not just competent, placing trades, anybody can place trades. I tell my 7 year old son how to place trades. That's not being a trader, that's being able to place trades. What I'm talking about as far as competencies, traders, when you're solid, going to the markets, being able to take in the information that you know works according to your method, whether it's technical, fundamental, intuitive trading, whatever trading is, it's an information game. We're taking information, evaluate it, make decisions, act on those decisions. So there, there's skills and knowledge that go with this and the competence goes beyond just placing trades, it's knowing how to execute the trades, how to manage yourself, how to manage your money, all this stuff. There's a ton of skills that goes with trading and if you're missing some of the skills, if you're missing some key knowledge, then that's going to be rough. And that discomfort they're taking to the markets is telling you something's not quite right. There's some part of this that you don't have a solid handle on. And so that discomfort is you being outside your comfort zones. Think about anything that you're good at. Seriously, you're good at your day job. You don't have emotional issues with your day job, right? You go, you do your job, some days are better than others and you enjoy the good days. You go home at the end of the day, live your life, but nothing that's got you on this big emotional ride that's causing you self doubt, causing you to lose sleep about it, causing you to make bad decisions and sabotage yourself. No, it's because you have the full skill set and knowledge to do your job and that's why you can go do it and it's not an issue. Trading is no different. If you're trading outside your comfort zones, then there's something that is in is you're missing. Again, whether it's skills or knowledge, usually skills or training for this job, it's not an entry level job. You can't just walk in and figure it out. Trading is not. It requires training, proper training and again a range of skill sets and knowledge. And so what you want to do about it is swing by Inside Out Trading.com I've got a scorecard where it'll it's like a checklist of the things that you need to be doing and things that you need to know as a trader. But take the scorecard up. Go to InsideOutTrading.com top of the page. So there's a link says take the scorecard but it's a survey, it's a self assessment and just the questions themselves will tell you what you're missing. At least at a high level it's a starting point because if you're missing something with your trading, it's going to be uncomfortable when you go to your trading because again, at some level, some conscious or subconscious level, at some level you know that hey, I don't have a solid handle on this as I'd like, whether it's on your, your strategy or your execution or whatever, you're missing something and that's what that discomfort is telling you. And when you complete what you need, when you fill the gaps now, you'll be able to trade and trade calmly because you have a solid handle on it, just like your day job. That's really cool. So anyway, swing by Inside Out Trading.com Take the scorecard for now. If you found this video helpful, which hopefully you have, pay attention to it. If your trading is emotional, you're outside your comfort zones. That's how you know you adjust your comfort zones. Expand your comfort zone so that yeah, you have a solid handle on it. If you found this helpful, give me a subscribe down below. Tell your friends about it. Leave a comment down below let me know. Yes, what is it that you know is causing your struggles and what is it about trading that has you thinking that it's inherently emotional? Leave a comment down below. I do read the comments and again I hope this video has been helpful for you. Brian McAvoy with Inside out of Trading. Talk to you soon. Cheers.