The Comeback Mindset

Here’s a short comment that raised my interest in a recent email exchange:

• “I hate the first trade of the day. Always worried I’ll have to start the day with a loss.”

It was not the primary focus of the conversation, so didn’t receive much followup discussion beyond sharing a couple of links which I thought might help. In particular the second half of the second post.

• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/managing-your-mindset/
• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/managing-your-mindset-2/

The fact is that a massive part of your success or failure in this business depends upon your ability to manage your mindset at those times when very little goes right.

So check out these links if you missed the prior articles. And all of the other posts they refer to.

Today though, let’s explore the idea from another angle.

“I hate the first trade of the day. Always worried I’ll have to start the day with a loss.”

Seriously… you’d better get used to first-trade losses.

Because they’ll happen a lot.

If you’ve got a 50% win rate, it’s reasonable to expect that one out of every two days will start off with a losing trade. Even if you’re achieving a 70% win rate, the averages suggest that you’ll still have three days a fortnight starting off with a loss.

So you’d better get used to it.

Let’s revisit a sequence of trades we discussed last week in the “Long is Wrong – 4” article.

Here’s the problem:

• “I hate the first trade of the day. Always worried I’ll have to start the day with a loss.”

But there is another way.

(1) We first need to change our mindset.

We don’t fear opening losses. We expect them. And accept them.

See here for more on this – https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/embrace-the-suck/

It doesn’t mean we hope for them. We do everything we can to avoid them.

And if the market can gift us some opening wins, that’s awesome. But if not, it’s all good.

It’s part of the game.

(2) And then REFRAME what it means to take early losses.

I get to choose MY response.

And I choose to see this as a challenge.

I choose to see this as a challenge.

An opportunity to prove myself. An opportunity to maintain focus and confidence and time my response to get this P&L back to positive territory.

With a mindset of acceptance and a reframing of early-session losses as a challenge, we’re more likely to properly assess the market and to develop insight into the nature of the prior losses. We’re more likely to remain patient while conditions remain unfavourable. And we’re more likely to have the focus and confidence necessary to strike decisively when opportunity presents again in the markets.

You are NEVER out of the game until your session stop is hit.

So embrace the suck. Reset yourself. And focus.

It’s comeback time. Show me how good you can be.

Again, if you skipped over the earlier links, here they are again:

• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/managing-your-mindset/
• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/managing-your-mindset-2/

And you might want to explore these additional posts, which also aim to strengthen your ability to cope with early-session adversity.

• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/embrace-the-suck/
• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/take-the-focus-off-yourself-put-it-back-on-the-market/
• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/its-how-you-choose-to-react-that-makes-all-the-difference/
• https://yourtradingcoach.org/trader/the-first-loss-how-will-you-let-it-affect-your-mindset/

First trades will lose. Often!

It’s up to you to find an effective way to manage your mindset and move forward with confidence and focus.

Try to reframe the meaning of early losses. And instil a comeback mindset.

You may even find that you enjoy the challenge provided by a first-trade loss!

Happy trading,

Lance Beggs