How to display your trading results 
for maximum impact


PLUS: An important update on my new scalping training program

Isn’t it lovely to finally have a bit of spring-like weather?

Crawling out from under winter’s damp, cold greyness… it puts you right in the mood for tackling new projects, stretching for new goals and just generally shifting things up a gear.

In fact, it sounds like the perfect time to kick off my new scalping training program!

Now you might recall me asking if you’d be interested in learning some proven scalping techniques.  

I mentioned it here in the eletter a couple of months ago and got an overwhelming response.

Well, it’s now time to bring the group of initial beta testers on board to put the methods through their paces.

I’m only giving you a quick heads-up today. So you can keep an eye out for your official invitation to apply for a beta-testers position that’ll go out under separate cover later this week.

Fair warning: this will NOT be a suitable program for complete newcomers to trading. I won’t be covering any basic stuff, just getting stuck straight into the meatiness of the strategies themselves. But if you already have some trading experience, and a few hours you can dedicate during the day, this might be right up your street.

Again, I’m only making a quick mention today…

If you would be interested in beta-testing please do keep an eye out for your separate email invite that’ll be with you later this week.

(I’m very excited to be sharing this stuff. It’s taking me right back to the methods I first cut my teeth on, and I think you’ll find it all quite eye-opening!)

Anyway, more to come on that.

Today, I want to refresh your memory of a cunning mind-trick that can help take the sting out of individual losing trades.

I’ve got two particular coaching clients who are making great progress with the technical ins and outs of market analysis and finding trades, but they’ve each hit a temporary comfort-zone ceiling when it comes to embracing risk…

One is currently making the transition from paper trading to real-money trading. The other is working on cranking up his average position size quite substantially.

And I think they’ve both been a bit surprised at how the change in circumstances has affected their ability to pull the trigger and leave the trades to do their thing. A bit of mental resistance to taking losses has crept in, when it was never an issue at smaller levels of risk.

It’s nothing to worry about: just a hard-wired survival instinct that needs skirting around. But it is annoying when things like this slow down your progress.

Ultimately, it’s just a case of desensitising yourself to greater levels of risk by repeatedly ‘putting your head on the block’. There’s no way to build up a resistance to the emotions that creep in unless you actually perform the actions that cause the negative response.

Well, there is one other thing you can do…

I suppose it’s a bit of self-kiddology. But hey, it works!

And all’s fair in love, war… and trading!

A quick trick that’ll take the sting out of losing trades and 
keep your mind on long-term success

This is a special way of arranging your results so you don’t get sidetracked by the ‘noise’ of individual trade outcomes.

And it doesn’t matter what system or strategy you’re trading. You can apply this to anything.

You see, it’s just a subtle shift in perspective really… a little bit of psychology in action.

But take on board what I’ll show you, and here are three solid benefits you can take away with you right away:

  • You can stop yourself ducking out of taking good trades.
  • It can help stop you tinkering around with your system, trying to make it ‘perfect’.
  • You can force yourself to focus on long-term profitability (where the big money lies), instead of agonizing over the daily ups-and-downs in your trading account.

Now, from personal experience, I’ve found the best way to avoid getting bogged-down and demoralised by inevitable losing trades is to do everything within your power to remove their hold over you.

…even if it means a little bit of self-trickery!

And I’ve seen just how many other Forex traders live trade-to-trade, their confidence levels lurching up and down. It’s no way to find trading consistency.

So the tactic I’ve got here for you clusters your trade results together in little batches. Each individual win or loss now becomes a cog in the machine of a broader trading campaign.

It can take the sting right out of a losing trade, because you’ll already be looking directly ahead to the next trade in the batch.

And it’s really simple to set-up too…

It’s going to take you about ten minutes to work out the best batch-size for you to use from examining the recent results your system generated.

And it’ll take about another five minutes to set the spreadsheet up…

But once you’ve done it, you’ll have given yourself an instant psychological edge over how you were relating to your results beforehand.

So here’s the step-by-step guide to reframing your trading results in a powerful, confidence-boosting format. It’ll help you avoid uncertainty, control negative emotions and keep you focused on long-term success:

1. Get your recent trade results in front of you either on paper or on your computer screen (if you’re using a rule-based system, make sure you refer to the complete trail of system results rather than just the trades you chose to participate in).

2. Have a quick tot-up to see which batch-quantity size of trade results usually gives you a positive sum. If you add together strings of 10 consecutive trade results do you usually get a positive overall total? How about 8 consecutive trades, or 7?

3. Settle on the smallest batch quantity that gives you consistent positive results (ideally around 80% positive). Remember, this isn’t a precise science.

4. Start tracking your results in a campaign-format like example B in the screenshot below – it’s a simple shift in perspective but incredibly powerful. You can also change the font colour of the individual results to light grey to take the emphasis right off their relevance. You could even keep those columns hidden in your spreadsheet until you need to type in a new result.

This is an easy way to notch your mental-game up to the next level.

But if you already have total control over your trading emotions… if you never second-guess the signals your trading system gives you and if you never take trades outside your system’s rules, then don’t worry, you probably don’t need to do this.

Don’t risk upsetting a routine that’s already working well for you.

Otherwise, just look over your recent trades, quickly work out the best batch size for you and start recording your results in that ‘campaign’ format.

It can be a massive psychological boost to see that wall of positive green numbers on your screen. But please remember this method can only optimise the feedback of results for a trading system with an existing positive edge.

(If you’re not sure how effective your own trading system is, or if you’re looking for new trading ideas, keep an eye out for the updates on my new scalping strategy – coming very soon.)

Be Prepared: Market Moving Data Coming This Week (London Time)

Wednesday 16th March
09:30    GBP    Average Earnings Index
09:30    GBP    Claimant count change
12:30    GBP    Annual Budget Release
12:30    USD    Building Permits
12:30    USD    CPI
14:30    USD    Crude Oil Inventories
18:00    USD    Interest Rate Decision & Fed statement
18:30    USD    FOMC Yellen speaks

Thursday 17th March
08:30    CHF    Interest Rate Decision
10:00    EUR    CPI
12:00    GBP    Interest Rate Decision
12:00    GBP    BoE Meeting Minutes
12:30    USD    Philly fed

Friday 18th March    
– no big reports

Monday 21st March
14:00    USD    Existing Home Sales

Tuesday 22nd March
09:00    EUR    German IFO Business Climate Index
09:30    GBP    CPI
10:00    EUR    German ZEW Economic Sentiment

Interest rate decisions are the main focus this coming week. Keep an eye out for those and also any rhetoric from central bank spokespeople.

Tread carefully and I’ll catch up with you again later this week.