eToro – Forex Trading Forum

[Tropezienne]

Your emotional responses to certain situations have an important bearing on your health, family life, and performance at work and as a trader.

Here you can assess your emotional experience whilst trading. Base your answers on how you have felt over the last two weeks.

Rate your feelings as follows :

1 = rarely
2 = occasionally
3 = sometimes
4 = often
5 = most of the time

1) I feel happy when I'm trading _____
2) I feel stressed when I'm trading _____
3) I feel alert and energetic when I'm trading _____
4) I feel discouraged when I'm trading _____
5) I feel capable of succeeding at my trading _____
6) I blame myself when my trading doesn't work out _____
7) I feel satisfied with my trading results _____
8) I feel edgy and frustrated when I'm trading _____
9) I feel in control of what happens in my trading _____
10) I make impulsive decisions when I'm trading _____

Next week I’ll expand on the scoring for this assessment and what can be learned from you results. Don't forget to come back here !

Julie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

I rated my feelings over the last two weeks as follows :

1) 4
2) 2
3) 4
4) 2
5) 3
6) 5
7) 3
8) 1
9) 3
10) 2

To score this assessment add the total for the odd numbered questions - then the same for the even numbered questions. The first figure is the score for your positive emotional experiences with regard to your trading and the second is the score for your negative emotional experiences re: trading.

This basic assessment makes us think about our stress-levels or feeling of well-being whilst trading. We need to develope and foster the following areas of well-being :

* Happiness
* Personal satisfaction
* A sense of energy and vitality
* Perceived competence
* Perceived autonomy

We need to identify and deal with the following characteristics of stress :

* Anxious feelings
* Feelings of discouragement
* Feelings of guilt or regret
* Feelings of frustration or anger
* Feelings of loss of control

The best score will be weighted to the positive. I scored 17 positive to 12 negative - a reasonable balance. However, I am trading only on a practice account and so my level of real risk is negligible. I might have scored differently if real money was at stake.

Have you taken the test? How did you score ?

Julie

http://who-gives-a-forex.blogspot.com/

[Tropezienne]

Try to be aware of your sense of well-being - traders naturally immerse themselves in their trading activities. This is necessary in order to make the correct decisions quickly and under pressure. Traders, and anyone who works under market pressures, probably share a personality trait that experiences this type of pressure as a positive experience.
Even though trading is not always profitable it is important that a trader feels a sense of being in control and of being capable in order to feel personally fulfilled.

So, although the test above is very basic - it is a useful tool to check the balance between your negative and emotional experience. If you score positively, you can ensure that you keep the balance right. If you score on the negative side - then you know that you need to find ways to de-stress, to ease the intensity.

Note that a financially successful trader may be completely stressed-out and score negatively on the test. The stress will be affecting other social relationships and this situation does not contribute to a sustained sense of self-fulfilment in life itself.