Following last week’s theme of the use of sports psychology in trading, this week we will discuss the use of performance cues. In professional sports, like trading, there is a huge amount of information that must be processed at any one time. Some of this information is essential, some of it distracting. While most people will spend a lot of their time trying to ignore the distractions and concentrate on what’s important, sports psychologists have actually found this to be counterproductive. Instead of trying to block out noise such as the crowd, elite athletes will simply accept these distractions for what they are and instead focus their attention on a few key aspects of their performance. These points of focus are known as performance cues. For a tennis player it may be paying attention to the upper body of his opponent before a serve or for a skier it might be making a strong edge on their outside ski and keeping their hands forward. The key for a trader is to establish what the important performance cues are in their own trading environment. (more...)

To be a perfect trader or to trade perfectly, that is the question... and it is not an insignificant question. (more...)

Our state of the art trading floors in the City of London and Surrey are inhabited by a diverse range of individuals in terms of age, race, country of birth, ethnic background and which team they support in the World Cup (commiserations to our French brethren!). By contrast, they are all unified in their pursuit of elite levels of trading performance, an unwavering dedication to succeeding, and a highly intellectual approach to the financial markets. However, there is one other trait which often goes unnoticed to the untrained eye - the ability to manage one’s emotions. Elite traders are very aware of their personality type, their emotional makeup and the impact, both positive and negative, that these elements have on their trading performance. Often as a result of years of repeated exposure to the markets, and thus themselves, they acquire a deep introspective understanding and an ability to manage their emotions effectively. Those traders that fail to develop this skill often fight a daily battle with themselves whilst being thrown around on an emotional rollercoaster that can ultimately lead to burnout. (more...)

As strange as it may sound, one of the key ingredients in becoming a professional trader is learning how to lose money. As with so much in trading, taking losses does not come naturally to the human psyche, and so mastering it requires both teaching and experience. Students of our Trading Floor Training programme develop the necessary discipline early on, and quickly come to realise its importance; after all, wouldn’t you rather exit a losing trade on your own terms and not the market’s?

Every time we enter a trade we should be clear in advance about what we expect to get out of it, and about what we will do when confronted with a range of possible scenarios. It is fine to run the position, but there should always be an area where we are looking to take profits on at least some of it. Given this, we should also be clear about where we will exit the trade if our original reasons for entry are not confirmed. Any trader who is not absolutely clear about these two things before taking a position is trading blind, and ultimately the law of averages will catch up with him or her.

As discretionary traders, we often trade at high frequency and in extremely volatile markets. Being able to take a loss professionally and without emotion is key to being profitable in such markets. As with so many areas of the Trading Floor Training programme, mental discipline and self confidence are essential. The first thing we must come to understand is that losses are an essential part of trading- no one ever has been able to, or ever will be able to, predict with 100% accuracy where the market is about to go. We think and trade in probabilities, which necessitates an understanding that anything can happen. It is no reflection on the trader whether a trade is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, and as the professional trader has the confidence to know that his edge will mean he reads the market correctly more often than not, he has no hang-ups about a trade that loses money. There is after all no place for an ego when half the battle comes from within the trader.

Perfecting careful and disciplined risk management keeps us in the game when we’re ‘wrong’, and enables us to take maximum profits when we’re ‘right’. A lucrative career as a Futex professional trader awaits readers who can rise to the challenge.

Futex Investment & Trading Academy

“The Ultimate Futures Trading Education”

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  When it comes to performing at an elite level every time you light up your trading screens, your state of mind is of paramount importance. Few people truly believe that their state of mind is a choice and even fewer are prepared to and have the requisite skills to take full responsibility for it every day. Futex Academy understands the central role that the trader’s state of mind plays in his performance and actively supports their traders in its management.

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The unequivocal objective of Futex Academy is to train individuals to trade futures consistently profitably. Synonymous with performance consistency is a trading approach that emphasises control and effective decision making at times of extreme emotional and market pressure. As we head towards the release of the monthly U.S. Employment Situation report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is an ideal time to highlight how and why we employ this clear aim. (more...)

This week a further three graduates of the Futex Academy Trading Floor Training programme have experienced live market trading for the first time. Reflecting on a very successful debut for all three traders, the subject of self-belief has been at the forefront of our discussions. (more...)