Hi all

[Morbius]

But even then, my fear of losing (which can be traced back to a very poor upbringing) is still likely to play a huge factor.

Forgot to say, I don't see your very poor upbringing as a potential handicap, it can be a big advantage and strength instead if you really tap into it

Hi fella and welcome to the forum. I just wanted to reply to this because I had the same problem for the same reason very early in my career. That was poker years ago but the same thing. Psychological scars can seem difficult to overcome and in fact there is an actual recognised condition for fear of losing and spending money but I've forgotten what that phobia is called.

I'm not saying you have this, I'm just saying that our mental programming can sometimes be a tough nut to crack. However there are ways to ring fence this problem and certain tricks work better for different people.

Example.... Let's say someone is nervous almost to the point of being scared to lose £200 trading. Now let's say your job pays you £10 hour. Ask your boss for overtime if that's possible and get the money that way or maybe get a second job for a while or sell items on ebay you don't need or whatever. Then TRY to see it as 20 hours of time rather than £200.

Time is money but its amazing how many people value money more than time but they are essentially the same thing. We all waste huge amounts of time doing crap but why not spend that time earning money to fund your trading?? Then the key is to put your money straight into your trading account BEFORE any emotional attachment has time to manifest. It's the emotional attachment to money that hinders traders from scaling up and bad money management and having no quantifiable edge that ruins them when they do.

[Kai]

Yep, but pretty much everyone has to go through the same journey, although some really like taking the scenic route Even though they know that the shortest route would be a direct straight line!

Very difficult to trade without any fear at the start since real confidence is a rare commodity at that point, and if you're trading without confidence you're just going to get bullied by your emotions first and then consequently by the market as well.

It's very counter-intuitive in a sense, you sort of have to learn how to lose first before you can even start winning, which will make sense later if it doesn't right away.

And ultimately, it's one hell of a journey, you more or less start as this clueless idiot on Day 1...



... and the goal is to become this battle-scarred veteran on Day 1001.



So as you can imagine it's not an easy journey Even when you fully know which direction to go etc. Good luck either way though.