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What Will You Do If You Do Not Meet Your Trading Goals?

One of the topics I have discussed in a couple of my articles on trading psychology is setting goals.  Setting goals is an important part of any business plan, and that goes for binary options too.  I have talked about setting useful goals here.  To sum up, it is a good idea to avoid setting goals that urge you to rush instead of take your time and choose the best setups.

Good goals:

1-are measurable, and 2-help you improve yourself as a trader and attain higher profits.  They should also 3-be meaningful, and 4-be specific.

Here are some great examples of trading goals:

While these are all great goals, they also all have pitfalls associated with them.  Those pitfalls get deeper if you do not also have a plan ready for failure.  While it is great to think we will all meet our goals in binary options trading, we risk failure every time we seek to achieve something.  What will happen if you do not meet one of your trading goals?  Will you panic?  Will you stop trading?  Will you overtrade?  How will you stop yourself from making things worse?

Here are potential pitfalls and solutions for the above trading goals:

Solution:  Have a set of acceptable reasons for taking time off.  Do not accept an excuse like “because I feel like it.”  But do accept something like, “I am feeling sick today,” or “I am unfocused because I am going through a serious life problem.”  Wait until you are levelheaded again, and then return to trading as usual.  Strive for balance and not just discipline, and you will avoid the pitfalls of shortcomings. It is ok to take a break.

Solution:  Many binary options traders find that quarters are better to measure progress in than months.  Months are a very short time period.  You should figure out the longest losing streak you could expect based on back-testing.  If you exceed that, it may be time to take a break and figure out what is going on.  But if you do not, then you may want to accept it as par the course and proceed.  Know that not every month will be profitable.  You can aim for it, but do not expect a perfect track record.

Solution:  Remember to draw a distinction between your goal and reasonable success.  Eighty percent is actually an excellent win percentage, and many traders would be very happy to achieve that.  It does not mean you should not aim for the 85% (or even higher), but have some perspective and accept the 80% as profitable.  Keep looking for ways to make your system even more profitable—but do not throw away what you have achieved as worthless when it isn’t.

Solution:  This is again a matter of perspective.  A lot of traders would be thrilled with a 2% ROI, so if you are doing better than that—outstanding.  If you are getting anywhere near that, you should be pretty happy about it.  You may have a certain goal like, “I want to double my account every month/two months/six months,” and think that displays an understanding of compounding, but in a way, it actually means you are underestimating that power.  Have some patience now.  In the long run, it will pay off.  And eventually, you will be making quite a lot of money with that 4% ROI per month—or even that 1% ROI per month.  Consistency is key if you want to experience those benefits, whether sooner or later.

Solution:  If you take care of the short term, the power of compounding will come to your aid, taking care of the long term.  You cannot really predict what is going to happen that many steps ahead.  You could be farther—or closer—than you realize.  The more effort you put into becoming the very best trader you can be in the present, the closer you will be.

So is it possible to avoid the pitfalls of goalsetting?  Absolutely.  You need to do some extra thinking about your goals and understand how they fit into your trading and your life.  Every strategy has limitations, and so does every goal.  Know what you are going to do when the going gets tough.  Having perspective will keep you from panicking and doing something foolish.  Keep testing and working on the basics—becoming the very best trader you can be—and understand that small failures do not need to compound into bigger ones.  There are many stumbles on a journey up a mountain.  Plan for your falls and you will be able to get up faster and get back on your upward climb.

Photo credits: Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there. ~ Bo Jackson


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