Why You Want Trading To Be Boring
This is one of those topics where I am going to assume that the main reason you got into binary options trading was to make money. Maybe you also want to be entertained, but that is a secondary motivation. It is not what you are focused on when you sit down each day at your computer to trade.
But it’s hard not to focus on it when you find out what trading is like.
Newbies to binary options trading often imagine that it is either going to be like the fast-paced action on the stock market floor or the fast-paced action at a casino. Neither of these images represent reality. The serious trader is not sitting there taking trade after trade (if you are a 60 Second trader looking at a number of different assets, you might be an exception). Most serious traders sit there day after day doing … well, next to nothing.
This is not to say that trading is not a lot of work. But on an average day, your work can look very much like this:
- Wake up, eat breakfast.
- Open trading charts.
- Watch charts.
- Eat lunch, run tests, read a book on trading.
- Watch charts.
- Get on trading forums, share charts, research new trading techniques.
- Run more tests.
- Eat dinner, do something else, go to bed.
That is right: on your average day, there is a good chance you will not trade at all.
While there are traders who excel with fast trades (more) and traders who excel with very slow position trades, the vast majority are going to fall somewhere in the middle. If you have a trading method for trades which are going to take hours or days to expire, how many trades will you take per month? There can be a ton of variation, but do not be surprised if you place only a few trades in a week. Some traders may place even less!
While you want to net as many winners as you can, you also need to keep your win percentage as high as possible. That means only ever taking A+ trade setups. You cannot average a B in trading and pass the class, because the moment you start compromising on quality, you will lose your discipline, and start taking C trades, and D trades, and before you know it, you have lost your edge.
This can be extremely challenging even for the most steady-minded trader, but it will especially be challenging if:
- You have trouble sitting still. Some people just get bored really easily if they are not actively doing something.
- You are impatient to grow your small account into something sizable, and the thought of taking forever to do it drives you crazy.
- You are addicted to emotional highs and lows. A lot of traders cannot get enough of that rollercoaster.
- Someone has convinced you that waiting is “doing nothing,” and that you are not really pursuing wealth unless you are constantly taking action. You may feel useless, like you are letting yourself down or not trying hard enough.
All that sitting and waiting is just one reason that many traders ultimately feel “bored” while they are pursuing binary options as a profession.
The other reason, though, is that trading typically is boring when it goes right.
In other words, you are not on that rollercoaster of wins and losses. You make the occasion win, and spend the rest of the time waiting for the next opportunity. You will probably get a thrill from every win, and you should—there is nothing wrong with taking pleasure in your successes. But what you will not be doing is swinging between mania and despair, extreme triumph and crushing defeat. You will not feel like you are riding waves of unpredictability and weathering a storm of chaos.
If you do feel that way, you certainly will not be bored, but it is a good sign something is going wrong with your trading. When trading is that eventful, it typically means one of a couple things:
You are taking too many setups and/or you are taking the wrong setups. You are overtrading, because you do not want to wait for the right setup to come along. The reason you feel wildly anxious about your trades is because you are out of control of them. You have no idea what is going to happen. How could you? You are not trading your system rules. Being at the mercy of fate is always exciting—in a really bad way.
You are taking huge position sizes. Any time you have 20%, 30%, or 50% of your account on the line, of course you are going to feel excited. You could win so much money! Or you could lose that much money, which you probably will.
What you should be striving each for is patience and consistency. Your trading routine should be reliable and regular, and every day should be about the same if you are doing it right. Most days you probably will not trade at all, or you will be waiting on an open position to close. You will not be clicking “High” or “Low.” You will not be entering in position sizes. You will be researching and testing, and watching your screen according to a disciplined schedule … but that is about it.
When you do open or close a position, you will probably feel some excitement or trepidation, but it should not be as wildly extreme as it would be if you were breaking your rules. Your system and your disciplined money management techniques will keep you grounded and centered. They will assure you that you are not out of control. They will make trading predictable.
And as so many people believe, predictable is boring.
But predictable is also profitable!
Did you know that psychologists differentiate between feelings and emotions? Basically, emotions are short-term and intense, whereas feelings are less intense but sustainable over a longer period of time. It is tough to categorize what is a feeling and what is an emotion (and perhaps the differences vary per person, and per situational context), but there is definitely a major distinction between the two.
As far as boredom and excitement are concerned, far too many traders make the mistake of putting value in their emotions instead of their feelings. They get wrapped up in the short-term and they do it at the expense of the long-term.
If you value excitement as an emotion, as a short-term, intense payoff while you are trading, do you know what is going to happen?
You are going to lose money, and your long-term feelings about trading will be negative. You will feel like a failure, and you will probably learn to hate trading.
If however you put a higher value on your feelings and put less of an emphasis on your emotions, you will learn how to tolerate the emotion of boredom. You will know that is the short-term price you pay for positive long-term feelings about your trading overall. You will discover that this is the only way to cultivate lasting satisfaction, pride, and happiness with your trading.
So next time you sit down to trade and you wait days for a trade setup and you think, “Wow, this is really boring,” be thankful for that boredom! It probably means you are on exactly the right track with your trading. Over time, you will build up a portfolio of winning trades and your bankroll will grow. And so will your feelings of satisfaction with trading. And when you start seeing the long-term payoffs from trading, you will have a lot to truly be excited about!