The Steps of Loss in Forex

One of the first and most important things that you have to learn in Forex trading is accepting Losses. Although it is a part of the overall trading process, losing is something that many traders, both new, and pros have difficulty.

 Losing in a business is a pain when there is money involved that you have worked very hard.

The reason behind the difficulty in coping with the losses lies with the lack of understanding rather than actual psychological problems. People who are experiencing loss misunderstand the negative emotions that are attached to them, which can cause anguish.  This eventually makes them quit Forex trading completely. People who cannot deal with the psychology of losing end up exiting the Forex trading business immediately with pain.

In this article, I would like to address that lack of knowledge about losses. Below I have mentioned the four steps of loss in Forex, namely, denial, rationalizing, depression, and acceptance.

 My intention is that by getting to know these four stages, you will be better prepared to handle the losses that come with trading.

STEP 1: DENIAL

The first stage of loss allows you to deal with the losing trade. In this phase, you deny to yourself and others that your trading idea was wrong and that the loss was not your mistake. Reasons like “I was stopped out” and “I didn’t care for that trade” are commonly used. There’s nothing wrong feeling the way, particularly if you are new. It a way to ease the blow your ego, take the loss and move on.

STEP 2: RATIONALIZATION

After the denial stage, you move on to rationalizing your trade setup. This is the point in time where you point out everything that right about your trade idea and do not even think about what you did wrong. You refer to the suitability of your trading plan, profit target, stop loss, and entry point but totally disregard that you did lose the trade and made a mistake somewhere.

STEP 3: DEPRESSION

At this point, you have already looked at the possible external reasons for your loss. You then turn inward and consider the idea that the loss was completely caused by your own doing.

Although it is reasonable to take responsibility for your loss, blaming yourself too much can be damaging to your long-term forex career if it leads to you consistently doubting you. You might ask yourself questions like “Is Forex trading really for me?” You could even wind up withdrawing yourself from the business altogether if you didn’t find enough reasons to keep pushing it forward.

Those who have experienced this kind of self-doubt can attest that the longer the losing streak is, the more intense the feeling of depression. In some cases, you could even see yourself thinking of pursuing other business ventures out there and giving up Forex trading in this stage the most important thing is self-belief and self-motivation.

STEP 4: ACCEPTANCE

In this stage, you begin to realize that it is unhealthy to blame yourself for everything that went wrong. Even though you have accepted that the loss was partly your fault, you are also mindful of the fact that the forex market is a wild, untamed beast and that there are plenty of market factors beyond your control.

Let me make it clear though that acceptance is not simply about feeling okay about the loss. In truth, acceptance is more about adjust yourself to reality and realizing that the loss cannot be undone.

When you reach this stage, you accept that you have made some mistakes on your part but that there are also things you are unable to control. Some even say that acceptance is a mix of rationalization and depression, as you combine the two before you can move on.

At the end of the day, it is important to remind yourself that you can never truly reverse what has been lost but you can MAKE UP  for it. One obvious way to do this is to have a winning trade and recover financially, but you can work on rebounding MENTALLY as well.

You can come up with improvements for your trading strategy, exercise better risk management and figure out how to handle your losses better. Instead of just denying the loss, you have to move on, adapt and grow in your trading career.

As I have always mentioned, trading is all about emotions and better risk management. Once you understand this concept then will be easy for you to take losses and trade like a professional trader.

Good Luck with your trading and investing!