Pulling The Trigger – How To be More Accurate
Let’s talk about fear and pulling the trigger.
I know a lot of people are so scared to get into the market. They have this fear of pulling the trigger to buy because they have been losing in the past. Sometimes people are already in a stock, they are invested, they get fear and pull the trigger much too soon. So how can we correct this situation?
It’s really quite simple. It’s all in your mind because that is where fear resides. You need to get fear out of your brain so you can make smarter, more logical decisions. Not only on which stocks to buy, but also when to buy and sell them.
Quit Watching The Media
I find a lot of times people get this fear by watching and listening to the news. When everyone is talking on the news that it is doomsday for the economy, people get scared and start selling while the markets continue to go up. It could even happen the opposite. People are saying it is good time to buy so you get scared to sell and the market crashes, taking you down with it.
What I tell people who get paralyzed by fear, is to quit watching the news. Don’t let those “experts” on TV scare you.
Not everyone watches TV or reads a newspaper. Some people exhibit fear when they see their stock dropping and they pull the trigger too soon. What they should do is have confidence in their selection and keep holding as planned.
Build Confidence To Eliminate Fear and Pulling The Trigger Too Soon
You need to build some confidence in your stock selection, in your trading strategy. Since I use technical analysis for stock selection, I always tell investors that BEFORE they buy any stock, they should have the price they will buy at and the price they will sell at. Then you just stick to the plan.
You should set stop order to protect on the downside, and then set your limit orders to exit on the upside. Set it and forget it is one way to keep fear from influencing your decisions in the stock market.
If you don’t have the confidence in your buy and sell signals, you need to backtest. Backtesting is the process of going back in history (a minimum of 10 years works best) to see how your signals would have performed. If they performed well, why would you EVER let fear deviate from your signals? Backtesting builds confidence (and a few winning trades under your belt helps too). Stick with the plan and keep fear out. In this manner you will always pull the trigger at the right time.
OK, so you won’t pull the trigger every time at the right time. No one can be 100% accurate. Trading is a numbers game. As long as your winners return more than your losers, you can be right half the time and still make a fortune.
In conclusion, to remove fear from your brain and to be more accurate at pulling the trigger, avoid being brainwashed by the media. Also make sure to backtest your signals to build confidence.
As a bonus, these free beginner trading strategies can help you find the proper time to pull the trigger for buying and for selling. You could also follow a proven “automated” system. The Index Trading System sends you email/text when to buy and when to sell.
