In trading, it is very easy to get lost in the game.
You get on your trading platform, try to get some pips, and in the process, you usually forget the most basic risk management practices.
That’s why it helps to build simple routines that keep your risk in check. Here are five everyday habits that might help in limiting your risk exposure:
1. Double, triple, and even quadruple-check your orders
Electronic trading has made it very easy for traders to execute trades. However, the convenience also makes mistakes easier.
Having a well-thought-out trading plan would be useless if you do not correctly input your orders.
In May 2010, the financial market experienced a huge crash due to a “fat finger” event.
A trader in a large trading firm mistakenly sold $16 billion worth of future contracts instead of just $16 million.
Other traders who saw the order thought that something big was about to happen, so they sold too.
All because of one incorrect order.
Double, triple, and even quadruple-checking your order is very important in avoiding costly and unnecessary blunders.
Make reviewing your commands part of your routine. It will just take a couple of seconds of your time!
2. Always have a trading plan
You’d think that all traders would have a trading plan by now. I have talked about having a trade plan many times in my previous blog posts.
Unfortunately, a lot of traders still trade impulsively.
There are traders who trade completely on emotion and irrationally get into trades without thinking it through.
At the very least, you should have a plan on where to enter or exit your positions.
By doing so, you limit disastrous emotional reactions to adverse price movements.
3. Lock in profits along the way
Another overlooked habit is taking partial profits when a trade moves in your favor.
Yes, it’s tempting to hold the entire position until the final target. But scaling out of a portion of the trade can reduce your exposure if the market suddenly reverses.
After all, the saying “The trend is your friend… until it ends” didn’t come from nothing, did it?
Let’s take a scaling technique for example. Let’s say your trading plan calls for adding to your original position and moving your stop loss after a certain number of pips.
Taking some profit off the table along the way can turn a potentially stressful situation into a smaller win instead of a full loss.
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4. Take a step back from trading
If your analysis keeps missing the mark or you feel stuck in a losing streak, it might be time to step away.
Taking a short break can help reset your mindset. When you’re not emotionally tied to open positions, it becomes easier to see the market more clearly.
Sometimes a little distance is exactly what you need to recognize mistakes and come back with a better approach.
5. Withdraw your money regularly
While turning a couple of thousand bucks into a multi-gazillion trading account is a big confidence booster in trading, it’s still advisable to withdraw some of your money regularly.
For one, additional capital usually exposes you to impulsive decisions like trading with larger positions or overtrading.
Unless your trading goal calls for increasing your position sizes or your number of trades, withdrawing some of your money is one of your best bets at limiting risk.
Besides, haven’t I told you often enough that being consistently profitable requires your focus on the process and not on profits?
Take some of your moolah from time to time; take a vacation with your partner or your friends; buy something fancy for yourself, and enjoy the hard-earned fruits of your labor.
Promoted: The Strategy is Half the Battle; Your Mindset is the Rest.
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