A Blog of Commentary and Ideas from an FXstreet Premium Member by 
Welcome to another week everyone!
I often spend time catching up with my FXStreet Premium friends over the weekends, which got me to thinking about some of the thoughts we may have as we go into a new Trading Week.
A thought that came to mind was “Hope”.
As a “lapsed” Catholic, I am certainly not an expert on religious doctrine, but being involved formally in classical music and fine art has taught me quite a bit about Music and Art History of the Western World through the ages.
For some reason, I was thinking about Trading and a Monastic life….(perhaps because trading really is solitary….and in the end…it becomes You and Yourself…)
St. Benedict came to mind, and a basic tenet of his teachings jumped right out at me.
The concept of “surrendering the Will and surrendering all Hope” I found intriguing with the Monks.
To paraphrase…Benedict’s view was that “Hope is the enemy of Peace of Mind…as is Fear and Greed. These are a hindrance and a distraction.”
Let me explain.
When we “Hope” for something….wishing for it to happen…we are desiring to a particular outcome. We are acknowledging that something is not quite right.
See where I’m going with this?
In Trading, we may do this quite a bit. We execute a position, only to immediately HOPE for it to go our way!
My thought here is if we do this right away…we are already questioning the validity of the trade, and also acknowledging we are not quite as secure in the trade as we may have liked to be.
My little “built-in” Lesson for today is to try and be mindful and fully aware of the reasons you are taking and executing a Position.
Make sure it makes sense to you…and is simply not filled with untenable emotions.
Our Fiber (EUR/USD) is a fine example of “Hope” possible coming into play with the pending break of the Triangle…have a look!
(Click once for capture)
Now…are we going to “HOPE” that Price breaks to “our” favored direction?
Or are we going to follow St. Benedict here…and simply let it follow its’ own nature? 
Tim your blog is great for all types of traders, you talk in layman terms an at the same time your trading method is is very Pro and understandable, well done . I read somewhere a pro trader said that when he triggers a trade he has his mindset to expect it to be a loser so he doe’snt get emotional if it is and if he trades his method long enough it will end up in the profit zone on past performance results . You can always think of yourself as a Buddha trader now that would be a feat but then you would have to leave your gut instinct at home.
Greetings Sean, and thank you for all of your comments and participation!
I do try and “gear” the Blog with some wide perspectives, so there will be something beneficial for all levels and types of Traders.
I do agree with this Trader whom you are referring to…this “view” literally “forces” out the emotional weight.
We simply get our negatives out of the way by going in understanding the massive Odds we are dealing with each time we execute a position.
Sincerely,
- Tim -
Excellent thoughts, Tim. It brings to mind something else from the Benedictine rule where he wrote about monks who are commanded to do the impossible. His model of how to behave in difficult situations is to first, listen–listen to the environment, listen to ourselves. Then state clearly how we see the situation. Finally we should submit to what is required. Here is where the real curbing of emotions comes into play. And nobody would deny that trading can be difficult and is certainly a challenge (although I sometimes think we make it more difficult than it needs to be). Now that St. Bendict is probably spinning in his holy resting place at being brought into the currency market, lol, one can also turn to Jesse Livermore who wrote about how he was never impatient or anxious when he was sure of his position–when he’d done the analysis and taken the trade based on that analysis and not other, extraneous factors. Emotions–hope, fear, etc–really do have no place in trading and if they’re present it is a signal that needs heeding.
OK, this is why I don’t usually come to blogs–I always find something interesting and feel compelled to respond. Just wanted to see how you were doing. Fine, I see.