Today, we’re talking about our final common reasons one might be stressing in their trades.

4. There may be a subconscious trauma response that needs healing/reprogramming.

A trauma response is simply a subconscious program that was formed during a highly stressful or traumatic event.

The trauma response could have been created when a trade went against you hard and you didn’t have a stop loss… or it could have happened when you were crossing the street and a car nearly hit you… or when someone you love hurt you.

Life is full of stressful, unexpected events. It doesn’t actually matter what the event itself was. What matters is that during that stressful event, our subconscious mind was being programmed to prevent similar events in the future.

As we’ve learned in previous sessions, your amygdala (fear center in your brain) doesn’t know the difference between avoiding a car hitting you or being afraid to lose money in a trade. All it knows is “danger: save yourself!”

That’s where this awareness about our subconscious trauma programming becomes important in our trading.

So if you’re following all your rules… for example, you’re properly sized in your trade, you had an appropriate entry, etc… yet you’re still sweating bullets and having a hard time thinking straight in your trade…

Then it may be a subconscious trauma response that’s hijacking your brain and sending your body into fight or flight.

So what can you do about it?

1. Have patience. Part of this is normal for new traders. I’m referring to folks in their first 2-4 years of trading. A great way to reduce your likelihood of being triggered is to just trade 1-2 contracts or trade paper while you’re learning.

2. While in a trade, you can use techniques designed to scientifically calm the nervous system. One highly effective, simple method is “tapping” (i.e. “EFT” Emotional Freedom Technique). I use this shit all the time when I am stressed and it works wonders.

EFT “removes the emotional resonance from an old story” or from traumatic responses to events in our lives or trading.

I’ve begun filming a collection of Tapping videos for day traders + I filmed an explainer video to help you learn what tapping is and why it’s useful for trading (and life). You can check it out here: https://bettyjeanbell.gumroad.com/l/tradertapping  Use code: DAYTRADER to get all the videos (plus new ones I make) for free. Make sure to watch the Introduction video before you get started.

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*This post is not financial advice, nor is it mental health advice. Please seek a financial and/or mental health professional where appropriate. For educational purposes only.