Trading is such a demanding and grueling line of work. Trader: This fact can easily be seen in how often traders experience something known as a burnout. This phenomenon occurs as a result of the difficulties and challenges that are an inherent part of the trading world and financial markets.
But there are ways you can detect burnout in yourself as a trader early on. And there are also methods and techniques that you can use to remedy this situation and alleviate your mental and physical fatigue in order to avoid a burnout or even recover from one.
Keep on reading this article as we will go through this psychological trauma that many traders face in their trading career and as we will show you ways you can avoid this mental trap.
What Exactly Is Trading Burnout?
All the important steps that we take in life require a push, a passion, a motivation, and a driving force behind it. This is also the case, especially for an activity such as trading.
Unlike what you might think or have seen, trading is not just pushing a button and receiving wads of money from the sky.
Trading is a long and arduous process that takes years and years to hone and to perfect. So when a phenomenon is this challenging and demanding, you really need a strong purpose or vision to give you the motivation to do it on a daily basis.
But sometimes we can lose sight of the purpose that made us start this journey in the first place. This is exactly when a burnout can occur in your trading life. You run out of mental fuel and start negatively impacting the result of your trades until eventually you give up trading altogether.
Though not to worry. There are easy steps that you can maintain in order to avoid this matter. But first, let’s see why burnouts occur at all.
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Why Does Burnout Occur
Why do burnouts occur anyway? Well, there could be many reasons why this damaging phenomenon is seen rather often with traders.
- It could potentially have to do with the extreme pressures and the resultant anxiety that come directly from financial markets. There are price fluctuations and heavy ups and downs in all markets. This alone can put a heavy weight on the mind of a trader. Plus constantly being on the lookout for the best opportunity to profit and also to protect your assets that are exposed to market forces. All of this can be a serious mental strain that ultimately leads to a burnout.
- Having a burnout can also be related to the skill and profession of trading itself. You see, it takes constant learning and even studying in order to be a professional day trader for example. You need to study the markets, technical tools, analysis methods, so on and so forth. This process can become tedious and prolonged. Therefore, it can lead some traders to the brink of a burnout.
- Oftentimes a burnout in trading is directly correlated to the lifestyle of trading. Imagine a day trader or scalp trader. In either case you have to be constantly monitoring the market and sitting behind your computer device. All the while taking in the exuberant amount of stress associated with this form of working. It is easy to see how this can lead to a burnout.
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Ways to Deal with Burnout in Trading
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Watch out for when doubt creeps in
The first step in dealing with a burnout in trading is avoiding it. You must detect it early on and then take measures in order to control and diminish it. An early sign of a trading burnout can be when doubt creeps in your mind and you start questioning different aspects of being a trader, such as all the time you have to dedicate, the worrying, the stress, the fear of loss, etc.
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Have a trading purpose in mind
A guiding principle, especially a powerful one, can help you go through any period of difficulty and drudgery. As a trader, it is extremely important for you to have a well-defined trading purpose in mind. Always remember the reason why you are trading and this will push away all the mental hurdles.
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Have an accountability partner
In any area in life, it is great to know that you are not alone. You can, therefore, have a trading accountability partner. Another person who is also a trader and shares your lifestyle, career, concerns, and overall experiences as a trader. You can push each other and keep each other in check to avoid a burnout.
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It’s okay to take a break
Last but not least, you need to remember that taking a break from trading is completely alright. It is okay to feel tired from time to time. Everybody feels this way and it is natural. So don’t be too hard on yourself and if you feel like you need to take a break, it is certainly better to be away from the world of trading for a while rather than experiencing a burnout and never being able to go back to trading.
You should read: What Is Behavioral Bias in Forex Trading?
Conclusion
Any task in life can become tedious and lead to a mental or physical burnout and breakout if you don’t stop from time to time to take stock of the situation. Trading, especially if done as the main source of income, can be an extremely challenging task. A burnout is when you lose the “mojo” that got you trading in the first place. In this article we discussed this phenomenon and also showed you ways in which you can avoid experiencing burnout as a trader.
