Trading in the Forex market is time consuming. The average trader needs to invest hours and hours to keep up with the market and build up the necessary skills to beat it. There are many strategies that can help but they’re technically complicated and expensive. The set & forget strategy is one which alleviates the stress of analysis and research by using rule-based systems to find, entries, exits, stops and take profit levels.
The predetermined settings of set & forget take control away from traders allowing trades to take place uninterrupted, reducing human errors. Whilst a trade is taking place the temptation to want to adjust or exit a trade for whatever reason can lead to impulsive decisions and impact your long-term performance. This is particularly true for greedy behaviour; traders often lose money because they have no profit target.
Studies have shown that traders who risk less and don’t over trade perform better. In a few but not all cases women who enter Forex trading tend to perform better than their male counterparts because they are less involved.
The set & forget strategy is not limited to only strategic benefits but also psychological. Committing to a trade and walking away from it eliminates the emotional stress and pressure of watching your trade live. Overthinking a trade is another psychological symptom of emotional stress. Traders that have an obsessive need to control the market through extensive research become the predictable traders that professionals take advantage of.
The search for profits can often lead to bad habits, a common one is obsessive chart watching. The chemical effect of watching your trade live can give traders a buzz, often leading them to make ill-advised decisions. Time away from the computer can correct this habit and stop any erratic behaviour. Even just thinking about the umbers flashing higher or lower, this flashing, all by itself, can sometimes create a sense of urgency in the trader, a need for them to do something an act, when the reality couldn’t be more different. What is often needed, is the skill to leave the trade alone.
A full-time trader can also benefit from switching to a set and forget strategy as it helps increase mental performance. Less time spent analysing and worrying about profit or loss can give more time to rest and sleep allowing you to efficiently use your brain when needed. Routinely being a beneficiary of the strategy’s advantages will instil the correct mentality needed to place all trades. In short this comes back to having a balanced mindset. It is very difficult to remain balanced and in control psychologically if you are spending hours and hours watching your trades go up and then come down.
Having time away from the computer by no means indicates you are a bad trader, in fact you are probably more in control of your trades than a trader who watches every tick.
