How To Overcome Greed And Envy

Almost every trader I’ve spoken to knows greed can really mess up an account, but none of them seems to be getting over it. I thought I’d write this blog post because I understand how challenging this can be.

I have suffered from the same, and I can now share a few tips on how you can overcome it. With most traders, greed starts as envy and progresses to greed that you can’t control. Don’t worry, though; I overcame it, and you can definitely overcome it. My mentees and I gave it a name; we call it “Tom’s tendencies”. For context, watch the trading capital video HERE.

What Exactly is Greed?

According to its definition, greed is a selfish want for something beyond one’s need. Greed is when you are unable to control the urge to keep on trading even when you’ve actually exceeded your daily target.

You just keep wanting more and more until you give away all your daily profits at the end of the day, plus half of your capital or even all of it.

How Does Greed Start?

When you don’t treat your trading account as your personal affair but share it with everyone who gives you a hint that they also trade. I know this because that is how my own greed started during my early days of trading.

I used to follow every page as long as I saw the word “Forex”. To me, the word had the ability to create all sorts of unrealistic expectations. You cannot blame me, though, because almost all the groups I joined portrayed it as the easiest way to make millions spending just a few minutes on your smartphone.

This girl right here wanted to make it big fast and quick just so she could also fit in with other children. Little did she know that she was about to face a long and rocky journey ahead of her.

Following Every Forex Page

You know, when you follow every Forex group that you come across, you meet some traders who are pure gamblers, but because it is easier to follow a bad trend than to do the right thing, you are likely to mess up your own trading plan and follow none of it.

When you see other traders posting their screenshots showing their profits and lot sizes, it can make you feel very envious and end up following in their footsteps, neglecting your own trading plan in the process.

What to Do?

The best thing that I’ve ever done for my trading journey was to remove myself from all those groups. It helped me to focus on my own account (which was very small at that time) and my trading plan.

All the noise was filtered, and I could focus (which is what I needed anyway). I really had no business increasing my Lot size like I used to. It was all because I was envying other traders, and my envy was soon turned into greed.

All that got me was nothing but pain and losses. A margin call was the order of the day, and it was a normal thing to me.

For ultimate focus, forget about your friends; they are not contributing any cents to your trading account, akere (sorry I got tempted to use my favourite word; please allow me to)

Accept Your Account As It Is

By accepting your account as it is, I mean that you need to understand that if you only invested $100 in your trading account, you may not be able to make the same returns as someone who invested $500.

You also need to accept that there may be some restrictions in terms of the financial instruments that you can trade. You may wish to trade Gold, Brent crude oil, or other stock indices, but only to find out that they are too expensive for your account and you can’t afford to trade them; accept that.

Start With a Few Instruments

There is absolutely nothing wrong with not trading all the financial instruments that you see on your market watch.

Relax and accept your account size as it is and treat it accordingly. One of the realities of trading is that your earning potential is highly dependent on your start-up capital (I know someone might just stop reading right here because the comforting lies sound sweeter than the reality/truth). If you are still here reading, listen to this Podcast Episode about trading capital.

The reality can be very unpleasant. Work out your own trading plan; do not just do that nje (my favourite word again) and follow without compromise.

Is It Difficult To Overcome Greed?

Anything, I mean anything, is possible when your mind is made up. Make up your mind, and you can easily overcome greed. I did, and you can do it too.

Thank you for spending some time on the blog today. If you found value in this post, kindly share it with your peers. Don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated on future educational posts. Check out my store and order your Trading Journal HERE.