Anxiety is the body's natural response to obstacles and problems of an emergency nature. However, when it detaches from the context and abandons the acute phase to put in place chronic dynamics, anxiety blocks and causes more trouble than anything else. This happens in everyday life, at work, in short, everywhere. Consequently, even in trading. In fact, trading anxiety is one of the most shared feelings, or rather states of mind, among investors. It's a frequent ailment, the uninvited guest of most investors. It's a serious problem, as anxiety causes emotional upheaval and the consequent loss of clarity. And, as we know, without clarity you're going nowhere.
Is it possible to defeat it? Eradicating it once and for all is very difficult, but with some precautions it is possible to fight it, reduce its effects and make it practically harmless. In this sense, two approaches can be identified: one technical and one psychological.
Technical advice to defeat trading anxiety
Trading anxiety stems from the fear of losing capital and becoming impoverished. The triggering cause cannot be eliminated as risk is an integral part of trading activities. However, it is possible to reduce the extent of the risk, this is possible. The advice, therefore, is first of all to engage in a good risk management activity. If even this is not enough, then you can act "manually", so to speak; that is, drastically reducing, at least for a while (for the period necessary to regain confidence), the amount at stake. Another idea could be to only invest the profits, in order to modify the very perception of loss.
Finally, and this is mainly technical advice, you can rely almost entirely on automated trading. Now, this single approach does not eliminate responsibilities and difficulties, but it shifts the trader's efforts from operations to strategy. In a nutshell, with automated trading the trader leaves the operations to the machine. Which is a great thing, since the greatest emotional load occurs exactly at this stage. Obviously, this approach also has its downsides: control over trades is somewhat lost and this, paradoxically, could cause... Anxiety.
Psychological advice to defeat trading anxiety
In addition to technical ones, there is a whole series of practical tips that exploit psychological dynamics. For example... Disconnect. Yes, simply close the PC and unwind. As we have already mentioned, trading anxiety outlines a vicious circle, which is difficult to break while wrapped up in it. So it's worth not breaking it, but dismissing it. Hence the need to simply do something else, to take a break. Recharging physical and mental energy is an excellent way, often the only way to shake off anxiety. Obviously, if you want to solve the problem 100%, it is necessary to follow one of the "technical" tips described above.
Another piece of advice may be to read about other people's experiences. Each trader retraces the typical mistakes of the trade, and the same goes for moods. It may be little consolation, but still: someone has already experienced, and solved, what we are experiencing right now. It can therefore be useful to gather testimonies, ask for advice and, as a pleasant side effect, acquire the awareness that no obstacle, not even trading anxiety, is insurmountable.
