3 Hacks To Help Hold Winning Trades

Let me ask you a frank question…

What stops you from holding winning trades?

What is it?

• Scared of giving back profits?
• Need that dopamine hit from banking P&L?
• Is the win more important than the money?

Ok so my tone might seem harsh, but this is such a common challenge that holds many traders back. (And one we discuss regularly in our weekly coaching calls.)

If you struggle to hold winners, let’s fix it.

Here are some hacks to try

# 1 Plan the trade:

You can’t expect to hold a trade if you don’t make a firm plan.

Leaving the decision to the heat of the moment won’t work. You’ll always default to the easy way out.

Decide to hold a trade, no matter what.

You’re not looking for P&L here, you are looking to get comfortable holding winners.

# 2 Get away from the screen:

If you’re off the booze, you wouldn’t sit there staring at a freshly pulled pint in a pub, would you?!

No, of course not. Why make life hard for yourself?

The same goes for trading.

Get away from the screen, stick your stop in, and walk away. Come back later.

Remove the urge.

# 3 Use a timer

It’s not the first time I’ve mentioned a timer and it won’t be the last.

Set yourself an easy target.

If you can’t hold a trade for longer than 5 minutes, set a timer for 7 minutes and try and hold a winner until the buzzer goes.

Then 10, 15, 30, 60, 120… you get the idea.

Stretch that patience muscle.

Whichever method you try, you are going to get the urge to close the trade at some point.

You need to resist that urge and hold the trade like you said you would.

All those hacks will help, but ultimately if you want to start holding winners longer you need to practice practice practice.

If it’s important, you’ll find a way.