Fear

Sean McLaughlin
June 27, 2023

“What are you afraid of?”

JC posed this question to me yesterday on the Morning Show.

For context, he was asking me about our upcoming 21-day trip to 8 cities in Southeast Asia.

I might have surprised myself when I quickly and confidently answered: “Nothing.”

And I meant it.

I’ve actually been thinking a lot about this topic lately.

“Fear” is such a powerful and loaded word. It toys with our emotions. While often protecting and keeping us safe, our fear-stoked emotions also can trigger us into making poor – and sometimes awful – decisions.

All our best-laid plans go out the window when fear takes over.

Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States said it best: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”

This is doubly true for traders. We need to do everything in our power to keep our positions or portfolios structured so that nothing can scare us. Because when we’re scared we lose all sense of control. We lose rationality. We lose perspective. And then we either rush prematurely for the exits or worse, double down on our mistakes.

We need to fear “Fear.”

Is it weird to say I’m scared of scaring myself? Because it’s true.

If there’s one thing that keeps me up at night, it is the fear that I’m going to do something that will scare me accidentally. Am I crazy? (maybe…)

Now, our upcoming Asia trip is nothing like trading. The things one might be fearful about while traveling internationally do not equate easily with the fear of suffering a financial loss. But the mental training we practice each and every day we interact with the markets prepares us with the right mental framework for facing all kinds of uncertainty in life.

I won’t say we become immune to fear, that would be a lie. But with enough practice, we learn to notice the signs when fear is creeping up in the back of our heads and we take proactive steps to mitigate the perceived risk. And we hone our ability to graciously accept and be at peace with the outcome.

Imagine if any time you became fearful, you instead met the feeling with acceptance. How might your outcomes be different?

Give it a try. I will be.

Trade 'em Well,

Sean McLaughlin
Chief Options Strategist
All Star Charts, Technical Analysis Research

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