Can meditation help your trading?

If you’ve been on the internet for some time you have definitely seen someone praising the virtues of meditation. 

We have all heard that it is helpful in relieving stress and being more productive and calm in everyday life. But do its benefits extend to trading and investment as well?

Apparently, yes. 

Let’s take a look at what are some common challenges that are faced by majority of traders.

1.A big issue that comes up in trading for most people is emotional management. It is very easy to get angry, sad or frustrated trades. This then leads to traders making bad decisions that affect their overall profitability. 

2.Another big consequence of having to deal with financial markets for long period of times is the stress that comes with it. When your investment is on the line and you see such a direct impact of the decisions you take, it is easy to get stressed.

3.Next up, being disciplined and not getting distracted is also a big challenge for many traders. Maintaining the hours that you need to give to trading, not getting swayed by emotional thinking, putting in the hard work to study the markets and analyze them with a clear head all require a lot of discipline.  

Consider these challenges and now think about the benefits meditation is best known for. 

1. Meditation helps take charge of your emotions and control them instead of being controlled by them. 
2. Meditation helps relieve stress and calm the nerves. 
3. Meditation improves focus. 

When the challenges mentioned above pose a direct threat to your profits, then remedying them will most likely show great improvement in profits too.

Of course, this is not a technical tool such as an indicator or oscillator that will help you make more profit. This is more about forming the right habits. 

Meditation is not a fad or something that’s trending right now. Neuroscience of meditation is a popular subject of study with a lot of scholarly material available on it if you’re looking for evidence to back these claims.   

Even being mindful of the way you sit at your desk and correcting your posture can do wonders. 

Doing breathing exercises, such as breathing in and out through the nose only, can calm the nervous system and help you not get ahead of yourself with emotional thinking.

To build focus you can pick a point on the floor or the wall that is not too stimulating and just look at it for a few minutes. During this time you should not have your phone or your computer screen in your line of vision so as not to get distracted by it. 

Besides, even if you’re not seeing great profits due to meditation in your trading, you are still getting health and personal well-being benefits out of it so you’ve got nothing to lose. What’s the harm in trying?