We've all experienced the deadly trading emotions " fear, greed, indecision. But how do you keep your emotions from getting the best of you? How do YOU remain in control of your mind and actions? The answer is simple, but not always easy.

If you know the pitfalls of trad¬ing, you can easily avoid them. Small mistakes are inevitable, such as entering the wrong stock symbol or incorrectly setting a buy level. But these are forgivable, and, with luck, even profitable. What you have to avoid, however, are the mistakes due to bad judgment rather than simple errors. These are the €deadly€ mistakes which ruin entire trading careers instead of just one or two trades. To avoid these pitfalls, you have to watch yourself closely and stay diligent.

Think of trading mistakes like driving a car on icy roads: if you know that driving on ice is dangerous, you can avoid traveling in a sleet storm. But if you don't know about the dangers of ice, you might drive as if there were no threat, only realizing your mistake once you're already off the road.

Losing control of your emotions can eliminate all of the work you've put into developing a strategy. So be aware of the common emotions most traders experience on a regular " even daily " basis. When you start to feel like your emotions are taking control, take a step back, remember to focus on the overall strategy, and stick to your more rational plan rather than what your immediate instincts may be screaming at you.

There are countless negative emotions that traders can have. The first one to be aware of is most common when things aren't going as well as you would like: fear. Fear starts with a feeling that is usually accompanied by thoughts like, €Please€¦I don't want to experience another loss.€ Experience too many losses, or seeing the market moving more quickly than you expected, can lead to panic. This can make you feel like you're thinking in terms of question marks and exclamation marks: €Oh no! The market is moving fast! Why!? What should I do? The sky is falling!€ If you feel like you're starting to panic, take a step back, focus on something else, and then remember that your strategy has ways to deal with these questions.

You may also experience less immediately negative emotions like indecision. You may be unsure if you've selected the perfect trade or if now is the right time to act. Once you're there, you may worry about when to get out, if you've gained or lost too much, or if you should stick with it further. When you start to think this way, remember, look at your overall strategy. Use the guidelines you've set for yourself, and make your decisions accordingly. You can always change your strategy if these trades don't work as well as you'd like.

Greed and excitement can sometime seem like energizing or even positive emotions. Confidence is excellent when it's warranted, and greed usually follows on success. After all, traders want to make more money tomorrow than they did today! But don't let your confidence turn into cockiness. Settle down and think about the big picture " be excited that your strategy is working rather than letting your excitement push you into unwise trades.

Remember that you can have the best trading strategy, supe¬rior software, the fastest computer, several 21€ monitors, a $1,500 ergo¬nomic chair, and an office with the most stunning view, but all of these things are absolutely useless if you're in a trade and you panic. Remain calm, cool, and relaxed. Control your emotions " don't let them control you.