Real addictions are a very grave matter and while trading doesn’t involve the consumption of any substances, there are those that believe that trading is truly addictive. The tremendous emotional rushes that most traders experience both prior to placing a trade and while in the middle of a big winner or big loser are an acknowledged part of trading, but are traders truly becoming addicted to trading?
Is there a need for help for traders, or is the situation one where the high percentage of traders that lose money is simply due to them still being in the learning curve and suffering the losses as a normal part of “paying your dues”? In this article we are going to investigate the matter and determine if there is sufficient evidence to support the hypothesis that trading is indeed addictive.
So what constitutes an actual addiction? There are two categories of addictions, physical dependence and psychological addiction. There is a considerable amount of information on both and certainly beyond the scope of this article, but a brief summary follows
From Wikipedia, the definition of “addiction” includes:
“Psychological addiction, as opposed to physiological addiction, is a person’s need to use a drug or engage in a behavior despite the harm caused [emphasis added] – out of desire for the effects it produces, rather than to relieve withdrawal symptoms. . . . . it becomes associated with the release of pleasure-inducing endorphins, and a cycle is started that is similar to physiological addiction. This cycle is often very difficult to break. ”
Also,
“Psychological addiction does not have to be limited only to substances; even various activities and behavioral patterns [emphasis added] may be considered addictions if they are harmful. . . . ”
From Merriam-Webster Online, the definition of “addicted”:
“1 : to devote or surrender (oneself) to something habitually or obsessively”
So an addiction could be described as a person feeling the “need” to repeatedly engage in a particular behavior to satisfy a desire for the emotional effects that is has, the feelings that it produces. It is a desire that they have rationalized into a need, to which they have surrendered control, and they have allowed the behavior to develop into a habit. This is physiologically compounded by the endorphins released into the system that provide a physical feeling effect as well. Let’s look at some of the necessary practices (behaviors) of trading to achieve consistent profits and some of the behaviors exhibited by many traders and see if they fit the above.
One recognized critical practice for profitable trading is good risk management. At the heart if this is making sure that the risks you take are measured and calculated risks. You want to keep your losses small when they occur and avoid them all together when possible (such as NOT getting into bad trades). Key tools commonly used for controlling potential losses include risk / reward calculations and stop loss orders. Risk/reward calculations are necessary on every trade so that you know whether each trade is a sound business decision. Stops are used so that then a good trade is placed but the market doesn’t do what you’d expected. With the leverage in trading that can work for or against you, risk management is essential.
General money management is another critical practice to make sure that your trading business will still have the doors open months and years from now. It includes risk management but the focus is on a larger scale and a broader scope, such as looking at what percentage of your available capital you are placing on any given trade, regardless of the details of the specific trade.
These practices may appeal to the intellect, but how they feel is where traders get into trouble. There are several common mistakes repeatedly made by traders that bring large losses, missed profits, and ruin for many. These mistakes run in direct conflict with the known and established good practices for consistent and profitable trading, yet are made over and over again by the same traders. Since they are repeated, it would be reasonable to say that they have become habits. Let’s examine these habits from the perspective of the emotional response for the individual.
Trading without a plan, also known as entering a trade without an exit strategy for the trade. The trader doing this is usually not following a technical system and is going more on their hunches than sound calculations. This right here is an indicator that they are allowing their feelings to dictate their actions more so than their reasoning and rationale. If the market moves in their favor, it reinforces the decision to follow their intuition and feeds the ego in being right. Another very elemental factor is suspense. If one has the trade planned out and there are no surprises, it takes all the suspense out of it. Why do people love a good mystery novel or movie? They love sitting on the edge of their seats and reveling in the suspense of it all. When you know the end of the story it takes all the fun out of it and who wants that?
Refusal to use stops. The comment often heard by brokers is “No, I don’t want to get stopped out. I’ll just watch it. ” This is true for initial stops and quite commonly for trailing stops after the market has moved in one’s favor. The trader is putting a lot of energy in to their feelings hope and anticipation. The ego is also being fed here, “knowing” that the market will do as they desire. As the move goes their way, they are experiencing a tremendous thrill, plus the validation they desire about them being a better trader than they truly are. When the market moves against them, the opposite feelings are amplified and only create a greater need to be validated. This also again, involves a lot of suspense and anticipation.
Over-trading regarding frequency, A. K. A. trading too often. Usually in this circumstance the trader is feeling the need to satisfy their perception of lack. They may have just experienced a string of losers or a very large loss and now feel that they have to recoup their losses and absolve themselves for the previous errors. They are feeling bad about themselves and rather than do what they know is right, they simply want to have the bad feelings go away.
Placing trades that are too large for the account. One of the more interesting aspects of this particular mistake is that besides the greed factor, people get a bit of a thrill going against the rules and particularly stepping outside their comfort zones. The simple act of rebelling or being adventurous is what many got a taste of when they first got into trading and how it is so different from what they’d ever done before. The new territory has its appeal and stepping out of the norms and standard rules has a strong gratification associated with it. Of course the greed factor is pretty strong here as well. Only risking 2-5% of your account and the prospect of a measly couple hundred dollars just doesn’t match up with the big numbers one had in mind with trading, or what’s heard often in the ads for the various trading systems available. When you’re only making $800 on this trade and you see and an that claims “I made $9,700 on my first three trades!!!”, that reasonable profit you made just isn’t very satisfying.
One thing worth pointing out right now, and it directly relates to our subject is the fact that people will make mistakes. People only knowingly repeat them when there is a problem. If you get up out of bed in the morning and stub your toe on the footboard of the bed, you wouldn’t stand there and keep smashing your toe again and again. You’d stop, unless of course there was some sort of additional response that was strong enough to compel you to do it repeatedly until your foot was completely mangled. You’d only smash your thumb when hammering a nail once before you changed how you were holding the board – unless something was wrong.
In comparing the repeated trading mistakes with the established good practices, it is in the emotional responses of the mistakes being made. Suspense, personal absolution and validation, excitement, feeding the ego, being right. These can be very powerful and provide enough stimulus for the person that it over-rides their better judgment. The actions involved in the two sets are in direct contrast regarding both the financial results and how they feel to the trader. Knowing the outcomes for a given trade, keeping the risk small, managing money wisely – these are boring and provide no suspense. Lacking surprise and done with a knowing, good trading provides a much lower emotional confirmation of a traders ability on the emotional level. When you’re good and you know your good and produce consistent results, those consistent results are not a huge celebration. When you’re a rookie and you do well, it is much more gratifying, especially if you hit a big one. That’s a huge ego feed.
There is an inverse relationship between the discipline necessary for good trading practices and the emotions involved in unhealthy trading. The discipline itself runs 180 degrees against the satisfying emotions and denies them to the trader. That is one of the primary reasons that so many traders struggle with the emotional aspects of trading. It is the way that they are trading. They are trading in a manner that fuels their emotions, and established poor habits – both active and emotional habits. If they would focus on establishing healthy trading habits and practices, follow the established wisdoms and observe themselves in their trading, do the simple things that they are supposed to do, their emotions would not flare up so badly and they could begin to break the cycle.
Trading itself is not addictive. There are a great many traders that trade in a healthy manner and enjoy the lifestyle that goes with it. There are aspects of trading that set the stage for the individual to become addicted to trading unwisely. So it is not in the activity itself. It is the focus of the individual and the habits that they establish early on in their trading that determines whether or not they become addicted and suffer.
It is up to the individual to be aware of themselves and their practice to safeguard against addiction to poor trading. Education, assistance and proper guidance would be the best recommendation for traders, and these should be pursued as early as possible. The longer the habits are in place, the longer it takes to break them and re-establish healthy trading practices.

With the onset of technology and its augmentation, everything today has become ‘online’ and this includes trading! All non-residents today trade online. Almost all the registered brokers today offer Online Trading facility in Equities for non-residents. But of course, there are certain prerequisites for being able to trade online. The non-resident must have/open: 1. Bank account with a Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS) Designated Bank (DB) 2. Demat account with broker 3. Broking account with broker. Before proceeding further, let us tell you what exactly all these accounts are. PIS Account: Portfolio Investment Scheme, better known as PIS, account is mandatory for all Indians living abroad, and enables non-residents to invest in the shares of Indian companies based on repatriation or non-repatriation, in respect of shares or convertible debentures sold or purchased through a registered stock broker on a recognized stock exchange. Please note that other means of acquiring shares (like bonus shares, shares purchased through IPO etc. ) is not covered under this scheme. Demat/DMAT Account: Dematerialised or DMAT account is similar to any conventional bank account, the only difference being that the latter deals with money, while the former deals with sale and purchase of stocks. Maintained with a Depository and opened through a Depository Participant (DP), we at nriinvestindia. com help our clients to open such an account in India. Broking/Trading Account: The name might sound complex, but trading account is nothing but an account opened with a stock brokers, enabling you to buy and sell shares or any other financial instruments through them. Now that you know what these accounts mean, we now proceed to tell you how to open these accounts, and the various documents you will need, if any, for the same. Opening a Bank Account with a PIS DB: To invest in the secondary market, non-residents require the permission of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), and for this you need to open a bank account with a DB under the PIS. The fund for investment in the market has to be routed through the PIS Bank account. The brokers can have a tie-up with UTI Bank, HDFC Bank, IndusInd Bank etc for this purpose since these are the DB of the RBI, and can hence issue RBI approval to non-residents. The account can be opened based on whether you want benefits of repatriation upon investing (NRE Account) or do not wants benefits on repatriation upon investing (NRO Account). Brokers will send you a trading account opening kit enclosed with the application forms for opening Bank account as well with any one of the above-referred DB under the Portfolio Investment Scheme. This will facilitate online trading for non-residents around the world. Upon receiving these forms, the DB will open two bank accounts – a PIS account and non-PIS account. All investments and sale proceeds will be done through the PIS account. Please remember that the PIS account needs to be funded before the broker can make investments. The non-PIS account functions like any usual Savings Bank non-resident account, and transactions other than those under the PIS account will be routed through the non-PIS account. In case of NRO accounts, the non-PIS transaction would include payment to IPO and ESOP, dividend payment, amongst others. You need to produce the following documents while opening a PIS account: * Attested copy of Passport. * Attested copy of Valid VISA copy /Work permit (Iqqama for middle east countries). * Details of existing shares holding both in NRI status & resident status duly signed. * 3 Passport size Photographs. The DB shall send the A/c opening intimation directly to the clients & a copy of the RBI approval is delivered to the broker. On receipt of the RBI approval from the DB, the broker proceeds to the next step – opening a Demat and Broking account. Opening a DMAT account with a broker: Based on RBI’s approval, the broker will open the DMAT account in the same status (NRE or NRO) and pattern (Joint or Single) as is the account with the bank. Shares are held here in an electronic form and shares bought by the client get credited on the second working day from the day of purchase. Example: Shares bought on Monday will be credited on Wednesday; those bought on Tuesday will be credited on Thursday, and so on. Opening a Broking/Trading account with a broker: Broking account is a trading account with the help of which the client does the transactions of ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ in the Secondary Market. The broking account is opened after the DMAT account gets opened, and the former is linked with the latter. Now that you know the process of opening the various accounts, we will now inform you, in detail, about the trading process and the transactions of ‘buy’ and ‘sell’. Trading process: To enable the client to trade, the client is given, generally, a Trade Login User ID and a password. All the client has to do is place the “Buy” and “Sell” Orders on the Broker’s Trade Page. Most of the Brokers have user-friendly Trading System thus ensuring that the client has a pleasant trading experience. Buy: By moving funds in her/his PIS account to the broker, the client can initiate a ‘buy’ transaction. The movement of the fund is done in less than a minute and accordingly the Trading Limit is updated facilitating the client to buy shares. Once the NRI has bought and/or sold the balance money, if any, the same has to be transferred by the client from her/his PIS account on receipt of the trade confirmation, and the Broker then sends it after the Market closes for the day. The National Stock Exchange (NSE) settles the delivery for shares bought on the second working day (example: if you bought a share on Monday it will be credited to your account on Wednesday and so on) from the Date of Purchase. Sell: You need to have shares in your DMAT account to initiate a ‘sell’ transaction. The trading system would reject your order otherwise. The shares bought are, as mentioned above, credited to your account on the second working day and available for trade on the third day. The NSE settles the sale proceeds on the second day from the date of sale and the broker wires the money to the client’s PIS account, on the second day itself. The DB credits the proceeds into the client’s PIS account after Calculation Gains and deducting tax if any. The client can get an update on the Broking account by looking at the ‘Accounts Statement’ on the broker’s trading website. The Daily Account Statement gives details of Funds Transfers – both for transfers done by the client to Broker & by Broker to the client’s PIS A/c and the date-wise break-up of shares bought or sold by the client. VALUE ADDED SERVICES RENDERED BY THE BROKER FOR ONLINE NRI CLIENTSA broker will not ONLY take care of your transactions. She/he provides a lot of innumerable services. These include:One-stop shop: Most of the brokers will open all the three accounts for you by coordinating for the same with the DB. So all the applicant has to do is fill up the relevant forms and give it to the broker. Trade confirmations: Brokers will email you the details of the trade done for the day which will include confirmation for the trade done and the brokerage fee charged for the same. Report transaction: Brokers will report every transaction done by a client to RBI by the DB. Contract notes: In addition to the emails, the client can view their Digital Contract notes on the website. PIS account queries/reconciliation: In order to ensure that the PIS account is regular, the broker shall coordinate with the DB and clarify all queries related to PIS transactions. Please note that every transaction done in the Trading account has to be reported through the DB. Offline orders: Some brokers accept offline orders through emails, fax, and even over the phone, after confirming the identity of the client, thus permitting even those who do not have access to Internet/Computer. The brokers may also offer opening an account for liquidating the shares bought in Primary Market. They will also obtain the Auditor’s Certificate for such sales and the proceeds will be credited to your NRE/NRO Account after the tax has been deducted. Processing of IPO Applications: The broker, on behalf of NRI clients, can apply for IPO relieving the client off the paper work. All the client has to do is indicate the number of shares to be applied for, either through an email or by filling the online application available on the broker’s website (most of the brokers provide such services). TIP – Recommendation/Call of Stocks: Thanks to technology, brokers, today, send SMS and/or email alerts keeping their clients updated about the market. Clients having considerable holding in a particular stock also receive price alerts in addition to the latest market news. Online helpdesk: Due to the boom in technology, brokers today are able to assist their clients through an ‘online helpdesk’, hence certifying that suggestions/solutions are provided to the clients immediately. TRADING PROCESSNon-residents require the following documents depending on whether they are NRI, PIO or OCI:Non-Resident Indian (NRI) requires PAN Card and a copy of the Indian Passport. Person of Indian Origin (PIO) requires PIO Card, copy of Foreign Passport showing Indian birthplace and PAN Card. Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) requires copy of OCI Card and PAN Card. For further details please contact us at: contact@nriinvestindia. com or you may checkout the website: www. nriinvestindia. comNon-residents can invest in both Primary and Secondary Markets with the help of a registered broker. These brokers offer a wide range of services warranting that the clients feel at home while making investment decisions. THINGS NON-RESIDENTS CAN DOVis-à-vis trading, non-residents today can do various kinds of trading as per their convenience. Some of them include:Online Trading (stocks and derivatives)Various brokers give you tools used by institutions and professionals for trading in the Capital Market. Many of them provide an Online Trading Platform certifying non-residents to transact paper-free trading in ‘Equities and Derivatives’ segments. Such Online Trading System provides the most distinct services like Streaming Market Watch, Technical Analysis, AMO (After Market Order), Online Funds Transfer and NRI Online Helpdesk facilitating you to have a pleasant trading experience. Offline TradingAs said earlier, brokers, today, allow clients to place orders for trade through phone, email and/or fax. Mutual Fund InvestmentsNon-resident can invest in Indian Mutual Funds with the help of registered distributors or brokers. Some of them also offer simplified process that is free of all paperwork. These distributors also provide updates on the latest top funds, NAV, and new fund offer. They also provide performance report of various funds to ensure smart investments are made in the Mutual Fund segment. Investment in Initial Public Offer (IPO)Investors can make paper-free investments through select brokers in the Primary Market – Initial Public Offer (IPO). Various details such as current and upcoming IPOs, performance of past IPOs, basis of allotment etc are provided by them making possible for their clients to make hassle free IPO investments. ESOP TradingBy offering value added service in the form of ESOP Trading, few good brokerage houses enable clients to liquidate the Stock Option given by their Employers and remit abroad the sale proceeds or reinvest the same in the Secondary Market. Dematerialisation of Shares bought in Primary MarketUsually brokers assist clients to convert their physical share certificates to electronic form (DMAT Form). All that the client has to do is open a NRI account and submit the DMAT Request along with the necessary certificates, and your broker will take care of everything else. Important: The content above provides general information regarding how brokers help non-residents to open a trading account and let them trade. However, services and regulations may differ from broker to broker. Please check with your chosen broker for the same.

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Before we look into the top 10 reasons why it’s vital to paper trade before you invest in stocks, let’s clear up a few things. First up:

To paper trade simply means to pretend to trade using real market data (and fake money) in order to practice trading before you begin. When you paper trade, it’s like you’re trading with paper money or monopoly money. You will trade exactly as you would if you were trading with real money, however you would only use paper money, (or fake money) hence the term paper trade.

When you begin to paper trade you will be given a fake monetary value in which to trade with. If you have your own trading software it’s best to trade with a realistic amount of money (i. e. the same amount of money as you will when you use real money). The reason you do this is because if you paper trade with a realistic amount, you are more likely to make decisions as if you were trading with your real money. Another point, which you might like to take, is to treat the money in your paper trade account like you borrowed it off your grandmother and you’re terrified of losing it.

Obviously you don’t want to focus on being fearful of losing your money, (even though it is only paper trade money) however that is probably the closest example of the feeling you get when you trade with real money. I assure you there will be nothing that will prepare you for the feeling of trading with real money; that is something that you will develop when you get to it. That having been said, breaking through that fear is rather rewarding and the fear itself shouldn’t put you off trading. Moreover, if you paper trade, you can get a feel of how trading works before you put your money in the markets.

The second thing we need to clear up before looking to paper trade, is that:

Even when you paper trade, every trade that you make must be made as if you were risking your real money. If you wouldn’t buy XYZ (a fictitious stock) with your real money, but you have a hunch that it’s going to go up, then you’re not paper trading you’re just having some fun. Everything you do should be exactly as you would do it if you were trading real money, except you are using paper money. Paper trade like you are trading with your real money.

1. Learn the Markets: The number one reason why it is vital to paper trade is to give yourself a chance to learn the markets. I don’t care how good you think you are, trading live (with real money) without taking the time to paper trade first is suicide. You need to be able to get an understanding of the markets and how they operate. Trading is not gambling; it is an analysis of probability and speculation.

2. Find your Strategy: Before you trade with real money, you need to be able to paper trade to find your strategy. How can you possibly know if your trading strategy works until you try it out for yourself with real market conditions?

3. Make Mistakes: The benefit of paper trading is having the ability to make mistakes. Every new trader makes mistakes, and I assure you, you won’t be happy about making mistakes when you trade with real money. If you paper trade first, you are less likely to make mistakes that will cost you money and you will be able to control your trading much more.

4. Find your Habits: Every one of us has habits. Some of those habits can be detrimental to trading. If you paper trade before trading with live money, you can find your bad habits and iron them out. It’s much easier to change your behavior and habits when you’re not risking real money

5. Test and Measure: Trading requires you to constantly test and measure not only your trading strategy, but your mindset. The markets are always changing, and what works today, might not work in 6 months time. Likewise you need to test and measure your behavior as a trader. 80% of a trader’s success is due to their mindset. If you paper trade, you can learn how to test and measure, and develop your skills to change quickly then you’re going to be much more astute in the real marketplace.

6. Master your Mindset: Like I mentioned above; trading is 80% mindset and 20% strategy. There is more to trading than picking stocks, it is a mind game that you have to master, and unless you master it (or at least learn the basics) while you paper trade (before you trade with real money); you’re almost guaranteed to lose money in the marketplace.

7. Learn new Strategies: The markets are never the same; they are constantly changing and require you to develop new techniques and strategies regularly. Even experienced traders will paper trade in order to test and develop new strategies or techniques. Every time you create a new strategy or technique you should paper trade it first to make sure it works.

8. Lose money: Part of being a successful trader is having the ability to lose money. Not every trade you make will be a winning trade. ?If you paper trade, it gives you the ability to learn that you will have losing trades without affecting your real results. You need to be able to deal with losing money, and know that another trade will be just around the corner.

9. Make Money: Although it might sound odd, some people have some pretty bizarre associations to making money. Often people feel guilty if they make too much money, or they have a buffer where it becomes too uncomfortable. You need to learn to accept more money in your life and if you paper trade, it lets you do that without risking any money of your own.

10. Get Consistency: Finally, the last reason why it is vital to paper trade, is to get consistent results for your trading. Anyone can make money in the markets, but only successful traders will make money consistently. Once you can make money consistently in the marketplace when you paper trade, you know that you can take it to the next step and make real money in the markets.

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