Emotions and Trading
Updated
It is often said that being emotional and trading is a bad match.
Much of what we can observe in the markets is exactly that, emotions.
Some random virus showing up out of 'nowhere' that gets extremely blown out of proportions and is used for whatever agenda .. BAM .. markets react with full blown panic.
President-candidate A says this or that .. BAM .. oh no, he meant to say .. BOOM ..
Apparently there might be a cure for the random viru.. BOOM .. but wait, they are still going to inflict more fear and terror on the populati .. BAMBAMBAM
Humans are emotional beings, millions of years of evolution, it's our primal drive.
But evolution also gave us (or at least some of us) something else, a brain capable of reason and logic, self-reflection, ability to learn etc. (as is said, at least some of us).
Having emotions or being highly emotional is NOT the problem in trading, the problem is lack of self-knowledge!
Be aware of your emotions, why are you emotional, what are you emotional about? Be brutally honest about it!
In the years that I have been doing this, I have learned a lot of technical stuff but also a lot about psychology, the technicalities are seldom the issue in trades (trading is seldom a precut assembly of setups, simply automating it (with false hopes to take emotions out of the equation) won't usually result in major success .. ).
Trading can make or break a person, it will at one point or the other confront you with your own strengths and weaknesses, your primal fears and flaws.
This is why the alleged 90% (or whatever that number really is) of traders fail.
It was YOU that threw out too much money, more than you could handle to lose.
It was YOU who was so arrogant to think this time it's different, YOUR overconfidence that made you borrow money you couldn't possibly ever pay back.
It was YOU who placed bets based on some random assumptions, unverified data or strategies.
It was YOU who made all those bad trades and lost a lot of money .. then YOU quit .. before you even learned how to play the 'game', learned the 'rules', YOU got scared.
The market is not some sentient entity that is out to get you, it's merely a collection of all combined actions of all participants, nicely packaged in a squiggly, bi-coloured line going the path of 'least resistance'.
I have seen people change due to trading, sometimes drastically.
I can personally attest to the amount of pressure it can and will put on you, especially if you are not just in it for some spare change but really are driven to succeed, trade for a clear goal .. not just to show off or because you might wanna own a Lambo.
It will bring out your imperfections, your narcissism, your arrogance, your quitter mentality, you stubbornness, your indecisiveness, your impatience .. and at a certain point those traits will start to clash ..
Take a hard look at yourself .. and do it often.
Is this what you REALLY want ?
Can you handle that ?
If you are unwilling or incapable of self-reflection .. than this is not for you (not in the long run, not on a big scale anyway)
Much of what we can observe in the markets is exactly that, emotions.
Some random virus showing up out of 'nowhere' that gets extremely blown out of proportions and is used for whatever agenda .. BAM .. markets react with full blown panic.
President-candidate A says this or that .. BAM .. oh no, he meant to say .. BOOM ..
Apparently there might be a cure for the random viru.. BOOM .. but wait, they are still going to inflict more fear and terror on the populati .. BAMBAMBAM
Humans are emotional beings, millions of years of evolution, it's our primal drive.
But evolution also gave us (or at least some of us) something else, a brain capable of reason and logic, self-reflection, ability to learn etc. (as is said, at least some of us).
Having emotions or being highly emotional is NOT the problem in trading, the problem is lack of self-knowledge!
Be aware of your emotions, why are you emotional, what are you emotional about? Be brutally honest about it!
In the years that I have been doing this, I have learned a lot of technical stuff but also a lot about psychology, the technicalities are seldom the issue in trades (trading is seldom a precut assembly of setups, simply automating it (with false hopes to take emotions out of the equation) won't usually result in major success .. ).
Trading can make or break a person, it will at one point or the other confront you with your own strengths and weaknesses, your primal fears and flaws.
This is why the alleged 90% (or whatever that number really is) of traders fail.
It was YOU that threw out too much money, more than you could handle to lose.
It was YOU who was so arrogant to think this time it's different, YOUR overconfidence that made you borrow money you couldn't possibly ever pay back.
It was YOU who placed bets based on some random assumptions, unverified data or strategies.
It was YOU who made all those bad trades and lost a lot of money .. then YOU quit .. before you even learned how to play the 'game', learned the 'rules', YOU got scared.
The market is not some sentient entity that is out to get you, it's merely a collection of all combined actions of all participants, nicely packaged in a squiggly, bi-coloured line going the path of 'least resistance'.
I have seen people change due to trading, sometimes drastically.
I can personally attest to the amount of pressure it can and will put on you, especially if you are not just in it for some spare change but really are driven to succeed, trade for a clear goal .. not just to show off or because you might wanna own a Lambo.
It will bring out your imperfections, your narcissism, your arrogance, your quitter mentality, you stubbornness, your indecisiveness, your impatience .. and at a certain point those traits will start to clash ..
Take a hard look at yourself .. and do it often.
Is this what you REALLY want ?
Can you handle that ?
If you are unwilling or incapable of self-reflection .. than this is not for you (not in the long run, not on a big scale anyway)
Note
.. hit the play button (twice) and zoom out the chart ..Note
hit play and zoom out chart ..target-2 reached
Note
and that makes 3
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