I find brains fascinating. Gross, when you think about them in a human biology way, and grosser still when you consider them in a culinary context, but infinitely interesting when it comes to the way they work and what they actually do when they aren’t being eaten. Traders have to be interested in their brains. …
Tag Archive: trading psychology
Jul 16
Struggling As A Trader? Part 3 – Blame Your Teachers
In response to some readers requests, I’ve been looking at some of the ways we’ve been hardwired – by our caveman ancestors, our mothers and now our teachers – to fail at trading. Trading is entirely counter-intuitive, and to be successful we need to be able to recognise our natural inclinations and actively work to …
Jul 09
Struggling As A Trader? Part II – Blame Mum.
As we go about our daily lives there are approximately 1.5 million* behaviours that are totally ingrained in us from childhood. These behaviours are perfectly acceptable and useful for functioning as a successful human, but on the flip side have the ability to destroy any hope we have of ever becoming a successful trader. Not …
Jul 05
Struggling as a Trader? Blame the Cavemen.
In a recent post I made the statement that, “No-one starts off their trading career with the natural gifts and talents that allow things to come easily. In fact it’s the opposite – we’re all hardwired to fail at trading.” Some traders asked for a more detailed explanation about how we’re hardwired so I thought …
Jun 13
The Problem With Cutting Risk
It surprises me how quickly after a few losses my whole psychology has the potential to turn to smoosh. I stop and listen to myself think, sometimes, and have no choice but to come to the conclusion that I can be really quite screwed up. Trading-wise, that is. But that’s to be expected. Traders, especially …
May 18
Winning – It’s Not As Great As You Think.
I didn’t realise winning would feel like this. I thought it would feel like an ongoing party; like winning a small lottery a few times a week and it actually did feel like that at the very start. There was one day where I danced – or maybe ‘bounced’, which is less alluring but probably …
Mar 02
How Being Cursed Can Affect Your Trading.
I think there must be something wrong with my eyeballs. In the big scheme of things, this isn’t so bad – the other day I had a conversation with an important person which left me wondering if I had something wrong with my brain. You know, it wouldn’t surprise me to find that I have …
Feb 15
Why Beautiful People Can’t Trade
Today I was confronted by this. “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullsh*t story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.” * Read it again. Go on. It’s important enough to be read twice, at least. Every day. The thing is, as a breed we are …
Dec 08
Sex Lies and Video Tape
In Which Rogue Traderette Confesses. I’m not going to beat around the bush. I’m just going to come out with it. I AM A LIAR. Sorry about that. Just a couple of days ago, I was telling you how I’m all good. I let you believe that things are cruising and that I really …
Dec 05
Why Trading is Like The World of Warcraft.
In which Rogue Traderette lines up to see Santa. When people first sign up for the whole trading gig, they usually front up with a wish list. Like a kid coming to Santa, it is dotted with our most far-fetched, wildest dreams, then padded out with a few smaller (but still important) stocking fillers. …
My name is Jess. I’m an Aussie girl (or maybe I’m a woman – I’m not sure where the cut-off is). I’m a Mum to my daughter and two sons, a wife to my one husband, and a friend to anyone who knocks on the door – particularly if they come bearing red wine. Or any kind of wine, really. More >>
