Good day everyone, let's talk about the factors in our Trading decision in terms of psychology. There are many things that affect our decision-making, and that's why sometimes we don't know why we make that decision. Sometimes we are repeating the same mistake over and over. Let's find out the common triggers that happen in our brain that make our judgment poor in trading.
* Emotions in tradingOur emotions are part of our human behavior and it has a profound impact on our trading decisions. In the context of trading, the two primary emotions that affect our decision-making are "FEAR and GREED" Fear is a powerful emotion that will push us to think twice about entering and exiting the trade. Sometimes because of our fear of the trade, we exit immediately even though we know that it is too early to do so. And when fear dominates we become overly cautious, which also causes us to miss the opportunity for profitable trade even though we have seen the high probability set-up we should enter a trade but we don't because of fear.
It's the same when we enter a trade, we immediately exit because our immediate thought is that we might still lose. This is also due to fear, Now if we are Greedy it also has an effect on our decision-making. Because this will push us to take excessive risk because we want a higher return. So, because of greed, we will increase the leverage that the position size is too big, the type that can only gain a lot, we will trade 100% capital in just one trade. It will also cause impulsive action, and we will also be tempted into speculative trades without proper risk management.
* Emotional IntelligenceThis is the way for us to recognize the emotional estate, and how it influences our decision-making. Our traders have different techniques to cultivate emotional intelligence and maintain emotional balance during trading. One of these is "Mindfulness meditation" a type of technique that can help people to observe thoughts and emotions without judgment so that rational decision-making can return. And another effective method is "Journaling" Here, traders can track the decisions they made in the past, and they can reflect on their emotions.
This is where they can identify the triggers of why they decided to enter the trade so that the same mistakes will not happen again. Because a trader gains insight into his emotional response and can develop the right strategy to manage them effectively.
* Social SupportThis is to manage emotions in trading, we need to have an engagement with the community of traders so we can also ask for guidance and other advice from a mentor who can provide emotional support. Because if we have interaction with like-minded individuals who understand the life aspect of the psychological aspect of trading it will help for valuable insight to manage emotions effectively.
- Cognitive Biases
This is an inherent aspect of human behavior, a systematic pattern that affects our decision-making. This is how our brain processes information, it is not an intentional or deliberate action, and this is the result of our brain simplifying complex information.
Because we are only human, we are prone to these cognitive biases, because our brain naturally searches efficiently for easy or mental shortcuts, and because of that, our decision-making does not become rational when we make mistakes. And one of the good examples here is the
- Confirmation Bias
this is the time we look for information to confirm our beliefs or opinion. And we ignore the contradicting evidence or in other words we prepare more that will support our belief. And the good sample here is if when a trader is bearish or perma bear his belief in the market will still fall in the price in a certain area.
Let's assume Bitcoin(BTC) will fall to 3k$ or 12k$ so due to confirmation bias he will look for information such as articles, or expert opinions that will strengthen his belief that the value of BTC will fall further. He will ignore the contradicting information he sees. And the only thing he will pay attention to is aligning with his existing belief. So what will happen is that he can miss the alternatives that are view coins or the crucial data that could impact decision-making. And I see many traders like this who do not know that they are victims of their own personal bias or never understand the role of cognitive bias.
- Loss aversion
I'll admit I'm guilty here, maybe almost all traders are. This is the time when the impact of negative losses is stronger than the positive impact associated with gains. It means that the pain we feel from losing is more intense than the joy of experiencing profit. So this bias has a negative impact on our decision, when a trader experiences losing trades, the fear and discomfort he will feel will cause him to be reluctant, and exit the trade.
It can also happen that you don't put a stop to loss or are in a position to just let it go and risk something like that even though there is evidence that it will happen. And this loss aversion behavior that avoids losing leads to worse losses in the end. Because if you don't cut your losses, you'll just miss out on other opportunities.
- Overconfidence Bias
This means that if a trader experiences consecutive wins, they become like this. Because of this opportunity, we can increase our confidence that we are doing the right thing. But this is also the time when we take excessive risks because we believe too much in ourselves that we already know a lot. And we think that we have special skills in trading, and the result of this is that our position side is too high that every trade we will get a profit that can lead to excess and come over-trading. But the truth is that this bias is dangerous because we will neglect risk management. Because it will blind us to the real market reality. And potential warning signs can't be seen first to adjust if necessary.
And in order for us to manage these biases, we need to prioritize self-awareness, and consciously challenge biases. Because if we know these biases we can make a method and rational in our decision making.
Reference: https://capital.com/emotions-in-trading
https://www.verywellmind.com/what-is-emotional-intelligence-2795423
https://www.verywellmind.com/cognitive-biases-distort-thinking-2794763