This article written by Bruce Bower was originally published in the June 2013 issue of Traders' Magazine.
- Bruce Bower is a portfolio manager at a hedge fund. He has a keen interest in markets, psychology and self-development, having trained as a hypnotherapist.
In school, did you ever study something and end up more confused? For some, trading psychology has that effect. The more they learned, the more they would become confused. Actually, the standard advice is well-meaning and can be appealing on some levels. “Be more disciplined”. “Get in the zone”. Who can argue with that? Who wouldn’t want to do that?! Instead, most traders are struggling to close the gap between where they are and where they want to be. They know what they want, but they can’t quite get there. What to do? Ultimately, trading psychology should help us do two things: 1. Help us to identify problematic areas with ourselves that negatively impact our trading. 2. Solve them.
If you’re spending time “solving” problems that aren’t relevant to your trading, or implementing solutions that don’t work, then you are going to get confused. Instead, you should work on things that make you a better trader. And you know what — confusion doesn’t help you to get better at trading. With this in mind, how do we find out the best advice and block out the stuff that confuses us?
Editors’ Picks
EUR/USD remains on the defensive below 1.0400 on hawkish Fed rate cut
The EUR/USD pair weakens to near 1.0370 during the Asian trading hours on Thursday. The hawkish rate cut by the US Federal Reserve lifts the US Dollar and drags the major pair lower.
GBP/USD edges higher to near 1.2600 ahead of BoE rate decision
GBP/USD gains ground after declining more than 1% following the Federal Reserve’s hawkish cut on Wednesday, trading around 1.2590 during the Asian hours on Thursday.
USD/JPY refreshes monthly high above 155.00 on BoJ's rates on-hold
USD/JPY is back above 155.00, refreshing monthly highs following the BoJ policy verdict. The BoJ left the short-term rate target unchanged in the range of 0.15%-0.25%. The decision came in line with the market expectations. Governor Ueda's press conference is now awaited.
Editors’ Picks
USD/JPY refreshes monthly high above 155.00 on BoJ's rates on-hold
USD/JPY is back above 155.00, refreshing monthly highs following the BoJ policy verdict. The BoJ left the short-term rate target unchanged in the range of 0.15%-0.25%. The decision came in line with the market expectations. Governor Ueda's press conference is now awaited.
AUD/USD bounces off two-year lows at 0.6200 as USD takes a breather
AUD/USD rebounds from two-year lows of 0.6200 early Thursday. The pair benefits from a pause in the hawkish Fed cut-led US Dollar uptrend. However, concerns about China's fragile economic recovery and Trump's tariff plans could cap the Aussie's recovery.
Gold sees a dead cat bounce following Fed’s hawkish cut
With the full final week of 2024 almost drawing to a close, Gold price remains vulnerable near one-month lows below $2,600, licking the hawkish US Federal Reserve policy decision-inflicted wounds.
Crypto market bleeds following hawkish rate cut decision by Fed
Bitcoin and the crypto market are down on Wednesday following the Federal Open Market Committee announcement to slow down rate cuts in 2025, with the benchmark federal funds rate declining to a lower range of 4.25% to 4.50%.
Sticky UK services inflation to come lower in 2025
Services inflation is stuck at 5% and will stay around there for the next few months. But further progress, helped by more benign annual rises in index-linked prices in April, should see ‘core services’ inflation fall materially in the spring.
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