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 refocuses on 1.1000 amid tariffs jitters
EUR/USD reversed two daily pullbacks in a row an d managed to advance to the boundaries of the 1.1000 barrier on the back of fresh weakness hurting the US Dollar and persistent tariff fears.
GBP/USD challenges daily tops around 1.2800
GBP/USD maintains its renewed bullish stance on Tuesday, trading at shouting distance from the key resistance at 1.2800 the figure on the back of the marked losses in the Greenback.
USD/JPY keeps the red near 147.50 amid renewed US Dollar downside
USD/JPY is battling 147.50 in Tuesday's Asian session, returning to the red zone. A recovery in risk sentiment along with receding bets that the BoJ would raise the policy rate at a faster pace underpin the pair. However, resurgent US Dollar supply acts as a headwind to the USD/JPY turnaround.
Editors’ Picks
AUD/USD weighed down by China, tariffs
AUD/USD remained on the back foot, slipping back to the area of multi-year lows around 0.5950 on the back of mounting fears surrounding tariffs and their impact on the Chinese economy.
EUR/USD refocuses on 1.1000 amid tariffs jitters
EUR/USD reversed two daily pullbacks in a row an d managed to advance to the boundaries of the 1.1000 barrier on the back of fresh weakness hurting the US Dollar and persistent tariff fears.
Gold erases gains, back to the $2,980 zone
Gold prices now lose extra ground and slip back to the area of daily troughs near $2,980 mark per troy ounce following an unsuccesful attempt to maintain the trade above the critical $3,000 level earlier in the day.
XRP drops 3% as Ripple announces $1.25 billion acquisition of prime brokerage firm Hidden Road
Ripple announced on Tuesday that it is acquiring prime brokerage firm Hidden Road to enhance its institutional offerings and increase the adoption of the RLUSD stablecoin and the XRP Ledger (XRPL).
The Fed is looking at a hefty price level
We are still in thrall to tariffs, the faux-macro “data” driving markets. The WSJ editorial board advised other countries to take their tariffs to zero so that Trump’s “reciprocal” tariffs will have to be zero, too. Cute, but no cigar.
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