Behavioral Psychology
Cognitive biases, emotional patterns, and the routines that counter them.
10 chapters · 1.2 hr total
- 01
Trader Psychology: Why Smart People Lose Money in Markets
Most retail trading losses aren't about analysis, they're about behavior. The same brain that's well-adapted for survival is poorly adapted for trading. Knowing why is half the fix.
8 min read
- 02
Fear and Greed: The Two Forces That Drive Most Bad Trading Decisions
Almost every trading mistake reduces to either fear (of loss, of missing out, of being wrong) or greed (for more, for vindication, for revenge). Naming the force is the first step to managing it.
7 min read
- 03
FOMO in Trading: Why You Buy Tops and How to Stop
FOMO, fear of missing out, is the single most consistent way retail traders pay top dollar for assets. The mechanism is predictable. So is the fix.
7 min read
- 04
Revenge Trading: The Pattern That Turns Small Losses Into Account-Killers
Revenge trading is the urge to immediately make back a loss. It's the most reliable mechanism for converting a bad trade into a much worse trading day.
7 min read
- 05
Confirmation Bias in Trading: How You Quietly Convince Yourself the Trade Is Right
Once you have a position, your brain unconsciously seeks information that supports it and discounts information that contradicts it. Recognizing the bias is what lets you escape it.
7 min read
- 06
Sunk Cost Fallacy: Why You Keep Holding Losers Long After You Should Exit
The capital and emotion already in a trade make it psychologically harder to exit, even when the rational analysis says you should. Recognizing the trap is what frees you from it.
7 min read
- 07
Overconfidence and Recency Bias: Why Your Best Days Predict Your Worst Ones
After a streak of winners, your brain over-weights recent success and under-weights randomness. The next size-up is often the one that gives back the gains.
7 min read
- 08
The Pre-Mortem: How to Plan a Trade by Imagining It Already Failed
A pre-mortem is the inverse of a post-mortem, you imagine the trade has failed and work backward to identify why. It's the single most useful pre-trade ritual you can adopt.
6 min read
- 09
The Trading Routine: Boring Structure Is the Operating System of Profitable Trading
Consistent returns come from consistent process. The traders who outperform have routines that look unglamorous, and that's the entire point.
7 min read
- 10
Trade Journaling: The Habit That Compounds Into Skill Faster Than Anything Else
Most traders track PnL. Few track the data that actually drives improvement. The right journaling practice is the highest-ROI habit in trading.
8 min read