Psychology and Attitude

Psychology and Attitude
The sum total of all buy and sell orders determines what the market does and
where it goes. But all traders are human, and the primary emotions of fear and
greed lie hidden—sometimes not very deeply—beneath the buy and sell orders.
Even in this day of robots, black boxes, and computer-based trading with
no human involvement in the order-entry process, fear and greed reign
supreme. A human had to write the program, and that person’s propensities for
profit (greed) and loss (fear) are built into the code.
Your attitude and emotions will play some part in every aspect of
your trading. Every decision you make, large or small, has an emotional
104 DEVELOPING A TRADING CODEX
component—from the tools you select to the markets you monitor, to when
you enter and exit a market. They are always there, and denying them is a
poor solution.
Controlling your emotions is the key to success. Knowing they are there,
constantly monitoring them, and being able to keep them in check are your
goals from the time you sit down to trade to the time you walk away from your
computer.

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