Recently, traders have been asking a variation of the following question:

With the market coming so far so fast, I need advice. I keep letting my opinion about what I think should happen influence me more than it should.

My initial response, we don’t see the market as it is, we see it as we are.

Our beliefs, expectations, and emotions act as a filter on our perception of the market, our filter projects a structure onto the market that forms the basis for our entry and exit decisions. This is why ten different traders will give ten different interpretations of the same chart.

The market can do anything, at any time, regardless of history or what any research says about it. The first six months of 2020 proves the point.

As recent neuroscience has shown, cognitive and emotional processes thought to be largely separate are much more intertwined than previously thought (email me if you’d like to see this important cutting edge research).

This makes it impossible to be 100% objective. Fortunately there are actions you can take to help your trading.

As traders, we must find ways to see what the market is doing without imposing our own personal needs onto the market. Unmet needs, both conscious and subconscious, influence how we see the market. (The topic of conscious and subconscious needs is beyond the scope of this post)

Short of working with a coach or someone who can help spot when your ego is more active, asking key self-directed questions can help –

Is my need to be right stronger than my desire to make money? Spend some time with that question.

If this line of thought is intriguing, the next question to ask yourself is –

Why is my need to be right stronger than my desire to make money? Are there unmet ego needs?

We can then explore if there are other ways to get those needs met? There is almost an infinite number of possible answers here.

I’ve seen many traders attempt to seek complete fulfillment from trading. They never find it.

My advice when you’re trading or just watching the market, continuously asking the following question may help –

Am I paying more attention to what I want versus what I see?

And to make this self-directed question more effective, try calibrating your answers as the day goes on. Perhaps earlier in the day it was 50% what I want and now you realize it’s higher, at 75% what I want. This is can be a tool to help you address the need to be right versus the desire to make money.