Category: Emotion Analytics

Maybe the toughest challenge in trading – or market risk decisions – is resolving the conflict over now or later? Should I get in now or later? Should I get out now or later? One can throw a whole bunch of so-called facts at the question and still be no closer to a satisfying (or [...]

Shull’s first article   “What Would Freud Say? Stroll Down Freud’s  Mental Path to Profits”, December 2004. When I wrote this I had NO idea whatsoever that I would ever publicly write or say ANOTHER word on the psychology of trading. It was just an idea I had based on re-writing my Master’s Thesis for a [...]

Originally posted on Business Insider, April 17. Conventional wisdom in trading psychology used to depend on two primary tenets – discipline and ‘control your emotions’. But that was before neuroscience started putting traders, poker players and other risk-gamers into brain scanners. Now that we know that all decisions depend on the presence of an emotion, [...]

Just a few moments ago, I hung up the phone after speaking with a client who heads a trading desk at a bank everyone in the world has heard of. It would be easy to think – “well, that guy has it made”. (Government’s intention to break-up banks and stop prop-trading notwithstanding). Yet, he wants [...]

Thanks to one of our favorite clients, Rob from Australia, this quote made it’s way into my inbox this morning. “Nothing is constant, nothing is the way it has always been. So what I find is that people who are really good at this have great intuition, have great instinct. Their gut actually tells them [...]

Today is one of those market days when the price goes basically one way. For some, these days can be their best money makers – they know how to push the pedal to the metal when the time is right. For others, they tend to be their worst days – the think they have missed [...]

In the past few days, as the markets have swung wildly from the proverbial trees, I have had the occasion to be interviewed by a number of journalists. The questions underscore how much the general public has yet to learn about what the experts know about the brain. For example. 1) Your brain will NOT [...]

Like Madoff, who one could argue wanted to be liked and to feel part of the in-crowd more than anything, if you ask yourself what would Raj’s unconscious motivation be, the ironic answer probably revolves around wanting to feel like an insider! Without talking directly to him, one can only speculate but when you ask [...]

Feelings and emotions are information. Feeling tired tells you you need rest, hungry – need food. Angry – something is wrong. Afraid – something to consider. Every time we recast our feelings and emotions as this kind of data is one more time that we move further forward faster. Ironically, this feeling thing also clears the cognitive “thinking” part of your brain so that it can do its more linear work.

In many ways, many traders end up shrugging their shoulders to the tune of “oh well I will do better next time”. The question becomes /what exactly/ will make them perceive, decide and act “better” the next time? I mean it isn’t like there aren’t tons of methods and tools to help a trader with [...]