Malaysian Psychology

Even as a student .a long long time ago ..I have always looked forward to fridays..like everyone else I will embrace the weekends with relief..joy and freedom from pesky teachers and getting whacked on the backside or palm for failing spelling and dictation..As a middle age man funnily things have not change that much.I still look cherish all weekends regardless..just eating out with family and doing simple things outside the realm of work is good enough for me..And next Tuesday being a public holiday is like icing on the cake..

Speaking of weekends and holidays ,it is almost taken that a long stretch of holidays ( our country is blessed with lots of them..or curse depending whether you are the boss or employee ! ) inevitably means a sharp drop in trading volume in days preceding for example today ...the only exception is when there is an ongoing rally or bull run which unfortunately seems scarce nowadays..So ,it is crucial that any right thinking short term trader take serious note of all holidays or he may end up holding the baby or worse incur losses on contra selling..

Holidays aside,there are lots of trading psychology that any serious trader or investor need to get a handle on if he wants to survive and prosper in this industry..Granted you may be an expert chartist or fundamentalist,equipped with the most advanced buy /sell software but if your mind does not control your heart ( figuratively speaking } you will be back at square one...as mortals our daily trading dilemma will include the exact price to buy ,hold or sell..get that wrong often enough and you will decide to blame the whole world ( skip the profanities ) and may hit the quit button once the pocket gets burnt through..the sad fact is that every time you blame yourself for instance selling too early or too late the stigma of missing out or frustrations will come back to haunt you in the next trade , impairing your judgement and causing even more losses ..and start a vicious cycle ,possibly broken only by quitting altogether or lady luck deciding to smile on you again..

Is there a way out? many books and literature can be found on this topic..However I will give my 2 cents worth...If you are not ready for self trading,park your funds with professional fund managers,,,Of course that means incurring charges and missing out on the action..In that case try to "psycho" your mind to be distinct from your emotional self ..ie pretend that you are trading on other people's money !..silly as it may sound it is helpful..Also exercise certain age old techniques like spreading your buying and selling in at least 3 tranches ie over several hours or days or even months depending on your time holding horizon..Drop this "I want revenge " on my losses or missed profits as this is every trader's worst emotional enemy..walk away from the terminal when things inexplicably go wrong despite all the careful research and come back afresh a day or two later..last but not least do lots of homework..that said I must end this post by a certain reality..you may conquer the mountains or whatever ..but nobody conquers the equity or forex markets..otherwise we would not have a Lehman Bro saga...

Happy weekend

Chris Choo

find me @ https://www.facebook.com/chris.choo.927