Trading Psychologist

Definition of Trading Psychology

When I first heard this question several years ago, I was struck by the definition of trading psychology. So, I have to ask myself - what am I doing? How did I get here? And how do I provide value to my customers and students in this field? Can a non-trading psychologist endorse new trading practices? It is a challenge for a psychotherapist, psychologist or coach who has not experienced trading on a visceral level to truly understand how trading challenges every part of the normal processes in the human brain. The identities, beliefs, and behaviors that lead to success in the real world with our friends, family, and work can become barriers to the independent trader. The good thing about trading is that it gives us immediate feedback on our business dealings. The biases and repeated patterns that we all have are visible when we make trading errors over and over again. These recurring errors can help us focus on the underlying processes that support them.

I never dreamed that someone would call me and ask, "Are you a trading psychologist?"

Difference from regular psychologist

A regular coach has to be a very different animal than a life coach, psychologist or psychotherapist. This is because the behaviors required to be a successful trader run contrary to the behaviors that promote normal, healthy living. Sitting inside the trading pits or in front of a trading screen, trading psychologists are required to work with tools that are not available to the general psychological community. The words "will power," "discipline," and "hard work" aren't helpful when we switch from our rational mind to our survival mind in the midst of a trading loss.

In our ordinary lives in our families and our social settings and even in our workplace, we create our environment with our state of mind and behavior. Other people in that environment will manage their behavior and relationship with us in response to our own state of being. As a result, we can influence those around us with our behavior, or perhaps even influence those around us.