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Ego and the Need to Be Right

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Ego and the Need to Be Right

Trading does not reward us for being right about every market move. It rewards a process that manages uncertainty and risk over a sufficiently large sample of decisions.

How Ego Interferes

We may hold a losing position because closing it would feel like admitting a mistake. We may increase risk to prove that our analysis was correct, or interpret opposing information as a personal challenge rather than evidence that our hypothesis may be wrong.

The Professional Alternative

A trading hypothesis is a working assumption, not a statement of identity. When market evidence invalidates it, changing our position is a process decision, not a personal defeat.

Key Terms

Ego, need to be right, hypothesis, invalidation, risk control, process.

Knowledge Check

  1. Why is being right on every trade not the objective?
  2. How can ego affect a losing position?
  3. Why is changing a position after invalidation not a personal defeat?