Source: Kigaku Club

1. What determines your behavior is actually unconscious

We often say 'I can't control myself'. This is my conscious mind, and this myself is an internal unconscious impulse. We have both conscious and unconscious parts within us. We are both controllers and controlled persons at the same time.

Human consciousness accounts for only 10%, while unconsciousness accounts for 90%. The unconscious is like the part of an iceberg hidden under water.

Unconsciousness is a blind impulse. It's an innate habit, so it has great power. Our inner greed, violence, anger, jealousy, desire, etc. are all unconscious. These habits are condemned by civilized society, so these unconsciousness is suppressed by us in the dark, yet they are still boiling internally, eager to try and struggle out at any time.

The power of our actions often comes from our unconsciousness rather than from our conscious decisions. This is the exact opposite of what we usually think. When our inner consciousness and unconsciousness clash, it is often the unconscious that eventually takes the upper hand. Consciousness can make a decision, but there is no strong support behind that decision.

Aesop's fables are very clear.

A turtle came to the riverside preparing to cross the river. At this point, a scorpion came up and said, “I want to go to the other side too, can you put me on your back and carry me over with you”. The turtle smiled and said, “Do you think I'm a fool? What if you bite me when it's on my back? I wouldn't want to take that risk”.

The scorpion disdainfully said, “I think you've lived in vain for so many years, and you don't even understand basic logic. If I bite you to death while crossing the river, wouldn't I also drown?”

So the turtle agreed to cross the river with the scorpion on its back. As soon as it crossed the middle of the river, the scorpion bit the turtle.

Before dying, the turtle asked the scorpion, “Where has your logic gone?”

Scorpion said, “I regret it too; I can't live on my own. I promised not to bite you, but it's not a matter of logic; I can say that, but in reality I can't do it. This is my nature. Intellectually I know I shouldn't bite you, but there's no way I wouldn't bite you.”

Consciousness and unconsciousness are often in conflict. Consciousness is like a prison guard, and unconsciousness is like a prisoner. This is the source of much of humanity's tension and anxiety. Any suppression creates anxiety and inner turmoil. Precisely because of our inner unconscious turmoil, we are very uncomfortable when we are alone. Our quest for others and our passion for all kinds of activities are just a way to escape from ourselves.

2. Your intellect is driven by intention

The German philosopher Schopenhauer discussed the relationship between intelligence and intention in a very detailed and thorough manner in his philosophy. He believes that intelligence is a tool of intention, and that people's limited ability to understand serves desire and serves the will to survive. When people's intentions completely calm down, intelligence can work perfectly, and can it be clear and objective.

Everyone has a different ratio of intellect and intention. Geniuses have extra intelligence. When intelligence is at the mercy of intention, it becomes pure understanding, and pure understanding can see and understand the truth. Science, art, music, and philosophy are born from the superfluous intellect of a few geniuses.

Pure and objective intelligence is just a luxury for us ordinary people. Intelligence that is intended to be driven can only see parts, individuals, and phenomena, and inevitably causes distortion and one-sided aspects.

When the surface of the water is calm, it is like a mirror; this means that the heart stops the water. If water is heated to a boil, it will lose the function of a mirror, and it will not be possible to clearly reflect the true appearance of things. The mirror at this point was like a haha mirror. Everything that is reflected in it is distorted.

Intent is passion, heat is fire, intelligence is equivalent to water. Because intelligence is a tool of intention, in the midst of the turmoil of intention, intelligence will inevitably lose clarity and objectivity. In a few cases, cognition can be used as a coolant for intention, and water can be used to extinguish the fire of desire, thus creating saints and practitioners who have no desire.

However, what is achieved without desire is not through suppression, but through understanding and understanding, understanding the pain caused by desire and the ultimate uselessness of desire. However, humans themselves are the embodiment of desires, a collection of many desires. You can't do it without desire; you can only try to achieve what Laozi called “less selfish and less desire.”

3. How much do you know about human flaws?

The most important reason most speculators fail in the securities market is that they are unaware of their human blind spots; they fall into the same trap many times.

Subjective, distorted intelligence. Most of the time, intelligence is manipulated by intention, especially when you are involved in your emotions and desires. Believing in this kind of intelligence is tantamount to believing in a blind person's eyes.

As far as our current inner world is concerned, we don't have a center. Our inner world is a patchwork of many different or even opposite parts. There are many different voices shouting, and our inner world is a bunch of people.

We often make a decision, but soon regret it because no one center can make a real decision. A man cannot commit because there are many conflicting things within him that govern each other. Sometimes we can't sleep because all kinds of conflicting thoughts keep crashing in our heads.

The mind creates illusions to blind you and comfort you. If you crave something too much, your mind will create illusions to deceive you and give you a false satisfaction. Many of the dreams we have at night are comfort given to you by the mind. If you can't be satisfied during the day, the mind creates dreams to satisfy you to relieve your tension and anxiety.

We just rashly break into the securities market with an intellect that is often distorted, a mind that creates illusions, and a bunch of crazy people. Inevitably, we are dazed and scattered without being impacted by a powerful market.

Therefore, in order to avoid being shaken by the market, before entering the market, we must first work hard to integrate our mentality, and externally, we need to have a complete and relatively fixed trading strategy and plan.

4. After opening a position, they are willing to buy back their performance after opening a position

Until a position is established, the average person can remain relatively objective, but it is impossible to be absolutely objective.

But we can't even remain relatively objective after establishing a position; most people are absolutely subjective. Intelligence is bought by intention, and intelligence cannot be trusted at this time. The mind is unable to think rationally, and it is impossible to analyze the market impartially and objectively.

The mind at this point will reject any opposing views and turn a blind eye to any market signs and signals that are unfavorable to one's position.

Precisely because of this, pre-trade planning and strategy are essential.

Once in the market, the mind becomes unreliable and completely untrustworthy. Therefore, it is very necessary to set up a trading system that suits you, such as stop loss. We are often unable to execute pre-planned stop losses, and we also find reasons for not stopping losses, rationalize our actions, indulge ourselves, and wait and see, amplify our stop loss. If there is a first step, there is a second step, and in the end, it causes a major loss.

The mind also has this tendency to put off things you should do but you don't want to do. This is a trick of desire. This is why stop losses have been delayed over and over again. Unconscious impulses are hugely destructive to speculative trading activities.

This phenomenon is common in the trading process. We analyzed and deduced this transaction in detail in advance and formulated a thorough and workable strategy, but the actual implementation of it became completely unrecognizable during the trading activity process. Because we don't fully understand the impact of unconscious impulses on trading activities.

The rational part of all our theories, analyses, and strategies belongs only to the conscious mind, but this part is very fragile. The non-rational part, the intentional part, is very powerful; it has its own wants and dislikes, likes and dislikes. A rational mind can only suggest; the power to make decisions and the ability to act are part of the irrational part. It's like experts don't have decision-making power, and those in control don't understand anything.

Our rational part, the conscious effort part, is like a vegetable farmer who carefully and diligently cultivates and cares for one of his vegetable fields. Our inner unconscious impulse is like a maniacal wild boar. It can break into this vegetable field at any time and ruin the entire vegetable field.

Most of the time, the irrational part of a person, the part that is impulsive, cannot restrain itself. It often acts not based on intellectual right or wrong, factual right or wrong, but rather according to its own nature and preferences. Like Aesop's fable Scorpion. We clearly know that heavy positions are bad, that frequent trading is bad, and that it's wrong to gamble with the market, but there's still no way we can do otherwise.

Therefore, unconscious impulses are very destructive to the final results of trading activities. In fact, wild boars and vegetable farmers are part of us. Who dominates will determine the success or failure of our entire speculative career.

5. How to transcend unconsciousness

Almost everyone positions themselves too high because they identify with their conscious mind; they suppress and avoid the dark, negative things in their nature.

But these things are still there; they are boiling inside, and they have to be rushed outside at any time. Because of our suppressed and evasive attitudes, these things can't get into our consciousness and secretly manipulate us, making things even worse. Because if we don't notice them, there's no way to prevent them.

A person's unconscious impulse is a habit or habit, and Buddhism calls it ignorance or karma. Habits are very powerful, and once formed, they no longer need your help to function on their own. Often we're just slaves to it, which is why we keep making the same mistakes and can't help ourselves.

Repression and avoidance are insurmountable; only face-to-face contact with them and thorough understanding can they be surpassed.

It takes a lot of effort to penetrate one's unconscious mind. Regular beating and practice are necessary; just rational understanding won't help much.

Always remember: I am the reason for everything that has happened to me. But the ego always makes excuses outward; when something goes wrong, the first thing we usually protect is the self. I doubt everything, but I don't doubt myself; in fact, our ego is the most suspicious one. Therefore, a person must first become real. This is the primary condition for success in the securities market. It's hard for a false person to survive in the market because he's not used to facing the truth, he deceives himself.

6. Some common psychological pitfalls of trading

1. The psychology of protest

The education we have received since childhood is based on struggle and competition, such as conquering nature, overcoming all kinds of difficult obstacles, and fighting against difficulties. This awareness is deeply ingrained within us. When we entered the securities market, we still had this kind of mentality.

We often see elites from all walks of life come to the securities market and suffer failures, which are more complete than the average person's failure. This is because successful people in other industries have strong egos. They don't believe they will fail, and they are also very reluctant to accept their own failure.

Their success hardened their personalities, so when the market turned against them, they didn't know how to surrender and retreat, but instead fought until destroyed.

Surviving in the market often requires some anti-human qualities. Soft and flexible traders are more suitable for speculative markets, and tough ones will soon be eliminated. Laozi appreciates the soft quality. He said that soft things have more vitality. When the hurricane hit, the soft grass was safe and sound, but the big, tough trees were uprooted.

There is almost one of the most stubborn tendencies in human nature, which is defending one's own views and being reluctant to acknowledge mistakes in one's judgment. Therefore, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, they will stick to their attitude to the end. Because that opinion was his own, he defended not the truth, but his self.

Why do humans like to fight? Because of fighting, friction, and denial, saying “no” to others will strengthen one's self. By fighting, he will feel that he is powerful and that he is a person. Obedience, submission, and saying 'yes' hurts a person's ego. That's why so many people like to cheat with others. That's why whenever you go to a government department to do business, you hear 'no' in every office.

This kind of fighting nature in human nature, this attitude of not being willing to give in and give up on one's mistakes is the biggest obstacle to trading.

2. The mentality of pursuing perfection

The pursuit of perfection is a very greedy mentality; it is an extreme mentality. Because of the pursuit of perfection, you are not allowed to have any flaws, you cannot bear even a small loss, and it is difficult to execute when it is time to stop a loss. Because of the pursuit of perfection, one tries to seize all the fluctuations and does not want to miss any market. Everyone has their own limitations and areas they aren't good at. The pursuit of perfection can easily lead to heavy trading and frequent trading.

3. The mentality of devotion to one cause

Taking the results of a single transaction too seriously, they plan to become rich in a single transaction. Or they refuse to stop losing when they clearly misread the market, and stick to losing positions like widows.

Trading is a long-term process; there is no need to live or die for the outcome of a transaction. Sometimes it's very healthy to accept small losses, so you can prevent big losses. It's like a proper cold is good and not harmful to a person's overall health.

4. The psychology of counting money

It's a mentality of gain or loss. Once we establish a position, we always think about the ups and downs of our book capital, and are influenced by these changes, and our emotions are influenced by these changes, ignoring the actual market itself. This greatly interferes with our normal thinking and judgment.

We should pay more attention to the right process; results will follow. If you consider the results ahead of time, it will disrupt the entire transaction process, causing the movement to distort. The human mind always jumps far ahead of time to think about unreal results and ignore what is actually happening right now. This is the greatest absurdity and upside down in our lives.

5. Transition time frame

Orders that were originally short-term transactions were forced to be converted to medium- to long-term orders, and orders that were originally mid-term orders were processed in the short term. The entire transaction was chaotic and disorderly.

6. Keen to predict the market and try to seize the head or bottom

Any prediction is subjective, impossible to be objective, and even the predictions of many famous consulting agencies are full of mistakes. Once you predict the market or believe the opinions of certain market commentators, you can't see the real face of the market, because you will project your subjective views onto the market, and the market becomes a screen. No matter how the market fluctuates, you will have your own explanation. You will develop a bullish or bearish complex. This complex hangs over speculators' minds like a dark cloud, and eventually this complex becomes a dead end. He will look at the market with a distorted view for months or even years, causing the entire speculative activity to be paralyzed.

Once you have predicted the market, you are unwilling to set a stop-loss level because you believe any fluctuations that are unfavorable to you will be short-lived, and the market will eventually return to the direction you predicted. Many speculators lose heavily when trying to seize the bottom or top of the market.

edit/lambor