Psychology: Imposter Syndrome

Trading Psychology: The Source of Anxiety

Everyone says trading is hard and will warn you against getting into it. Then, once you get into it, you’ll be met by a myriad of failed traders who talk about how hard it is and how difficult it is to follow your system, and how the market is filled with tricks and traps to fool you and take your money. But is it really that big and scary?

What if the market isn’t actually difficult to master? What if the reason most people say it is difficult is because 1) those people have the exact hang ups that would attract them to the market in the first place, and 2) those hang ups make it difficult for them?

If so, that would be a Success Paradox.

I see the most intelligent people - engineers, doctors, accountants, lawyers, chess players - come to the trading table and blow their life savings. That’s insane! What would drive a person to do that?

Strange as it may seem, my theory on the success paradox boils down to the idea that people don’t feel allowed to do something until they have been initiated by people who have gone before them, or invited in by a higher power.

Think about it this way. If a doctor performing surgery kills a patient, it’s an accident and all is forgiven. If a guy in overalls kills a guy while performing surgery, it’s murder. He had no business being in that operating room. Right? It's a double standard. One for authorized professionals and another for the layman, who may, in reality, be just as capable.

The Trap

People are attracted to trading because they are insecure. They have low self-esteem and social anxiety, and therefore want to work alone away from other people. The market is a playground for introverts.

Unfortunately, a lot of insecurities that introverts deal with are related to social constructs and cultural expectations that they are uncomfortable with. That's the whole reason for wanting to be isolated. So they may initially seek out trading as a means of being in solitude but then shortly after run up against the sensation that they have not been authorized to enrich themselves in this manner.

With every trade, the unauthorized introvert feels the weight of multiplied consequences as he attempts to perform surgery without a medical license… I mean perform high risk maneuvers without the nod from society.

It is my hypothesis that the only thing an intelligent person needs to succeed at trading, besides a little practice and research, is to have awareness that he will be forgiven for killing the patient on the operating table. Otherwise he will never be able to experience the breathing room necessary to make mistakes and learn from them.

The Blessing

You don’t need my permission to take your financial future into your own hands. But, if it helps…

On the authority of myself, an authorized member of Trading Practitioners, I hereby ordain you into the order of authorized traders. You now have full authorization to use your own money to make any decision that you see fit to make in the pursuit of your own hopes and dreams. Welcome to the brotherhood. Go in peace and be the isolated introvert that you were born to be.