Trading Decisions and Behaviour

About this track

Understand decision biases, review assumptions and practise reflective exercises.

This educational track examines research on decision biases alongside fictional trading examples. It introduces optional records and checklists that can support reflection, without claiming professional consensus or a link to profitable performance.

What you will be able to do

• Name the specific biases most likely to affect your own decisions, with an example from your own trade log.
• Recognise when a fictional trading scenario invites an impulsive decision and consider alternatives including not trading.
• Keep a record of assumptions before evaluating a hypothetical outcome; compare facts with interpretations.
• Create an optional preparation and review checklist with no fixed time requirement.
• Distinguish between a losing trade that followed the plan and a winning trade that broke it.

Before you start

No previous trading is required. All exercises can be completed with made-up data and virtual observations, without real transactions.

How the lessons build

The sequence explores possible decision biases, reactions to an outcome, a journal as an observation record, optional checklists and portfolio-drawdown arithmetic. It does not constitute psychological assessment or a tested method for earning returns.

Who this track is not for

This track does not address clinical mental health, gambling addiction or financial distress, and it is not a substitute for professional support. If trading is causing you real financial or psychological harm, please speak to a qualified professional rather than reading another lesson on discipline.

Lessons in this track

• Cognitive Biases in Trading Decisions (9 min) — Confirmation bias, anchoring and loss aversion offer ways to examine decisions without assuming a universal emotional response.
• Revenge Trading & Tilt — Recognising Unplanned Decisions (8 min) — Tilt is the emotional state where a trader tries to recover a loss immediately with larger, unplanned trades.
• A Trading Journal: Observations and Limits (8 min) — Use a decision record to review assumptions without claiming it proves profitable skill.
• Optional Checklists for Practice Sessions (8 min) — Prepare and review educational exercises without prescribing a professional routine or profitable outcome.
• Understanding Drawdowns in a Simulation (8 min) — Calculate declines from a previous portfolio peak and compare hypothetical sizing and recovery assumptions.

Completion badge

Trading Psychology Completion: Awarded after completing every lesson in the Trading Psychology Mastery track. Educational simulation only — not financial advice.