Cognitive Biases and Their Impact on Trading Decisions

Posted on 2023-04-20

Cognitive biases are inherent tendencies of the human brain to make errors in judgment and decision-making. These biases can have a significant impact on trading decisions, leading to irrational behavior and ultimately affecting the profitability of a trader. Some common cognitive biases that can impact trading decisions include:

Confirmation Bias: This occurs when traders only seek out information that confirms their existing beliefs and ignore information that contradicts them.

Overconfidence Bias: This is the tendency for traders to overestimate their abilities and make overly risky trades, leading to losses.

Anchoring Bias: This is when traders rely too heavily on one piece of information, such as a previous trade outcome or a news article, and fail to consider other relevant information.

Loss Aversion Bias: This is the tendency for traders to focus more on avoiding losses than on seeking gains, leading to missed opportunities and overly conservative trading.

Herd Mentality Bias: This is when traders follow the actions of the crowd rather than relying on their own analysis, often leading to trading decisions based on emotion rather than sound reasoning.

To overcome these biases, traders can use techniques such as journaling, meditation, and mindfulness to become more aware of their emotions and thought processes. Additionally, traders can develop a trading plan with strict rules for entry and exit points to avoid making impulsive decisions based on emotions.


Looking to learn about forex? Take our crash courses at our Forex University. If you’re looking to setup a demo trading account then click here. Finally, if you’re looking for Forex Signals, Forex Portugal provides free & premium signals on-demand.

Found this article helpful?

[ 0 Out of 0 Found Helpful ]

Still no luck? we can help!

Submit a ticket and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Support Chat Available
Account login is required to start, please login to your account to proceed.