Short Term Trading (Australia Day) Weekend Lounge: 25-28 Jan, page-78

Possibly the biggest thing that has surprised me about trading , is how much of a psychological game it is. Games are played on most days, in all time frames (at least on high volume stocks). Every single day, with a few exceptions, there will be an attempt to scare you out of your position (fear of loss), as well as an attempt to make you buy a stock that has moved up higher (fear of missing out), just before it goes back down again.

I used to look at all those big runs up on a chart, with all the consecutive green bars. These looked to me like the happy days, when you finally get a break, and trading becomes easy for a while. Little did I know, that those safe looking green bars, can be some of the scariest ones to be in. - Games are played. In order to not be emotionally manipulated by the market makers, you have to have a solid belief, in either your skills at assessing FA, in relation to tight time frames, or you need to have a solid belief in your TA set of rules. Otherwise the Market Maker will play you. All he has to do, is scare the wits out of you, and you jump. Study is my answer. It is where confidence comes from. And confidence is key in this game of "professional hot potato" (as someone else on here put it.)