Markets, like life, are messy. As trading psychologist Brett Steenbarger says, “Trading distils the basic human challenge: the need to judge, plan, and seek values under conditions of risk and uncertainty. In mastering trading, we necessarily face and master ourselves. Very few arenas of life so immediately reward self-development — and punish its absence.”

“It’s one giant experiment on human psychology,” says Ben Carlson. “The markets are really just a huge laboratory for testing the limits of human emotions and behaviour. The beauty of that, of course, is that in the daily ups and downs of prices, we can learn a great deal about ourselves.”..

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