Skip to content
Trading Game
Trading Game
Trade Confidently and Safely
  • Home
  • About
    • About Louise Bedford
    • About Chris Tate
    • Chris Tate Media Kit
    • Louise Bedford Media Kit
  • Why Choose Us
    • Audited Results
    • In The Press
  • Mentor Program
  • Rave Reviews
    • More Rave Reviews
    • Even More Rave Reviews
    • Extra Rave Reviews
    • Still More Rave Reviews
    • This Is Getting Ridiculous
    • Success Stories
    • More Success Stories
    • We Are Traders
    • A Poem To Inspire You…
    • Hot Off The Press Reviews
    • You Want Proof?
  • Our Network
    • Our Brokers
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • LOGIN
  • Home
  • About
    • About Louise Bedford
    • About Chris Tate
    • Chris Tate Media Kit
    • Louise Bedford Media Kit
  • Why Choose Us
    • Audited Results
    • In The Press
  • Mentor Program
  • Rave Reviews
    • More Rave Reviews
    • Even More Rave Reviews
    • Extra Rave Reviews
    • Still More Rave Reviews
    • This Is Getting Ridiculous
    • Success Stories
    • More Success Stories
    • We Are Traders
    • A Poem To Inspire You…
    • Hot Off The Press Reviews
    • You Want Proof?
  • Our Network
    • Our Brokers
  • Shop
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • LOGIN

Perception Versus Reality

You are here:
  1. Home
  2. Blog
  3. Australian Markets
  4. Perception Versus Reality

Coincidence is a wonderfully odd thing. Whilst filling the truck at the local petrol station this morning a car pulled up at the bowser next to me – there is nothing earth-shatteringly exciting about this other than the interesting fact that it had three reasonably new parking tickets on under one of its windscreen wipers. These parking tickets looked as if they had taken up long term residence as the driver seemed completely oblivious to them. Somehow they were able to look through their windscreen without seeing them. What people choose to see and therefore take notice of and eventually believe is an interesting thing.

A coincidence requires two events and the second was the chart below which popped up on my social media feed just after I got home. It shows the perceived rate of occurrence for various things versus the actual rate.

As you can see people are wildly off the mark about almost everything and since perception is the means by which a word view is formed it means that it is no surprise that people have some very odd world views. As they say, perception is everything.

I find this interesting because trading is a business that is based upon perception, from perception an opinion is formed, and from this opinion, a business case for a given investment idea is formulated. If your perceptions are constantly at odds with reality then any business case you make and any investment decision you make is likely to be wrong. This raises the question of how to stop errors of perception creeping into the decision making process. With trading, I think this is more difficult than many think simply because of the amount of noise and the possibility of this creating an echo chamber that reinforces your original incorrect perception. When investigating ideas I have found that people are really just looking for someone who agrees with them not a true critique of their idea. Add to this the fact that the lies we tell ourselves are the most effective and you can start to build a picture of why traders often behave the way they do.

I find I have to ask myself the simple question when assessing and then taking a trade – what does being wrong look like. How will I know I am wrong?

For me,  this is easy because I am fairly simple in my trading approach – if it hits my stop then I am wrong. But you have to be in the mindset to accept that the market and not your perception of the market is the ultimate arbiter of all things. Without this acceptance, you end up in a very expensive argument with a fairly implacable environment.

Category: Australian MarketsBy Chris TateApril 26, 2022

Post navigation

PreviousPrevious post:Ten Minutes With Tate Commodities Boom and BustNextNext post:Change The World – Perhaps Not

Related Posts

Ten Minutes With Tate Are Lithium Stocks A Bust?
May 9, 2022
An Observation
May 8, 2022
What’s The Fuss About
May 4, 2022
Ten Minutes With Tate The Week That Was
May 1, 2022
Trading Game
BACK TO TOP



General Advice Warning

The Trading Game Pty Ltd (ACN: 099 576 253) is an AFSL holder (Licence no: 468163). This information is correct at the time of publishing and may not be reproduced without formal permission. It is of a general nature and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any of the information you should consider its appropriateness, having regard to your own objectives, financial situation and needs.

Privacy and Licensing | Terms & Conditions | Referrals

  • Home
  • About
  • Why Choose Us
  • Mentor Program
  • Rave Reviews
  • Our Network
  • Blog
  • Shop
  • Contact Us
  • Log In

Copyright © The Trading Game. All Rights Reserved. | website designed by Papdan.com

Social Media: