Online-Trading Addiction: the Warning Signs

Great comments, make sure if you're trading you're completely honest with your spouse. Your spouse can be a great source for checks and balances and keep you honest. I suggest only trading an alloted amount, and not adding more even if the loses accumulate. If you lose money, then you have to gain it back without adding more to your account.

Great comments, make sure if you're trading you're completely honest with your spouse. Your spouse can be a great source for checks and balances and keep you honest. I suggest only trading an alloted amount, and not adding more even if the loses accumulate. If you lose money, then you have to gain it back without adding more to your account.

Dr. Brett, what is the difference between the healthy fun of a beginner and the unhealthy so-called-fun of an addict? In your book "Enhancing Trader Performance", you mention how becoming proficient at something starts with having fun doing it. In the first linked article, the trader gives at the end a very positive view of trading as something that is much fun, lucrative (at times) and easy to do. And yet, he admits "things escalated and got out of hand". The second linked article also mentions having fun. "Another red flag is when trading stocks becomes a game — an end in itself rather than a vehicle to earn a living or build a retirement nest egg." But isn't the doing [whatever] for its own sake, because it is fun, precisely the initial step in building proficiency? Does an addicted person always know he is addicted? If trading becomes a "need" we "have" to satisfy, I don't see how much "fun" this could really be. Having fun should be free of negative feelings, but addicted b...(Read more of this comment)ehavior probably brings out quite a few negative feelings, like anxiety, guilt and others. Quite a few interviewed pit traders have remarked that the very first time they ever got on a trading floor, they thought it all looked like great fun. What would a healthy beginner, aspiring trader's profile look like? In other words, what is the difference between the healthy fun of a beginner and the unhealthy so-called-fun of an addict?(Show less of this comment)

Dr. Brett, what is the difference between the healthy fun of a beginner and the unhealthy so-called-fun of an addict? In your book "Enhancing Trader Performance", you mention how becoming proficient at something starts with having fun doing it. In the first linked article, the trader gives at the end a very positive view of trading as something that is much fun, lucrative (at times) and easy to do. And yet, he admits "things escalated and got out of hand". The second linked article also mentions having fun. "Another red flag is when trading stocks becomes a game — an end in itself rather than a vehicle to earn a living or build a retirement nest egg." But isn't the doing [whatever] for its own sake, because it is fun, precisely the initial step in building proficiency? Does an addicted person always know he is addicted? If trading becomes a "need" we "have" to satisfy, I don't see how much "fun" this could really be. Having fun should be free of negative feelings, but addicted b...(Read more of this comment)ehavior probably brings out quite a few negative feelings, like anxiety, guilt and others. Quite a few interviewed pit traders have remarked that the very first time they ever got on a trading floor, they thought it all looked like great fun. What would a healthy beginner, aspiring trader's profile look like? In other words, what is the difference between the healthy fun of a beginner and the unhealthy so-called-fun of an addict?(Show less of this comment)

Great post. Traders often remind me of wine connoisseurs, who enjoy a glass of wine at noon and two in the evening. And on weekends they go to the vineyards, to do some tasting. Would a wine aficionado ever admit, that he might be an alcoholic?