The illusion of control: why activity feels useful
beginner
Automated material · TradeAlmanac editorial deskPrepared by a language model from our stored data and checked by an editor.
Содержание · 4
Watching a portfolio creates a sense of involvement, and a trade creates a sense of action. Neither feeling has anything to do with the quality of decisions.
How it shows up
Frequent trading. Every trade feels like an improvement while together they produce costs and taxes — Fees: small numbers that decide the outcome.
Constant quote-checking. The more often you look, the more fluctuations you see and the stronger the urge to do something.
Complication: adding indicators, instruments and rules in the hope that complexity delivers control.
What is genuinely controllable
Costs. They can be lowered by decision, and the effect is guaranteed.
Asset allocation — Asset allocation: the decision that shapes everything else.
Position size and the rules for entry and exit.
The regularity of contributions.
All of these shape the result more than the timing of a purchase, and all are entirely within your power.
What is not controllable
The direction of the market, the exchange rate, the regulator's decisions. Attempts to manage them produce most of the surplus activity.
A practical technique
A predefined review frequency — once a quarter, for instance. Between those dates, no trades except scheduled contributions.
Prepared by a language model from our stored data and checked by an editor.
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