Today's coverage from the Trader's desk is the Profit protection bias. Set up Has this ever happened to you? You identify a set up and take a position. Your execution is textbook. Limit order, stop loss, target.  The momentum favours your trade and your position is in profit.  Everything is proceeding as per your plan. Your position is profitable and you confidently move your stoploss forward.  From here, the best course of action is often to step back and let the trade play out with minimal interference. The Bias kicks in The position continues to move in your favour. Your unrealized profit grows. All of a sudden, you loose your nerve and close your position securing the profit. After all, one in hand is worth two in the bush. There is no right or wrong action here, no judgement. But it is worth asking: why did we lose our nerve? Could we have done better by simply letting the trade continue? Or, if we felt compelled to act, would it have been more prudent to trail the s...

Every losing trade begins long before the stop loss is hit. It begins with an emotional shift—from confidence to complacency, from hope to disbelief. Recognising this cycle is the first step towards breaking it. Trader's desk - pitfalls The most discussed trading pitfalls are overtrading and revenge trading. Lack of discipline in position sizing, abandoning a strategy, and failing to follow a defined process are equally common. During my trading journey, however, one pitfall I encountered repeatedly was complacency. Complacency isnt caused by successful trades. Complacency sets in when we relax risk management. Allow me to elaborate. Success Picture having a string of successful trades and/or trading days. Some scalps, some swings...overall successful. Profits are up, cash is positive and overall confidence is high.  Confidence Another trade is placed, fuelled by a growing belief that the market will behave exactly as expected. The stoploss is: either widened or not placed (naked p...

Traders's Desk In today's uncertain times, we are all trying to build a secondary income. Many refer to it as a side hustle, but for most, it is what they want to transition to eventually. For me, Its trading. Stocks, Options. Few professions have a failure rate as high as trading. Success is elusive because trading demands a mindset that is very different from most other professions. Trading skills Understanding how the stock market operates is essential. You need to understand trends, volatility, market structure, and those frustrating periods when the market simply moves sideways.   An aspiring trader can learn to read charts, identify patterns, draw trendlines, and analyse support and resistance. These are important technical skills. But technical knowledge alone isn't enough. Even a perfectly analysed trade can fail. A formula 1 driver is likely to do better than a trader. Mindset Having the right mindset for trading is very important. I place it on top of the list.  R...

Communication Growing up, our communication choices were few—telephone, letters, telegrams and fax. The options were limited, but each had a purpose. We learnt how to write letters, post cards and getting a letter was exciting. It meant you mattered to someone. As telephone calls became more affordable, it became easier to pick up the phone than put pen to paper. Slowly, personal letters became less frequent, while letterboxes began filling up with brochures, catalogues and junk mail. It was perhaps the first time a personal communication space started becoming commercial. The digital era Then came the 1990s. Email arrived, and suddenly everyone wanted an email address. Hotmail and Yahoo! were badges of the digital generation. Sharing your email ID felt modern and exciting. For a while, every email notification carried anticipation. It could be a friend, a family member or an exciting opportunity. Businesses soon recognized email's potential. Marketing budgets shifted from printed ...