6/15/2011

Recency Bias

System trading is hard.

Or did you already know that?

You watch price move in a consistent direction but without triggering your system trade. Or at least without triggering it for what seems like an inappropriate amount of time.

Like this.

Then you watch a trigger on the short term chart move nicely, but against the three other charts. This price action on the short term chart is fast and has only one direction. Just what you want to see. Except the system says you can't take it.

Like this.

All this makes you want to abandon the system, or change the system, or change the time frame, or do something that allows you to take the kind of moves you just missed.

Of course that would be a mistake. A mistake based on the most recent events.
Humans like all recent events to be warm and fuzzy. We borrow money, eat bad food, take drugs, and change our trading system all based on the most recent event.

Humans are stupid.

I'm a human.

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