Sociopathy and trading

K

kxvid

Do sociopaths make good traders? Since they have little/no emotions, they should be unaffected by the stress. I wonder if the consistent winning % of traders are disproportionately sociopaths.

Any sociopaths on this forum would can lend some perspective? According to a the book "The sociopath next door", 4% of people are sociopaths.
 
I'm not sure if I'm a sociopath, but I can guarantee you will do better (assuming you have a system that works), if you can just follow your rules despite your emotions.

Some traderz look at The Market as a game between predators and prey, some see it as a mathematical reality that can be modeled, and others see it like an abstraction with its own mind.

I generally see it as an abstraction and trade it as such, though open profits make me very emotional. :mad:
 
kxvid said:
Do sociopaths make good traders? Since they have little/no emotions, they should be unaffected by the stress. I wonder if the consistent winning % of traders are disproportionately sociopaths.

Any sociopaths on this forum would can lend some perspective? According to a the book "The sociopath next door", 4% of people are sociopaths.
More...
You are confused on what a sociopath is ("they have little/no emotions"). Sociopaths have no empathy, which is a far cry from having no emotions.

You need to get a correct definition of sociopathy before you embark further on this quixotic quest.
 
most people in business, athletics, trading, etc who truly commit to finding the limits of their own potential, and then attempt to surpass such for sake of beating competition, are going to exhibit behavior which at least one couch lizard psychologist somewhere would call 'sociopathic' - maybe the bovine masses just have to put a negative label on an animal outside the fence trying to evolve.

[/rant]

yes, per 'clinical definition,' at least half of 'successful' traders probably exhibit one or more 'traits' which fall under 'sociopathic' behavior :cool:
 
kut2k2 said:
You are confused on what a sociopath is ("they have little/no emotions"). Sociopaths have no empathy, which is a far cry from having no emotions.

You need to get a correct definition of sociopathy before you embark further on this quixotic quest.
More...

Exactly. Speaking of "no emotions" or rather a perfect control of emotions, it's people with high EQ who are likely to be good traders, not sociopaths.

Sociopaths on the other hand may succeed in certain professions not because they have no emotions, but because they don't care of others opinion, family to support etc. As a result they devote their time solely to their passion, which may lead to extensive experience with less distractions and increase chances for success.

But it's this way with many occupations, not just trading.
 
newwurldmn said:
Many good traders are sociopaths.

That's why there's so many crazy trader stories.
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Many successful people are eccentric. Probably correlated with thinking outside of the box, which of course can be considered a form of antisocial behavior depending on circumstances.
 
cornix said:
Many successful people are eccentric. Probably correlated with thinking outside of the box, which of course can be considered a form of antisocial behavior depending on circumstances.
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True but Wall Street revels in it.
 
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