Recently, I saw someone suffer losses in trading again, and the reason is still the old trick — taking profits too early or being too greedy too late. It sounds simple: others are fearful, I am greedy, but in actual operation, this phrase is painfully difficult to follow.

I have also experienced it myself. After waiting hard for the market to show some profit, my heart starts pounding, afraid of giving it back, so I hurriedly take profits and lock in gains. As a result, the market suddenly surges, and I miss out on a big chunk of profit. Learning from that, I decided to let profits run and not move, but then the market reverses, and the previous gains evaporate instantly, making me regret being too greedy. This kind of repeated tug-of-war, I believe many traders have gone through.

To put it plainly, many people’s performance in the market is just swinging back and forth between fear and greed. Some take profits and run as soon as they make money; some cut losses quickly — that’s fear acting up. Others add to positions against the trend, hoping for a reversal, but end up deepening their losses. Some chase rising prices and sell on dips, or sell on falling prices, with no plan at all — that’s greed controlling them. There are also those who operate with full positions, putting all their chips on one side.

These approaches might occasionally give you a taste of success, but that’s often just luck. The real problem lies in mindset — in insufficient control over human weaknesses. Many retail investors and beginners are actually armchair strategists after the fact, reflecting only after the market has moved, but when the next opportunity comes, they still make the same mistakes.

I’ve noticed that the traders who survive longer in the market share one thing: they have their own trading system. They have rules for entering, signals for exiting, and clear capital management. Most importantly, they can strictly follow these rules without letting emotions interfere with decisions. Only then can they truly achieve the state of “others are fearful, I am greedy,” and “others are greedy, I am fearful” — but this “greed” and “fear” are not blind; they are based on rational judgment within the system.

Interestingly, human society has evolved from agricultural civilization to industrial age, and now to the information age. Material life has become richer, technology advances rapidly, but one thing has remained unchanged for thousands of years — human nature. However, individuals can evolve through continuous practice and reflection. Some professional traders have indeed overcome the inherent fears and greed in human nature and become market winners. Most people, however, spend their lives battling their own weaknesses.

Since human nature is hard to change, we can think differently: use analytical tools to understand the common mindset of investors in the market, thereby reducing our own risks. Ultimately, we must always respect the market, view market conditions rationally, plan to overcome our human weaknesses, and continuously improve our trading understanding within familiar and controllable boundaries. This is the true way to survive under the logic of “others are fearful, I am greedy.”