Emotions: How Fear and Greed Move Your Hand

Risk warning: Emotions cause most mistakes. This is education, not financial advice.

Fear makes you close too early. Greed makes you hold too long. Both move your hand before your plan does.

How it looks

• Fear — you cut a winning trade at +5 pips because you fear it will reverse. Later it hits your 1:2 target without you.
• Greed — you turn a ₦300 winner into a loss because you want ₦1,000. You move your take profit further.
• Both — you skip your stop loss hoping price will come back. It often does not.

What helps

• Written plan — entry, stop, take profit before you click. See The Trading Plan.
• 1% risk — when risk is small (₦150 on ₦15,000 / ~$10), fear is smaller. See The 1% Rule.
• Journal — write the emotion after each trade. See The Trading Journal.

If you trade on GTBank or Access naira you borrowed, fear is worse. Only use money you can afford to lose. Review Why Most Beginners Lose.

For account safety, see Protect Your Account: 2FA, BVN Safety and The Complete Guide to Forex Safety (2026).

Rate used: ~₦1,500 / $1. Small amounts like ₦150 use same rate.

Bottom line: Follow your written plan and 1% risk, log fear and greed, or you risk closing winners early and nursing losers. Links To Guides: Pillar 4 (Safety).