FOMO (fear of missing out)

FOMO is the feeling that you must act now or miss something big. In trading it usually appears when price is already moving fast: a strong candle, a breakout, someone else's screenshot. The result is entering late, without a setup, at the most stretched point of the move.

The problem isn't excitement as such. It is that FOMO trades are chosen by emotion rather than by your plan, and they cluster exactly where risk is highest. A move that is obvious to everyone has often done most of its work. In short-expiry trading the timing makes it worse: a Higher trade opened at the peak of a burst only needs a small dip to lose.

What helps:

• defining your setups in advance, so anything else is easy to recognise;
• accepting that missing moves is normal and costs nothing;
• waiting for a pullback or a retest instead of chasing;
• tagging FOMO trades in your journal and comparing their results with planned ones.

FOMO often teams up with overtrading: the more moves you feel you must catch, the more trades you take. See trading psychology.