Home › Knowledge › Atlas of Trading Mistakes › The ostrich effect The ostrich effect
Atlas of Cognitive Biases #32 · Information and beliefs. You don't look because it hurts
What it looks like in trading
not opening the journal after a bad week
avoiding the monthly review
closing the platform instead of checking the position
An example from a session
After three losing sessions the trader stops filling in the journal. That's exactly when the journal is needed most: mistake patterns show up in the data from difficult periods (Journal #6).
Hetman Capital Club
What you get in Hetman Capital Club
the full Atlas: 65 biases, each with a shield and a journal exercise tests of the biases on real Dow Jones data (the “Biases by the numbers” series) the trading journal and the trader's mental workshop the US session live, where you can see these biases in practice See what's inside the Club
What the research says
Karlsson, Loewenstein and Seppi (2009) showed that investors check their accounts less often when the market is falling. Sicherman, Loewenstein, Seppi and Utkus (2016) confirmed this using millions of logins to retirement accounts.
Related biases
🔒 In the full version in the Club
The shield – how to defend yourself : concrete rules to write into your trading plan. An exercise for the week : how to catch this bias in your journal. Plus tests on real Dow Jones data and bias-recognition training. (The Club is in Polish.)
Unlock the full Atlas in the Club
Frequently asked questions
What is the ostrich effect? Avoiding information that may be unpleasant. We shut out bad news instead of facing it.
How does the ostrich effect show up in trading? Typical signs: not opening the journal after a bad week; avoiding the monthly review; closing the platform instead of checking the position.
Educational content, not psychological advice or an investment recommendation.
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A real market. I trade futures contracts on the regulated CME exchange in Chicago, with one central order book. Not CFDs, and not forex with a MetaTrader broker that sets its own prices.Professional tools. Order flow, footprint charts, the order book (DOM), volume profile and delta in Sierra Chart – the tools professional futures traders use.Paid, real exchange data. I pay for data straight from the exchange, trade by trade. Every number, chart and statistic I show comes from actual trading, not from one broker's tick volume.Hetman Capital Club
Now you know this bias. See how to catch it live. In Hetman Capital Club each of the 65 biases has a shield for your trading plan and a journal exercise, and in the live session I show when they really appear: after a loss, after a winning streak and before macro data. The Club is in Polish.
Join the Club Download the 65 mistakes checklist (PDF, Polish)
Cancel anytime. Educational content – no trade calls and no recommendations.