A feeling for finance: Motivations for trading on the stock exchange

Emotions have long been associated with financial markets. For traders trying to make money by profiting from market fluctuations, the uncertainties and risks of involvement loom large, and the outcomes of participation are instantly measurable. Much research has therefore focused on the role that emotions – such as fear, greed, trust, confidence and hope – play in motivating traders to try and anticipate what the market is doing. But there is a different kind of emotional experience that is equally important in motivating financial trading and which research has hitherto neglected. The development of communications technology has generated new kinds of objects (represented in visual formats displayed on computer screens) with which people interact, forming emotionally-laden relationships comparable, in some ways, to more traditional social relationships. This paper focuses on individual online share traders who use a style known as Technical Analysis. It examines how they become emotionally engaged in and attached to their trading practices, in ways that motivate them, independently of any concern with financial outcomes. The paper then provides a broader conceptualisation of the roles of reason and emotion in financial markets.