The anchoring effect is a mental trap in which the brain locks onto the first or most noticeable number. In trading, that number is most often your entry price.
📈 A classic example: a position goes into the red, and instead of assessing the situation, the trader waits for price to come back to the buy price. After all, "that's where I was at breakeven." But the market has no memory of your entry. That number matters only to you.
A level can become an anchor too: yesterday's high or a nice round number seems significant simply because it catches the eye. But a level by itself is just a line on the chart. What gives it meaning is how price behaved there: if price bounced or stalled at the level several times, there is probably interest from a large player there.
How to loosen the anchor: write down in advance the logic for cancelling the trade, and look at the chart as if you had no open positions.
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