One Minute You're Up Half a Million in Soybeans ...

... and the next minute, they've repossesed your bentley, and your kids don't go to college.

This quote from Louis Winthorpe in the movie Trading Places illustrates quite well how a trading situation can change very quickly, and what was a profitable trade thirty seconds ago, is now on its way to becoming (or has already become) a losing trade. Given the volatile nature of trading, it is essential that traders are able to react to any new situations promptly, and adjust their trading accordingly. In other words, traders need to be able to exit their trades at any time, and cannot afford to be sentimental about any of their trades.

It seems like such an obvious thing to say "don't be sentimental about your trades", but sentimental trading is a common problem among new traders, and it therefore needs to be discussed. My discussion of sentimental trading explains what sentimental trading is, what causes it, and how it can be overcome, and is essential reading for all new traders (especially those who still have that moth eaten souvenir t-shirt from their holiday in Greece ten years ago).