Traders’ Anticipatory Feelings and Traders’ Profitability: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

In our study, while 27 traders played a guessing game, we measured their autonomic body reactions with a Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) detector and an “ad hoc” application. Pre-choice GSR values, significantly different between right–wrong GSR levels, were comparable to post-choice GSR right–wrong values, suggesting the existence of anticipatory feelings (AF)—physiological signals before an event indicating outcome anticipation. Traders with higher AF scores were significantly more profitable than those with lower ones; traders relying on newsfeeds had lower AF than those practicing holistic activities. Traders’ interoceptive ability can both be measured and enhanced.