In the classic experiments, even obviously random numbers shifted people’s estimates of unrelated quantities — the mind grabs the nearest number and adjusts insufficiently from it. Markets are an anchor factory: entry prices, previous closes, 52-week highs, round levels like 25,000 on Nifty. None of these numbers obligate the market to anything. All of them quietly bend your decisions.
- Breakeven obsession. Holding a loser “until it comes back to my price” — a level that matters to exactly one participant in the market: you.
- “It was at 500 last month.” Buying a falling stock because the anchor says it is “cheap” relative to a price that no longer describes the business.
- Anchored targets. Exits set at the round number or the old high because the number is memorable, not because the structure supports it.
- Stale levels. Yesterday’s support treated as sacred in a regime that has already changed.
The fresh-eyes test. Ask of every open position: with no position, would I enter here, now, in this direction? If no — the only thing keeping you in is the anchor.
Structure-based exits. Stops and targets set from levels the market actually respects — not from your entry, not from round numbers, not from “back to breakeven.”
Hide the entry price. While managing a position, watch the chart and the level — not the P&L column that keeps re-anchoring you to your own price.
Re-draw levels daily. The pre-market routine re-derives today’s levels from today’s structure, so stale anchors expire on schedule.