Introduction
Financial markets are often viewed as collections of individual decisions.
Every participant makes choices based on:
- Knowledge
- Experience
- Expectations
- Objectives
- Risk tolerance
Yet when major market events occur, something interesting often happens.
Large groups of participants begin behaving in remarkably similar ways.
During strong advances:
- Optimism spreads.
- Confidence increases.
- Participation expands.
During sharp declines:
- Fear spreads.
- Confidence weakens.
- Participation contracts.
The behaviour of the crowd begins influencing the behaviour of individuals.
This phenomenon is commonly described as crowd psychology.
Understanding crowd psychology can help explain why markets sometimes experience powerful trends, speculative excesses, panics, and emotional extremes.

