Our brains are wired to spot patterns, but in financial markets, that instinct can distort judgment and cost you money.

Investopedia contributors come from a range of backgrounds, and over 25 years there have been thousands of expert writers and editors who have contributed. Representative and random sampling help ...

Adam Hayes, Ph.D., CFA, is a financial writer with 15+ years Wall Street experience as a derivatives trader. Besides his extensive derivative trading expertise, Adam is an expert in economics and ...

verybody has a favorite color and season—preferences that seem innate, always defying reason. Auditors are no different when it comes to haphazard sampling, a process in which—ideally—they choose ...

The way people make decisions often seems irrational. One explanation for this behavior is that they seek evidence that confirms what they already believe, a phenomenon called 'confirmation bias'. But ...