Hope in trading psychology is the unrealistic expectation of something good happening.
Traders can be hopeful at the height of a gain or the lows of a loss, but in all cases their desire for something to happen trumps their ability to rationally foresee outcomes.
Hope is a very natural human emotion, particularly in matters involving chance, risk and odds.
The mere desire to want to believe in something is often enough to cloud our judgment and lead us to make poor decisions based on the hope that things will turn our way.