I really cannot make this up. A client sent this to me yesterday.

“It’s said that greed pushes investors to buy stocks when they’re overpriced, while fear drives sales when stocks are at or near a bottom.

With that in mind, Philips Electronics has teamed up with a prominent Dutch bank to develop a system of warning home traders when they’re about to make a decision to buy or sell stocks while feeling overly emotional. It’s called “The Rationalizer,” and a test model is on display at an innovation summit in Brussels this week.

It consists of an “EmoBracelet” that looks like it might come out of a science fiction film, and a light-emitting “EmoBowl” that rests near a trader’s computer. The bracelet supposedly feels emotional states and sends radio signals to the bowl. As the user’s feelings intensify, the bowl glows yellow, orange and finally red.

The emotion-detecting technology is a “galvanic skin response sensor.”

He said the technique is surprisingly fast and accurate at detecting a person’s overall emotional levels, though it doesn’t distinguish between positive or negative feelings.

What is next? How about the magic stock picking 8 ball. Maybe I should invent the stock trader’s mood ring.

I had to read it several times to make sure it wasn’t a joke. I have a word for the wise. If you are day trading at home and you need an “EmoBracelet,” maybe you should think about doing something else. Trading is a stressful decision making process. There will always be a level of uncertainty and stress.

There is one good thing about the “EmoBracelet.” You are guaranteed never to lose money since you will never make a trade until you can manage to keep the EmoBowl at code yellow.

I assure you that I don’t need a bracelet to measure my stress level when I trade investments. I think my intelligence was just insulted.

Tags: Bob Brooks, day trader, Investing, Stock Market, stress, The Rationalizer