The trading psychology hub
Everything on this site in one place: fourteen mechanical protocols grouped by when the problem shows up, the pillar explainer on the eight states, the full guides index and the article feed. Start with the group that matches the moment your money leaks.
After a loss: tilt, revenge and shame
Arousal spikes, the clock compresses and size creeps. These protocols put a timer and a physical action between the loss and the next click.
How to stop revenge trading
Revenge trading is a state, not a character flaw. Use the 90-Second Tilt Circuit Breaker to interrupt it before the next click, with exact steps, timing and a success test.
90-Second Tilt Circuit Breaker →TiltTrading tilt: how to recognise it and reset
Tilt has a physical signature before it has a P&L signature. Learn the Tilt Ladder check and the reset protocol that gets you back to a tradeable state or out of the chair.
Tilt Ladder Check →Shame / identity threatDrawdown recovery: trading your way back without digging deeper
A drawdown damages your decision quality before it damages your account. The Ladder Back rebuilds size on evidence, not hope, with explicit gates at each step.
The Ladder Back →Before the entry: fear, hesitation and anxiety
The setup is valid and you do not click, or you click and immediately want out. Rehearsal on small size and a downshift routine beat willpower here.
Fear of pulling the trigger on valid setups
Hesitation on valid setups is a trained response, not a lack of courage. Run the Kettle Drill to make entry a motor habit with a fixed count and a success test.
Kettle Drill →Anxiety / activationTrading anxiety: how to trade in a body that is on edge
Trading anxiety is physical before it is psychological. Use the Two-Minute Downshift to bring your body back into a range where your plan is reachable, with steps, timing and a success test.
The Two-Minute Downshift →Discipline / rule-breakingTrading discipline: how to actually follow your own rules
Discipline is a design problem, not a virtue. Build a Rule Card that makes breaking your rules physically slower than following them, with exact steps and a daily success test.
The Rule Card →In the trade: loss aversion and sizing
Winners cut early, losers given room, size raised after green days rather than after clean management. These are capacity problems with mechanical answers.
Cutting winners early: how to hold the trade you planned
Taking profit early is discomfort management, not risk management. Use the Winner-Tolerance Reset to stay in the trade until your plan, not your pulse, says exit.
Winner-Tolerance Reset →Greed / overconfidencePosition sizing and emotional capacity
The right size is the largest one you can hold without managing the trade badly. The Sleep Test finds it in one session and gives you a rule for scaling.
The Sleep Test →Across the session: FOMO, boredom and fatigue
Chasing a move that already left, clicking through quiet hours, losing your setup filter late in the day. Budgets and session frames fix these.
FOMO trading: how to stop chasing moves you missed
FOMO trading is a timing problem, not a greed problem. Use the Missed-Move Rule to convert the urge to chase into a written second-entry plan, with exact steps and a success test.
The Missed-Move Rule →Boredom / stimulation seekingOvertrading: cutting the trades you take out of boredom
Most overtrading is stimulation seeking, not opportunity. The Ticket Budget makes every entry cost something scarce, so marginal setups stop being free.
Ticket Budget →Session managementDay trading psychology: managing state across a single session
Day trading compresses every psychological error into hours. Use the Session Frame to set the state checks, trade budget and hard stop that keep a bad hour from becoming a bad month.
The Session Frame →The system around it: routine, journal and mental game
What you run before the open and what you write at the close is what turns a protocol from a good intention into data you can act on.
A pre-market routine that changes how you trade
A routine is only useful if it changes a decision. The Five-Minute Set sets your size, your maximum tickets, and your stop-for-the-day before the open.
The Five-Minute Set →ReviewA trading journal that actually changes your behaviour
Screenshots and P&L do not change behaviour. The State Log records the four fields that predict your next mistake, in under thirty seconds per trade.
The State Log →FoundationsThe mental game of trading: a state-first system
Working on your mental game means working on state, not attitude. Use the State-First Checklist to identify which of eight states you are in and which protocol it needs.
The State-First Checklist →Quick help by symptom
A short page per problem: the four signs, what it costs you, the first three steps and what to do in your next session.
Latest articles
Why most trading psychology advice fails within a week
Advice you agree with is not a tool you can run. Four things separate a protocol you will still be using in a month from a resolution you break by Wednesday.
4 min readHow to name your trading state in one word before every session
Diagnosis comes before the protocol. The cheapest diagnostic tool in trading is one word written down before you place a trade.
4 min readPosition sizing is a psychology tool, not just a risk tool
If you cannot hold a position without checking your phone, the problem you are trying to fix with mindset work is a sizing problem.
4 min readThe ten minutes after a big loss decide your whole week
Most account damage is not the first loss. It is the trade you take while your body is still reacting to it.
4 min readA pre-market routine that takes five minutes and actually gets done
The routine you actually run beats the routine you designed. Five minutes, three decisions, written down.
4 min readFour journal questions that change behaviour instead of recording it
Most journals are trade databases. A behaviour journal asks about state, rules and the next repetition.
4 min readHow to know the session is over before your account tells you
The worst trades of the day usually arrive after the point where you should have already closed the platform.
5 min readRecovering from a drawdown without trying to win it back
A drawdown is a confidence problem wearing a P&L costume. You rebuild it with clean repetitions at a size you can hold.
4 min readHow to stop FOMO trading a move that already left
Fear of missing out is not greed. It is the pain of watching a move you were right about and did not take, and it needs a window, not willpower.
4 min readFive signs you are on trading tilt before your account shows it
Tilt is an arousal state, not a character flaw. It has physical tells that arrive minutes before the trade that does the damage.
4 min readAfraid to pull the trigger? Trade the setup at a size you cannot feel
If you watch your setup work without you in it, the answer is not more conviction. It is a smaller size and a repetition count.
4 min readHow to stop cutting winners early without holding to breakeven
Your winners die young because holding an open profit feels like risking money you already have. Take the decision out of the moment.
4 min readHow to stop overtrading with a trade budget you cannot argue with
Most extra trades are not edge. They are a way of feeling engaged during hours when nothing is happening.
4 min readTrading anxiety before the open: a four-minute downshift
Anxiety before the open is your body preparing for an event it cannot predict. Give it something decided and something physical to do.
4 min readTrading discipline without willpower: make the rule physical
Discipline is not a trait you have more or less of. It is how much of your rule set exists outside your head.
5 min readDay trading psychology: frame the session in three blocks
Most intraday damage is not done by the first bad trade. It is done in the hour when you are tired and still clicking.
4 min readThe mental game of trading: score execution, not P&L
If money is your only score, every random outcome trains a behaviour. Score what you control and the feedback loop starts working for you.
Not sure which state you are in?
Tell the Coach what happened on your last bad trade. It names the state, picks the protocol and gives you the exercise to run before your next session. Free to use.