tmc

"Those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength; they will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not become weary, they will walk and not faint."

[Tim Denning @Tim_Denning]

Marcus Aurelius nailed it. The moment you are disturbed by insult or pleased by praise, you are still a slave.

[Steven Goldstein @AlphaMind101]

Trading is a performance activity, like golf, boxing, tennis, martial arts, music, acting, drama.

It rewards those who put in the extra hours. It rewards those who put in the additional work. It rewards those who put in the self-reflection. It rewards those who win, yet lose, many times along the way.

It’s about character. It’s about grit. It’s about attitude. It’s about mindset, as much as it’s about charts, fundamentals, and data.

Hard doesn’t begin to describe it.

I was reminded of this by a former special forces veteran, who served in Afghanistan, who took up trading.

He told me Afghanistan was easy compared to this.

He wasn’t being flippant. He wasn’t disrespecting those who lost their lives. He was talking about the mental game. He was talking about the constant loss of self. He was talking about the worthlessness he felt. He was talking about the endless hits to his identity and self-esteem.

“It’s relentless,” he said.

We can learn the technical. We can build the system. We can backtest the data. We can watch it work, and still struggle to execute.

That’s the real battle. Not the battle outside you, with the market. You already have the tools for that. It’s the battle within.

My role as a coach is to help the trader win that battle. My role is to help them not just understand what’s happening, but navigate it, because these challenges aren’t there to be beaten. They don’t vanish. They have to be navigated.

The results can be profound.

I first felt it as a trader who was lost mid-career after 13 years, struggling, failing. Coaching changed me. The next ten years, I became the trader I always had the potential to be.

I’ve now coached for 16 years, and I’ve seen profound change in others I’ve worked with.

One assignment, over five years, took someone from sell-side trader to hedge fund trader, to senior PM, to partner at one of the world’s largest hedge funds. Few sell-side traders make even part of that journey.

One client, flatlining for 18 months at a major energy firm, went from zero to $55 million in P&L in six months. He always had the potential. Something in his mind was holding him back. Coaching released him.

One retail trader, four years in, making money but not enough to justify it to himself, let alone his wife, couldn’t get his mind to let him increase his risk, no matter how easy it sounded in theory. Six years later, he’s not just still trading. He’s not just trading bigger size. He’s running money for other people.

Coaching is powerful. Yet one thing about trading never changes. Most people, men especially, want to do it alone. They don’t want help. They don’t want to ask for help. Asking feels like an affront to an already bruised ego.

It’s strange how this attitude clings to trading but not to other fields of performance. There are sports stars you’d never have heard of without coaching. They’d have been good. They’d never have been great.

Here’s the irony. The very mindset you’re struggling with is the very mindset stopping you from seeking the help that could fix it.

[iain @ohiain]

Here are 12 Market Wizards and the 12 lessons that have had the biggest impact on my own trading:

1. Paul Tudor Jones:

"Defense wins championships."

Survival > Profits... Always, because you can't compound if you keep blowing up!

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2. Ed Seykota:

"Cut losses quickly. Let winners grow."

Probably the simplest quote in trading... and the hardest 1 to consistently follow. My entire system revolves around this idea!

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3. Bruce Kovner:

"Know exactly where you're wrong before entering."

Every trade begins with my stop (not my target). If I can't define my risk, I don't have a trade.

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4. Richard Dennis:

"Trading can be taught."

Great trading isn't about your IQ!! Focus on following a repeatable process with discipline.

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5. Marty Schwartz:

"Trade what you see, not what you think."

Opinions don't pay me (price does) + the chart is always my final decision maker.

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6. Stanley Druckenmiller:

"Press your winners."

My biggest months came from getting aggressive when my positions were already working... not when I was trying to make back losses.

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7. Michael Steinhardt:

"Adapt or die."

Every market has a different personality & the best traders evolve with it instead of fighting it.

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8. Larry Hite:

"If you don't bet, you can't win. If you lose all your chips, you can't bet."

Position sizing + risk management matter just as much as finding great stocks.

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9. Tom Baldwin:

"Size comes after consistency."

Bigger positions are earned... they should be a byproduct of good habits.

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10. Mark Minervini:

"Protect capital above everything."

Small drawdowns allow you to capitalize when the environment improves.

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11. William O'Neil:

"Buy the best companies, not the cheapest."

Leadership almost always outperforms laggards. I want the strongest stocks in the strongest groups!

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12. Oliver Kell:

"Relative strength shows you tomorrow's leaders."

During corrections, I'm not trying to predict the bottom... I'm building a watchlist of the names refusing to go down.

--

I've read multiple trading books over the years, but these 12 ideas have shaped the way I think about the market more than I give credit.

Funny enough, none of them are about getting rich quickly... they're about surviving long enough to let compounding do its job!

Save & bookmark this for reference.

Godspeed!

[tmc @its_mrn]

@Maifeldtrading $OUST - aus der Base raus, rein in Stage 2, viel Upside.

[Sahil Bloom @SahilBloom]

If you feel stuck, try this: For the next 30 days, every single day, wake up at 5am and work out for at least 30 minutes.

It doesn’t matter what the workout looks like. Go to a gym, go outside for a run, do pushups and squats on your bedroom floor.

This isn’t about the workout. It’s about creating Proof of Agency.

By the end of 30 days, you’ll completely rewire your brain. Scientists call it neuroplasticity. Your brain physically changes in structure and function through action and experience.

The action of waking up early and working out every single day for a month will create evidence that you have the power to take an action and achieve a desired outcome. You’ll see yourself differently. You’ll reorganize your life around this new priority. You’ll eat healthier, go to sleep earlier, and narrow your focus. It creates Proof of Agency.

That has ripple effects into every area of life.

[tmc @its_mrn]

@1ChartMaster $COHR, $VICR and many more - 30m into support amazing entry tactic. Thank you!

[tmc @its_mrn]

@ohiain He is truly risen!

[iain @ohiain]

He is risen! Today I celebrate not just an event, but the finished work of Christ, His victory over sin and death, and the hope secured for all who are in Him.

As someone who's pursued many opportunities at a young age, I’ve come to see that life isn’t about chasing money, status, or a career, those things never satisfy, and that’s why I never stopped chasing.

It wasn’t until 3 years ago, when I fully resurrendered everything to Christ, that my life truly changed.

The call is simple but costly: die to yourself, pick up your cross, and follow Him (Luke 9:23). In His grace, I’ve learned that even having food to eat and a roof over my head is a gift I don’t deserve.

Salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and for that, I give Him all the glory.

Soli Deo Gloria.

[tmc @its_mrn]

@soumyasen $BNTX

[Marios Stamatoudis @stamatoudism]

https://t.co/VGjAn42XFm

This year marks my 10th year in the markets.
One thing I know for certain is:

The most dangerous moment in a trader’s career isn’t the first or second d blow-up, a big drawdown, or a major streak of losses.

It’s the moment you start deeply believing YOU ARE the problem…

If you have some time this weekend, check out this talk with Riz.
I’ll be going through the YouTube comments and would love to hear your main takeaways

[DavidD @ddepoor]

Deep thoughts time:
Since moving from part-time to full-time swing trading, I’ve realized that the transition comes with a subtle but important paradox. It’s a double-edged sword.

On one side, the benefits are obvious. When market conditions are favorable — when trends are clean, liquidity is good, and opportunities are clear — being fully immersed in the market is a huge advantage. You can follow the tape closely, stay in sync with price action, and react quickly when your setups appear. In those environments, activity is rewarded. Being present, alert, and ready to execute can significantly amplify your edge.

But the other side of the sword appears during the far more common market regimes. Most of the time, the tape isn’t trending cleanly. It’s choppy, range-bound, or in some kind of basing process where breakouts fail and momentum fades quickly. In these environments, the statistical edge of most swing strategies shrinks dramatically.

The problem begins when you suddenly have access to many more live market hours. When you’re sitting in front of the screens all day, it becomes almost impossible not to start seeing “setups” everywhere. Your brain begins to interpret every little movement as a potential opportunity. Watching the market creates a subtle psychological pressure to participate.

Sitting out starts to feel uncomfortable. It almost feels irresponsible — like you’re neglecting your job.

And to be fair, there is plenty of good advice from highly respected swing traders that tries to address this. You’ll often hear things like: stay light, trade less, reduce size, build exposure progressively... All of that advice is valid and well-intentioned. But it still carries an implicit assumption: that you should remain engaged in the process of trying to take opportunities.

The question that rarely gets asked is a simpler one: what about not trading at all?

What about stepping completely aside until conditions actually justify risk?
Does that make you a lazy trader? An undisciplined one? Someone who is “missing the market���?
In reality, the opposite is often true.

When you force trades in poor environments, the damage rarely comes from one big mistake. Instead, it accumulates slowly. Small losses stack up. A failed breakout here, a shakeout there, another stop triggered in a choppy range. None of them are catastrophic individually, but together they start to erode something more important than just your account balance.

They burn two forms of capital: financial capital and mental capital.

Financial capital is obvious — your equity curve drifts lower through a series of small cuts. But mental capital is just as critical. Each loss consumes focus, patience, and emotional resilience. Confidence becomes slightly weaker. Decision-making becomes a little more hesitant.

Then, ironically, when the market finally shifts — when the real opportunities appear, when the “fat pitches” arrive — you’re no longer operating from a position of strength. You’re depleted. Your capital is smaller, your conviction is lower, and your psychological bandwidth is reduced. The environment finally rewards aggression, but you no longer feel capable of pressing it.

This is why protecting yourself from the wrong side of the full-time trading sword is so important.

Sometimes the most professional action a trader can take is precisely the one that feels the least productive: doing "nothing".

What about
Not light trading.
Not forcing ideas.
Simply tracking the market, observing behavior, and waiting for conditions where your edge is actually present ?

In practice, that might mean closing the screens earlier than usual, going for a walk, training, spending time with friends, or yes — going out for a few caipirinhas haha. Staying mentally engaged with life while the market offers no meaningful opportunity.
In many ways, that is one of the greatest structural advantages retail traders have. We don’t have mandates. We don’t have quarterly performance pressure. We don’t have to deploy capital just because it’s there.
We can wait.

And waiting is not inactivity — it’s strategic patience.

The goal is not simply to endure the slow periods of the market. It’s to live well during them, preserving both your capital and your energy. Then, when the fat pitches finally appear, you’re ready — financially, mentally, and emotionally — to swing hard.

Not just surviving the market cycle.

Actually living during the quiet periods, and going full into "cave mode" when the opportunity finally arrives. And not the other way around.

[tmc @its_mrn]

@CFlanders7 amazing post. reminds me of @thedankoe article where he talks about every action being goal-oriented, even the self-destructive ones which often serve a deeper, hidden purpose.

[tmc @its_mrn]

@RichardMoglen @Deepvue interested

[THE SHORT BEAR @TheShortBear]

There are 100x more people living in mediocrity because they were told they couldn’t than those who used that same doubt as fuel to rise.

“You can’t” isn’t guidance.
It’s usually projection, confession.

The spiral starts when people who never took the chance try to protect themselves from discomfort.

Watching you attempt, and possibly win, forces them to confront their own inaction. Your ambition can trigger their inferiority, so they try to shrink it.

But here’s the truth most overlook:

The biggest achievers in the world are often those who faced the highest levels of adversity, and turned it into work ethic, resilience, and relentless output.

Even envy, misunderstood and mislabeled as purely negative, can be one of the most powerful driving forces when redirected toward growth instead of the negative jealousy.

Most negativity pushed onto you isn’t about your limits.
It’s about someone else protecting theirs.

The strongest resistance often holds the greatest fuel potential.

Greatness doesn’t come from avoiding adversity.
It comes from pulling back the curtain, stepping through it, and using everything you find on the other side.

The world is a web of push and pull mechanism designed by our drive to conform to social norms.

[Andrew Menaker PhD @Andrew_Menaker]

THE TRUTH YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR ⬇️

“Win or lose, everyone gets what they want from the markets.” ~ Ed Seykota > Original Market Wizard

Read that again.

It’s not poetic.

It’s psychological.

It’s brutal. it's the uncomfortable truth.

Most traders say they’re here to make money.

But if money were truly the primary driver…
you wouldn’t keep violating your plan in the same predictable ways.

So what’s really happening?
⬇️
Money is the conscious goal.

But beneath that are unconscious drivers that are often stronger.

Some traders want certainty more than profits.
So they overtrade to escape the discomfort of waiting.

Some want to feel smart.
So they argue with price instead of cutting losses.

Some want excitement.
So they chase volatility and call it “opportunity.”

Some want to avoid the pain of future regret.
So they FOMO into trades that weren’t theirs to take.

Some want to confirm a hidden belief:
“I’m not quite good enough.”
So they sabotage good systems at the worst possible moment.

And the market will gladly accommodate.

Because the market is the ultimate projector screen.

It doesn’t respond to what you say you want.

It responds to what your nervous system is organized around.

If your system is wired for:

• Avoiding regret
• Proving yourself
• Seeking validation
• Replaying old shame
• Chasing dopamine

You will unconsciously trade in ways that produce those emotional outcomes.

Even if it costs you money.

Especially if it costs you money.

This is why more strategy rarely fixes repeated mistakes.

And why willpower collapses under pressure.
And why 'accountability' rarely works.

Trading is a psychological amplifier.

It exposes:

– Your tolerance for uncertainty
– Your relationship with authority
– Your attachment to being right
– Your self-worth
– Your identity around success

You don’t get what you deserve from the markets.

You get what you’re organized to experience.

That’s why some traders repeatedly:

• Exit early
• Add to losers
• Skip A+ setups
• Give back big months
• Recreate the same P&L pattern year after year

It’s not lack of intelligence.

It’s unconscious reinforcement.

The ego says:
“I want consistent profitability.”

The nervous system says:
“I want what’s familiar.”

And the familiar wins… until you make it conscious.

Real growth begins when you ask:

👉 What emotional payoff am I getting from this?
👉 What identity am I protecting?
👉 What discomfort am I avoiding?
👉 If I were consistently profitable, what would that force me to confront?

That’s the deeper work.
And it's where 1:1 coaching is the most effective.

Because when you shift what you actually want at the unconscious level…

Your behavior changes.

And when behavior changes consistently…

Results follow.

The market isn’t punishing you.

It’s revealing you.

So the real question is:

✅What are you actually coming to the markets to get?

If this post resonates, R/T, follow me, like, and BOOKMARK this post.
#tradermindset #tradingpsychology $ES_F $NQ_F $SPY $QQQ

[tmc @its_mrn]

@calvinfroedge “Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, For he will despise the wisdom of your words” Proverbs 23:9

[tmc @its_mrn]

@calvinfroedge @grok BAK

[tmc @its_mrn]

@mmonis Love it

[tmc @its_mrn]

@soumyasen Thank you Soumya! DM'ed you.

[tmc @its_mrn]

@soumyasen Super thankful for all the work you’ve been doing and sharing for free Soumya! I really appreciate it. Back in the days you brought Hood to my attention and it’s been a great investment. If there’s ever a way I can support or give back, I’d be happy to!