Episode Summary: 5 Signs You Should Stop Trading for the Day (How I Lost $50K) In today's episode, we tackle a topic that many traders shy away from - the bad days, those sessions filled with regret and what we wish we could forget. However, our focus isn't on the negativity but on the invaluable lessons learned from these challenging experiences. We aim to equip you with the knowledge and signs to recognize when it's time to step back and halt trading for the day, preventing a bad day from spiraling out of control. We start by identifying 5 critical signs that it's time to stop trading for the day: Feeling a Compulsion to Make Money: The moment trading becomes a necessity rather than a calculated decision, it's a signal to pause. Frustration with Market Inactivity: Impatience for market movement or force-fitting trades can lead to poor decision-making. Chasing Losses: Trading with the sole aim of recovering losses often leads to more significant setbacks. Reliance on External Decisions: Looking to others for trading decisions indicates a loss of confidence in your own trading plan. Consistent Directional Trading or Flip-Flopping: Repeatedly trading in one direction or frequently changing opinions signals emotional rather than rational trading. Through a personal anecdote, our host shares the story of their worst trading day ever, highlighting how quickly a seemingly good day can turn disastrous. Beginning with an overleveraged position and culminating in a staggering $45K loss plus significant commissions, this story serves as a powerful reminder of the dangers of rule-breaking and emotional trading. The aftermath of this day wasn't just financial but deeply psychological, taking a year to overcome the mental toll and reshape a healthier trading mindset. This episode is a stark reminder that no trader is immune to bad days. However, it's not the setbacks that define us but how we respond to them. Recognizing the signs to stop trading and understanding the importance of discipline and mental health in trading are crucial steps toward recovery and future success. Key takeaways include the importance of adhering to your trading plan, the necessity of recognizing when to step back, and the understanding that stopping is not a sign of weakness but a strategic decision to protect both your capital and mental well-being. Remember, the market will be there tomorrow, but the opportunity to trade wisely depends on the decisions you make today. Checkout the TRADEPRO FREE Futures Trading Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Leave me a message or your question on Speakpipe here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Episode Summary: Why Holding Winning Trades is So Difficult (10 Steps to Fix) In this insightful episode, we delve into the complex psychology behind one of the trading industry's most echoed mantras: "Run your winners and cut your losses." While this advice may seem straightforward, the reality of implementing it is anything but simple, especially for those new to trading or struggling to turn a profit. Our discussion kicks off by exploring why holding onto trades is inherently challenging, even for professional traders, who focus on the present rather than predicting the future with zero certainty. We uncover the primal psychology driving our difficulty in letting go of trades, linking it to our instinctual need for security and survival. This subconscious directive, honed over thousands of years, significantly influences our trading decisions, often leading to stress and irrational choices when faced with the perceived risk of a trade. The episode then shifts towards practical strategies to overcome this primal fear. We emphasize the importance of maintaining an active source of income outside trading to alleviate survival pressures. By breaking the association of trading with survival risk, traders can approach the market more rationally. We recommend starting with the smallest position sizes, focusing on modest wins, and gradually extending the duration of profitable trades as confidence and experience grow. Moreover, we discuss the value of backtesting and creating mental reset anchors, such as meditation or engaging in relaxing activities, to help manage emotional responses during trading. Building a long-term investment strategy is also highlighted as a way to mitigate survival fears over time. Acknowledging the inconvenient truth that the market's next move is inherently unpredictable, we encourage traders to embrace this uncertainty as a normal part of trading. Personal development and expanding one’s mindset are underscored as crucial for growing wealth consciousness and achieving trading success. Concluding the episode, we reiterate that while the concept of running winners and cutting losses may sound simple, the emotional and psychological hurdles make it a complex skill to master. However, with determination, patience, and the right strategies, traders can learn to navigate these challenges, transforming their trading journey from a battle for survival into a path towards financial freedom. Get out there and hunt!   Checkout the TRADEPRO FREE Futures Trading Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Episode Summary: When to Trust Your Intuition in Trading (How to Develop It) In this special episode #111, a number often associated with guidance and enlightenment, we dive into the intriguing intersection of intuition and trading. This episode explores the concept of angel number 111, highlighting its message of seeking guidance to fulfill one's life purpose and the promise of happiness, abundance, and success it brings. It's a fitting backdrop as we delve into the nuanced art of using intuition to make better decisions, surpassing the capabilities of the analytical mind. However, the journey to effectively harnessing intuition in trading is not without its challenges. We emphasize the critical need for experience and training before relying on intuition. Initially, intuition might lead you astray, especially in fields where you lack expertise, such as trading. This is because intuition operates as a rapid decision-making tool based on your accumulated experiences and knowledge. For newcomers, intuition may offer advice opposite of what is beneficial, reflecting the risk-averse decision-making patterns ingrained by societal norms. To navigate this, we lay out a roadmap for integrating intuition into your trading strategy. Starting without intuition is advised for beginners, focusing instead on developing a solid strategy, practicing on simulations or with microtransactions. A checklist or trading plan becomes essential during this phase, acting as a tangible guide to discipline and patience in your trading endeavors. The shift towards trusting your intuition comes with time and experience. It's a moment marked by your ability to execute trades and analyze markets without heavily relying on your checklist, indicating that your intuition has been honed by hours of conscious practice and experience. This transition signifies that intuition is now informed by a rich database of trading experiences, making it a valuable ally rather than a gamble. In the episode, we also share personal insights into the transformation that occurs when intuition, shaped by thousands of trades and extensive market experience, begins to lead decision-making. The culmination of this journey is a trading approach that may seem unstructured to outsiders but is deeply rooted in a vast reservoir of strategies and experiences, from market cycles to geopolitical events. In essence, this episode not only demystifies the role of intuition in trading but also provides a practical guide for developing and trusting your intuitive sense. It underscores the message that with patience, practice, and the right approach, intuition can evolve to be a powerful tool in a trader's arsenal, leading to informed and inspired trading decisions. Checkout the TRADEPRO FREE Futures Trading Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Mind Over Markets Podcast Show Notes Summary: Episode - "The Hard Realization that Once You’re a Trader, You’re a Trader Forever” CLICK TO SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK HERE Host: George Papazov. Trading experience: 24 years. Founder of TRADEPRO Academy. Highlights the global community of traders at TRADEPRO Academy.   Podcast Is Back: Explanation for the 2-year hiatus. Recognition of the podcast's top 1% ranking in Spotify's yearly wrapped numbers. Emotional reaction to podcast success. Humorous denial of tears due to traders being "emotionless robots." Announcement: "I'M BACK!"   Future Plans: Return to a weekly schedule, every Thursday at 3 AM EST. Focus on trading psychology, order flow technicals, performance, and wholesome content. Initial solo-style episodes for audience feedback.   Engagement and Interaction: Audience encouraged to give the podcast a chance and provide feedback. Introduction of a platform for questions and feedback: speakpipe.com/himom. Host's Journey:   Insight into the host's last two years. Pursuit of childhood dream in music. Pause in music career after a friend's tragic accident in 2003. Mid-life crisis decision to try music after 20 years of trading. Creation of a studio and production of songs with significant streaming success (400,000+ streams).   Comparison of Trading and Music: Acknowledgment of the challenges in the music business. Recognition that trading offers faster and more consistent income compared to music. Lifestyle impact of the music industry, affecting family life and health.   The Pull of Trading: Financial aspects and the devaluation of money after successful trading. Lifestyle comparison with the studio life, its impact on sleep patterns, and overall well-being. Missed connection with the trading community and the challenges of the markets. Return to Trading:   Acknowledgment of trading's difficulty. The unique aspect of trading where once profitable, the skill remains. Reflection on the limitless opportunities trading provides, contrasting with other professions. Personal realization: "Once a trader, always a trader." Closing and Future Podcasts:   Acknowledgment of trading enabling the pursuit of a childhood dream in music. Comfort provided by trading as a safety blanket for exploring other interests. Acknowledgment of discomfort when straying from trading and the commitment to never lose touch again. Upcoming deep dives into trading and psychology topics. Call to action for audience participation: send voice notes on experiences and topic requests.     Expression of gratitude and love to the audience. Promise to continue creating content for and with the audience. Call to action: Leave a review on iTunes. Invitation to join the TRADEPRO Academy community at www.tradeproacademy.com. Closing Signature: "Sending you love, joy, health, and happiness, until next time." "Love you."   Checkout the TRADEPRO FREE Futures Trading Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Want to learn how to find out what traders are doing?  This is called following the smart money, and order flow is a key analysis tool to help you gain an edge on the market. In today’s episode Leo and I discuss our trading into the end of the year, and openly share some of our personal struggles with our trading.  More importantly, we go into details on finding the problem and helping each other fix the issues. We then move into the topic of using the DOM (or price ladder).  This is a tool that allows you to see EVERY order that trades through the book.  This is a big advantage to find continuation or turning points in the stock market, and to trade with the momentum. We get down into the nitty gritty details of how to use this tool, and discuss the following in this episode: What is the Order Book Visible Liquidity Big Inventory as a Magnet / Target Why is a big sell order above a bullish thing? Why is a big buy order below a bearish thing? Hidden Liquidity This was an incredibly fun episode to record with Leo, an amazing trader and all round great person to talk trading with. We look forward to seeing you at our third installment of Between the Spread series on our podcast.  Just a reminder, new episodes of the series are released on the first Thursday of each month. Thank you so much for listening and have a wonderful day. Resources Follow LEO on Twitter here LEO's DOM here. Checkout the TRADEPRO Futures & Order Flow Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

A trading strategy is critical to your success, but do you know the process to create one? Every day we hear someone telling us that WE NEED a trading strategy.  So much emphasis is put on this topic, that new traders rush the process and are doomed from the beginning. In today’s episode, we really dive deep into the process you should follow to refine your idea into a professional trading strategy.  It isn’t just about having an idea and then going to SIM to start “testing”.   In this episode, I give you the complete steps to ensure that you create a strategy that works, because it is battle-tested and aligned TO YOU as the operator. Here is an overview of the strategy creation process: Start with an idea. Create a one-pager.  Back-test with software. A/RS - Analyze then Reiterate or Scrap  Live test in SIM. A/RS - Analyze then Reiterate or Scrap Live test with real money, small scale. Review and create a scaling plan. Trade, Review & Adjust If you follow this process, along with the notes in the podcast episode, you will find the flaws in the strategy long before you commit real money to it. This means that you will have all the confidence in the system and yourself by the time it passes the stringent quality control in the process above.   You WILL FINALLY find your edge and yourself as a trader - and that should be extremely exciting to you. Lastly, as promised, here is the “idea one-pager” I started with this holiday season to back test the 30-second opening range.  I have since made MANY changes in qualifiers and avoided the infamous chop that comes with this age old strategy. The point is, you get an idea for a starting ground FOR YOUR next trading idea. Thank you for listening, and have an amazing rest of your day. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Today we talk about the art of building and sustaining performance like a top athlete.  I discuss 10 TIPS to get you to step into the mindset of a top performer.   Think of the greatest things in life you have ever accomplished so far?  What are you most proud of?  Was it easy to get?  Was it any easier after you accomplished that thing? Now here’s the real question, if you’re gonna achieve more amazing things, do you REALLY believe it’s gonna get easier? NO! The truth is peak performance requires constant effort and energy to sustain.  You are never really at the top, even when OTHERS think you are.  You need constant work, internal motivation, and an obsessive desire for success. Here are 10 tips to help you channel that high-performance energy into your trading: It never gets easier, you only get stronger.  You don’t deserve to coast. You can’t just get back to peak performance, you have to work hard to STAY THERE!  Your body is your vehicle, it’s your temple, it’s a miracle - treat it well.   Your mind is a miracle.  Have an offseason, use it wisely.  Know when it’s game time, and go hard.   Look back and see how far you’ve come.  The past will never be, the future may never come as you expect it. Live in the moment. Learn to receive.  Whether you like it or not, as a trader, you are in the business of extreme performance.  You need to constantly work on yourself to maintain a high level of success, because your competition is doing that and more.   The EDGE in your trading that YOU are looking for IS YOU! Happy trading everyone. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In this episode Leo and myself talk about the most foundational concept of order flow trading in futures - the time and sales.  This is also called “reading the tape”.  This is a brand new segment we will be co-hosting and airing together the first Thursday of every month, where we will discuss a new order flow topic each month. For the first ever episode of our Between the Spread order flow series, we went in depth on these topics and much more: Market Receipts or (fills) - why it is important to follow these transactions and what information they reveal about large position traders Order Types - breaking down the types of orders retail and professional traders use and how they impact the time and sales and order flow At Ask - a market buyer matches with a limit seller At Bid - a market sellers matches with a limit buyer Above Ask - a big market buyer purchases all available limits and flips to next level to trade with more inventory Below Bid - a big market seller eats all the best bids and flips down to next level to trade with more inventory Above/Below = Sweeps/Aggression/MarketOrders - learning the foundational importance of what sweep orders are and how they indicate an important market sentiment - this will shock you and is opposite of what you think it means.  This is why traders often use it so wrong. Aggression (responsive) - the concept of how to see aggression in the time and sales and what it means for the current trend and sentiment Absorption (passive) -  how to find market absorption and when it can mean the trend will continue, or when it is expected to reverse Speed (how fast orders are coming through) - Gives idea or sense of potential velocity of the upcoming move. How to spot? Aggression / Absorption / Speed - applicable examples of how Leo and George use this information to form an edge in their trading strategies. How to respond once you’ve spotted? This could really be a full on lesson in any order flow day trading course, but we are here to provide information to you so you can get started with reading the time and sales. It was a blast to record with Leo, and be sure to check him out on Twitter (link below).  We are extremely excited to keep this series going and the future episodes we have planned are gonna blow your mind. We need your help though, please leave us a rating and review on iTunes if you love the show so we can bring you more great content. Thank you for listening, we’ll see you next time. Resources Follow LEO on Twitter here Checkout the TRADEPRO Futures & Order Flow Course here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In today’s episode I’ll be talking about an exciting topic - what happens when you start making money in the markets?  What ways can you generate income streams outside of trading with your profits?  We’ll dive into principles of income generation, active and passive source ideas, and I reveal all my income streams on this show.   Let’s start out by the only two ways you can use to earn income, and it’s important to understand which one will work with your lifestyle at the moment. There are also only two real ways to actively earn income Trade your time for money  This is where most people make their “income” These are salary jobs that pay you fixed annual income In exchange you offer your time, your health You exchange what ELSE you would rather be doing The perception here is that “risk is low” Financially, there is a low risk BUT you are also giving up all and any opportunity to make MORE NOT ALWAYS - look at Bezos, as CEO he traded his time, for LOTS OF MONEY But his net worth DID NOT grow from his salary, but his equity stake - which is an investment in Amazon stock  Trade your money for the opportunity to make more money  This is how generational wealth is created We will all need to become investors at some point Especially if we become great day traders (make lots of money with small money) In the graphic below, courtesy of MotivationalSpeaks.com, you can see a comparison of how the wealthy spend their time and money, compared to those people without the money mindset habits.  I don’t like the word “poor”, but I think the graphic really helps you compare the mindset of each type of individual. SOURCE: MotivationalSpeaks.com In the episode, we also discussed some active and passive sources of income.  These are just ideas, and by no means an exhaustive or complete list. This should just get your gears turning and get you thinking.  The most important thing to consider is what type of income source will work for you RIGHT NOW.  It takes time and grinding with active sources until you can accumulate some savings to put the money to work.  However, we are always working actively - at any stage of our career and life. ACTIVE SOURCES Affiliate marketing Flip retail products Start a drop shipping business Create an app / business Create a blog or YouTube channel Rent out your home short-term Rent out useful household items Provide work on freelancing website Monetize your hobbies - photography, video editing, etc PASSIVE SOURCES Rental income Peer-to-peer lending Dividend stocks REITs Purchase private company ownership stake Advertise on your car And lastly, here is my personal list of income streams at the moment. I talked about each in detail, and how I plan to expand the streams in the upcoming year. My Personal Income Streams Rental properties Shareholder in private businesses - capital gain and royalty streams Shareholder of TRADEPRO Academy - active income stream Crypto node ownership Stock market portfolio - outsourced Affiliate partnerships for products I SUPPORT! Never those I don’t. That is all for this episode, I hope you enjoy the listen and learn a ton. No matter what stage of life you are in, there is always the opportunity to earn more income, and plan your next big ideas and investments. Thank you for supporting our podcast; I wish you health, happiness and great trading! Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Day trading with hotkeys is an amazing way to increase your speed advantage and to get a better handle on your execution.  I personally don't day trade without them anymore. However, hotkeys are often used the wrong way and at the wrong time of a trader’s development journey.   In this episode, I cover these topics and more on hotkeys for day trading: Who should NOT be using hotkeys yet Questions to ask yourself to determine if you can benefit from a faster workflow Hotkeys I use for daytrading, explained one by one The software and hotkey hardware I use for super quick trading Step by step process on how to setup hotkeys for any trading platform One of the most important things to know from the very beginning, is that hotkey trading WILL CHANGE YOUR TRADING, and it could be for better or worse.  It is very important you are only using them when you are ready, and when you have a solid trading plan with a definable edge.   I would strongly NOT recommend hotkeys for any traders who are dealing with: Traders working on their impulsive and emotional trades Someone who doesn’t have a trading plan yet Swing and longer time frame traders - don’t need the speed edge New traders - it’s important to do the actions and steps yourself at first If you aren’t profitable WITHOUT hotkeys, they won’t be the holy grail - they are just assistive technology If you’ve decided you are ready to take this leap and setup your hotkeys, I’ve included some great questions to ask yourself to identify areas where you can implement hotkeys. Questions to Help You Uncover Trading Hotkey Opportunities Do you ever find that you are missing trades because you cannot get in fast enough? If so - you need trade entry hot keys - either markets or limits Is it hard for you to move your stop loss as you scramble around the price ladder or chart to find where it is and drag it up / down?  If so - stop trailing hotkeys - trail to BE is one I use. Do you find it hard to move multiple contract stops to one price level, or take profits? If so - move stop and move target hotkeys are great. Do you sometimes get into trades because you couldn’t cancel your order fast enough? If so - cancel limits Do you ever wish you could get out of trades quicker?  If so - market exit. Do you ever wish you can switch between chart drawing tools on your platform? Do you find yourself doing any repetitive, time consuming tasks overall? And as promised on the episode, here is a look at my hotkey mapping on my StreamDeck device.   Remember, this is for Sierra Charts, and your trading platform may not provide some of this functionality.  It is important to check with your platform first, and identify what can be created into a shortcut, and ultimately mapped to a hotkey. I hope you enjoyed this episode as much as I did recording it. Happy hotkey day trading, and I’d love to hear from you - how has this process helped you make your trading more efficient?  Are you planning to use hotkeys, which ones did you decide to go with? Happy trading - and remember, manage that risk and trade like a TRADEPRO. Resources Purchase the 15 key Elgato Stream Deck mentioned in the podcast HERE Purchase the 30 key Elgato Stream Deck XL mentioned in the podcast HERE Checkout this gaming mouse with 20 programmable hot keys built in HERE Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Do you blow out accounts in one day after days, weeks or even months of success?  This is a very common problem for the new trader. I know, because I have been there, and certainly done that.  The good news is, that it is fixable, if you are daring to get to the actual ROOT cause of the issue. The reality of this situation is, that it really only comes down to only 2 possible reasons this is happening: There is a lack of discipline in you as the operator - often this is a mindset issue (more later) -  There is no strategy (or you’re not following it) and you got lucky - it isn’t that YOU MADE THE MONEY, it’s that it was borrowed and with a long  enough timeline it was destined to go back to the market Now the second one is very easy to fix, but ONLY after you have addressed the root cause for your lack of discipline in trading.   Lack of discipline is often blamed as the cause of losing money in the market.  However, lack of discipline is actually THE SYMPTOM.  The actual cause is deeper than that. Often times, the “lack of discipline” is a physical manifestation of one of these deeper rooted issues: Conflicting wealth values / money mindset Lack mindset - self worth Fear of of losing, risk avoidance Fear of failing Fear of succeeding Doing it for wrong reasons The hard part about either of these, is having to admit this to yourself and accepting the responsibility to change it. In this episode I share some key questions you can ask yourself to uncover what is the real cause that’s causing you to blowout your account after stringing together some success. I really hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as I did recording it. As traders we are always working on ourselves, and this is a great opportunity to take your development to the next level. As always, manage that risk and trade like a TRADEPRO. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In today's episode, I talk about taking a small account challenge to get my discipline and confidence back as a trader.   I will also share with you some signs it might be time for you to take a new account challenge, and finish off with some tips for growing small accounts.  No matter what stage of your journey you are on, this episode is designed to help you. I started on October 11th (made a mistake in the recording saying I began on the 15th) with $464 USD and turned it to over $11,000 USD in under two weeks.  I will share the statements on this as well to give you a deeper look. Here was my plan. Execute only high probability trades Get in with conviction, get out early when you have the profit - take it and run If I lost just $164 USD, which is just 3 points on ES, I’d be out of margin I would then flip to micros, and work the balance up until I can do one ES Repeat this process until I build some cushion, then scale up to 2 lots, etc The goal of this was: Get back to the basics Get back to experiencing what it’s like to have little room for error Reconnect with myself when I started this journey Build up my discipline  Focus just on the process, eliminate the profit obsession - not matter what happens, it was gonna be small - and that felt reassuring Inspire others that their small account, is not small at all - and big things are possible Make $1,000 USD a day with this small account once I hit $2000 balance The results: Started with $464 on October 15th, 2021 Grew it to over $11,000 by October 27th, the date of this recording The goal was always to get to $10K at least, then re-assess I hit the landmark, and I’m considering if I should stop here Or keep working this account until it hits my regular account size Here are some signs that could suggest it is time for YOU to try a new small account challenge: If you are having big green days, but paying a lot more in commission If you are using your size to get out of trouble on bad days often If you find that you are obsessions over profit, and “NEED” to make certain targets If you are trading outside of your plan, and it’s working for now If your discipline is slipping, but you’re still doing okay If you’ve really lost it, and in a rut of a losing streak If you are super stressed out or burned out, and just need to take a break If you have had a life changing event and want to get back into the groove This is basically like a cool down, or warm up lap on the track Tips for Growing a Small Account A small account is not an insignificant account, with the right attitude and strategy, it can grow much quicker than YOU even think At the beginning, when you’re dealing with contributed capital, scratch your way out of losing trades before they hit full stops - you can always try them again Take profit when you have it, even if it looks early - always get paid Review your performance metrics, but NOT total profit, who cares, it’s gonna be small, focus on more rounded performance metrics (EP 93 - Performance Metrics You Need to be Using) Never yolo or swing for the fences, when you trade small you can’t afford to trade big, ever Don’t be afraid to scale up your position size, but have a target first - for me I went to 2 lots when I hit $1000, and 3 lots above $2,000 account size. Then I scaled up. Have a position size reduction threshold, if you lose 50% of the profits since you started, even though you are trading small - gear down more, go to micros if you have to ALWAYS FOCUS ON PROCESS, if you find yourself gawking at the profit, stop trading End a losing day quickly - if you are down, or feel like you’ll be down, trust your instinct and don’t trade anymore Learn to protect what you got, not chase what you don’t Here are some of the statements from my small account journey: The first image below is the first 4 days of the challenge.  I was lucky enough to start with decent volatility and was able to take some great trades on day one, which got me started on the right foot.  Again, part of this is luck regarding the market conditions, but I give credit to myself for stepping on these conditions and taking advantage. I was trading really well in the first few days. And the second screenshot is a brokerage statement from AMP, when I decided to close out the challenge after exceeding the initial goal of $10,000 - quicker than I expected, but I had gotten the learning lessons I was hoping for. Also, I was ready to go back to trading slightly bigger as we had some great economic events coming up that would present some amazing volatility, and ultimately opportunity. Here are the performance stats from Sierra Charts for the small account challenge, spanning the entire period - cumulatively and excluding commission (broker statements above included commission): Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In today’s episode, I’ll be talking about the victim mindset and how it silently but very quickly and effectively decimates trading accounts. I will walk you through 6 signs you may be in a victim mindset, plus ONE, and ONLY ONE simple thing you NEED to DO NOW to get out of this mindset and turn your entire life around.   This is all about escaping the shackles of victimhood and stepping into a powerful and abundant version of YOU. To become a better trader and human being. This episode is game changing. We dive into the following topics: Avoiding responsibility  Not seeking possible solutions A sense of powerlessness Negative self-talk and self-sabotage Lack of self-confidence Frustration, anger, and resentment Also we discuss some BIG ways that victimization creeps into your trading and how you can spot this crippling behavior so you can eliminate it FAST. Plus I share the simple solution with you to shift out of the victim mindset in your trading, and how to turn the corner and become a success machine. This is a must listen episode to boost your trading psychology and success mindset. Enjoy the episode, and thank you for listening and your support. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

We made it to episode 100! Today we have two episodes into one, where Victorio and myself take turns asking each other 10 trading questions, and 10 funny questions designed to embarrass one another and share a good laugh. I want to thank you for listening, and for helping make the podcast a success.  Without YOU, there would be no Mind over Markets, or anything else. So from the bottom of my heart, a big THANK YOU! In the first half, Victorio and I discuss: Trading through the COVID crises and how we adjusted What we think the future of trading will be Victorios trading strategy, including entry and exits How new traders should start their journey, but few do If everyone can be a trader - the answer will surprise you In the second half, things get fun and the roast commences. Victorio and I ask each other funny questions designed to reveal a side of us you would never know from our trading content.   We talk about fun things like: Why Victorio IS actually a robot How his bike wheels were stolen, and he ran into the thief minutes later Why Vic keeps cutting and growing his beard so often Why George has horrible style and owns 7 pairs of the same slippers Victorio’s WORST pickup line at a bar - that actually worked And MUCH MUCH more, funny and revealing things It was an incredibly fun podcast to record, for our 100th podcast milestone. Thank you for supporting us on this journey, and helping make our show a success.  We love you all and look forward to continuing to provide the best trading content in the universe for the next 900 episodes!   Onwards and upwards TRADEPROs. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

Anthony Drager discusses his personal trading strategy and how he executes on order flow in the futures market. He draws on some fascinating experience from the trading floor and his transition to electronic trading at a prop firm.  In this episode we get personal and ask him questions about HIS trading. This episode touched on some amazing golden nuggets you won’t want to miss: Ready, aim fire - three step trading approach Anthony uses We hone in on his personal trade entry and exit strategies Nothing is gonna go up that’s expensive Nothing is gonna go down that’s cheap What to do instead of starting the day with a bias How to make more money in trading without catching bigger moves How to fund your account with the amount of money that’s right for you How long professional traders have to start performing or be fired - the answer WILL shock you You didn’t start trading when you thought you did - this will get you thinking deeply, guaranteed Biggest winning and losing days revealed We love having Anthony on the show, and thank him for opening up about his personal trading and sharing so much value with our listeners. If you want to get a hold of Anthony: Edge Trading Group website Edge Trading Group Twitter page   Edge Trading Group YouTube channel  Thank you for listening. Resources Checkout Edge Trading Group video about Iceberg orders here. Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In this fascinating episode we talk about how buying and selling actually moves the markets.  This isn’t an indicator or strategy, this is the VERY REASON that MARKETS MOVE! We do a deep dive on market and limit orders, and how big position traders move through the book.  When you understand what you are watching for, it gives you high probability trades with little risk when you see it happen.  This is the true power of order flow. Find out more about: How to find desperate buyers and sellers Reading level 2 like a professional order flow trader What truly moves markets, and exactly how it is done How institutional traders work huge positions Finding high probability, low risk trade setups on a daily basis Why retail traders always buy the extremes and get stopped out How to find good trend entries, and good trend reversals using order flow PLUS an example of a trader working a big order for a client This episode is a must listen for every trader, because when you understand how large positions are executed, you will understand what truly moves the market.   Imagine being able to know with certainty when institutions are either dumping or accumulating massive positions? What power do you think this WILL have for your trading?   Enjoy this episode, it is by far one of my favorite and most impactful I have recorded. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In this episode I talk about something really personal and deep. I had a gambling problem, which became a trading problem really quickly and early on in my career. This is an area very few talk about, because it requires deep reflection, and the ability to view yourself as someone who can improve!   This can be tough for someone who truly believes “they can come back, if they just have one more shot”.  Gamblers often value the chance  to play more than money itself. We discuss these topics and much more: Shocking science of gambling - it’s not about the money at all How gamblers disguise their problem with constant search for technical details How gambling could be ruining more than your trading, and impacting your entire life How to come to the realization that you have gambling tendencies 7 different ways I worked to resolve my gambling problem Resources Read more on the science of gambling and dopamine here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here

In this episode, former floor and prop trader Anthony Drager comes back for another interview. This time we talk about the foundations of order flow, and unpack some “seemingly simple” concepts into full detail, and explain why most people are doing order flow wrong. Also, Anthony Drager shares his awesome 4 golden rules of trading - and you definitely want to catch those and start applying them immediately. This will easily become a top episode and a favorite - be sure to have a listen. In this episode, we cover these topics and more in depth: You’re not supposed to make money in the micros Liquidity and HFT programs how they work Hidden liquidity and iceberg orders  Once you’re short you have to buy to get out How to spot turning moments when stops are gonna be run 4 golden rules of day trading Why the market always goes to the orders It’s okay to be wrong, but not wrong for long PLUS a lot more golden nuggets you DO NOT want to MISS Resources Checkout Edge Trading Group Here. Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

In this episode we talk about a common mistake all new traders make.   The mistake is starting a new career in the wrong position.  It’s a costly mistake that ruins would be traders before they even start. There is a way to fix this, and I share the full details on something that will have a HUGE impact and could turn around your trading. We cover these topics and more in depth: You have to be a good analyst before you become a trader Trading is not an entry level position, it’s a promotion How to switch from working FOR money to working WITH money What makes a successful analyst? When can you promote yourself to a trader? Can you make more money as just an analyst? PLUS - a roadmap to restart your trading career the RIGHT way RIGHT NOW Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

The biggest problem with goals is that they are a prediction of the future.  Sure it’s amazing to know what you want, but sometimes planning too much on how exactly you will achieve them leaves blind spots to the reality of how you’re gonna get there. There’s an old saying, “make a plan so you know what’s not gonna happen”.  You can’t predict the future 5 mins out - how the heck do you expect to predict something complicated as a goal, the steps you need to take, the exact timing, foreseeing an infinite possibility of challenges, health, lifestyle, needs… etc.  You can’t.  It’s impossible. The good news is that you don’t have to even try.  There is an easier way. In this episode I will share with you some life changing shifts: How to finally let go of your anxiety about achieving goals, or not having them at all How to start thinking like you have already achieved your goals Creating strong visualizations that will achieve what you want faster than having goals How to become instantly successful now, without goals Living a more fulfilling life than a billionaire Plus so much more, to help you become a success machine I hope you enjoy this episode, and I look forward to hearing how you plan to apply this material to get what you want faster. What were some of your goals before listening?  What are you trying to achieve now? Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

Total profit is the worst performance metric you can use, because it ignores what you actually did to generate it.  In this episode I share my favorite 6 performance metrics, and the story they tell about your trading.  Using these metrics, you can uncover areas of improvement before these small issues become big problems, and start generating massive losses. Oftentimes, before that big losing day, you will have a lot of clues as to what you can adjust to avoid these blow out sessions. PLUS, at the end, I do a full review of one of my recent trading days - and I share with you what I did great, and where I could have improved. This is a must listen episode, jam-packed with value. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

At the start of our trading journey, it is a very common problem that newer traders use too much leverage. Why? They are excited, they are new, they don’t know what they don’t know, and they just want to make a lot of money. They want the kind of returns people with 5, 10, 15 years of experience are making - and they want it TODAY! So they trade big, and inevitably run into a bad trade…. Often just one single one… and lose a large part of their trading account. They are shocked! They are stunned - they become fearful, and become paralyzed by risk. Then immediately cut down their trading size to the lowest amount possible. But the returns are now SO SMALL - that it will take them 50 years to earn back their one trade loss. This really crushes your confidence. So today I want to discuss a few scenarios that could indicate you’re trading too small: You are moving your stops to increase risk when a trade goes against you You are moving your take profit orders when price gets close to them You get into a trade expecting to lose, to get your stop hit Your winners are small, but your losses are huge You are trading money you cannot afford to learn with You turn a day trade into a warren Buffet investment These are the 6 signs we go deeper into, and explain how each one may be impacting your trading and what you can learn from it. I hope you enjoy the show. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

This is a very powerful, and inspirational interview with Gerald. His story spans from extreme business success, to finding himself in prison. In prison, Gerald discovered trading and even started to get quotes on the phone and drawing his own charts and indicators behind bars.  Gerald pushed through his challenges, and continued his pursuit to become a successful trader. Gerald is a fantastic example of a comeback story, and it's truly inspirational to anyone having challenges in life trying to pursue a career in trading. We go into fascinating topics on this podcast episode: The success of his business early on to 7 figures, employing hundreds of people across 6 offices How things took a turn for the worse How he discovered trading in prison The fascinating story of getting market quotes on the phone and creating his own charts with pen and paper Realizing that trading can become not just an income source, but a means to inspire people in lower income neighborhoods This episode will have some massive revelations, and help inspire all traders who are going through personal struggles. Big thank you to Gerald for opening up, getting vulnerable and sharing his powerful story. And a special thanks to YOU - our listeners. We hope you are enjoying our podcast. Resources Gerald's Email: geraldfunderburg@pomiprivatequityfirmllc.com  (please help him with resources on his new project if possible, he's on a big mission to make real change) Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

In today's episode, we had the pleasure of interviewing two amazing individuals who share their journey as investors and traders. Dan and Kyle join us from the 2 Bulls in a China Shop podcast, and I get to flip the tables on them.  As a previous guest on their show, it was exciting to be the one asking the questions. In the discussion, we did a deep dive on: How Dan and Kyle got started investing, and how the journey has gone so far Talking about options writing to generate extra income Discussing how Dan has used his high risk tolerance to his advantage as an investor The greatest challenges they encountered on their path so far Advice for newer traders just starting out PLUS a fun little game at the end This was an incredibly fun podcast to record, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as we did. PLEASE NOTE: The episode does contain profanity and adult language. Resources Checkout the 2 Bulls in a China Shop Podcast - highly recommended listen! Follow 2 Bulls in a China Shop on Twitter Follow Dan on Twitter here Follow Kyle on Twitter here Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

In this episode we talk about 6 tips to help you prevent another account blowup. When traders lose all their capital, it can be a very emotional time. And of course, everyone knows the obvious - if you can improve your risk management, it should never happen again right? Wrong. There are many psychological and technical reasons that traders blow-up their accounts.  I share with you 6 tips that will help you get to the root cause and make foundational fixes.   This episode includes discussion on: Starting capital for new traders - the answer will surprise you Scaling your trading, position sizing and growing your account Setting daily drawdown, limits and how to use your broker for help The surprising benefits of an accountability partner If it's broke... don't fix it yet - how to overcome challenges the right way Why YOLO'ing your trading account will never work out - even if you made $10,000,000 overnight This episode WILL help you come to powerful realizations and create lasting change. I hope you enjoy listening to this week's show.   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

Job, Leo and myself talk all order flow, trading execution and strategy. In this episode we deep dive into a lot of topics new traders have a struggle with; picking a market to trade and utilizing a strategy with an edge.  This is a fantastic discussion with two order flow gurus you do not want to miss. The first episode with Job was a hit, and you can listen to it here: Episode 79: Demystifying Order Flow with Job. In this episode we discuss: Order flow trading tools and strategies Trade entry timing Managing open trades 100 point runners Scratching trades Profit targets and brackets for Nasdaq Trading with hotkeys New amazing tools for Sierra Charts: the Order Flow Labs suite We had an overall fascinating discussion pertaining to order flow trading, and took a deep dive into many topics that will help you level up your futures day trading. This episode is a must listen!   Where to find Job & Leo?  Follow Job on Twitter  Follow Leo on Twitter Check out the Order Flow Blog that Job contributes to here  Resources Checkout OrderFlowLabs here - Sierra charts order flow tools to take your strategy to the next level Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

Traders are professional loss takers - that's what makes us different. In today's episode I will share with you my 5 biggest failures, and how they actually helped me in both life and trading. I personally believe in a saying, "there is no failure, only feedback".  From this angle, we can take any experience and extract the positives, while letting go any negative emotions that may still be associated. This episode includes discussion on: How to extract the learning lessons from past failures My personal biggest failures in life, including a $30,000 USD losing day on Nasdaq How living out someone's ideas can be detrimental to your own ambitions How nothing you do is useless, and the surprising ways it can help you later on in life I waited too long to start trading for myself full time, here what I wish I knew before How ignoring my health goals led me to a nearly fatal incident This episode WILL make you take  your past failures, and shift your mindset to seeing them as an opportunity to improve.  You will walk away feeling like a massive weight has been lifted off your shoulders. Plus, at the end of the episode, I include an exercise for you to try to get even more positive results out of your past failed ventures. I hope you enjoy listening to this podcast, it was scary for me to plan and record.   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

Trading discipline is a loosely thrown around term, but what does it actually  mean?  What causes you to break down discipline, and how do you fix these actions to improve your trading performance? This episode discusses the 5 reasons your trading discipline breaks down, with specific instructions on how to fix each. This episode includes tips on these topics: PROOF that YOU are extremely disciplined... just not in trading Having a trading plan - the important and connection to discipline Not following your rules - why you are purposely and willingly not sticking to your plan Getting emotional after a loss - this is why it happens and how to stop it Trading for money, not process - the desire to make money is actually harming your potential Wanting to get back into a trade after a loss - the revenge trade symptoms and how you can catch the trigger early on PLUS a whole lot more value in this jam-packed episode! This episode has the potential to turn around your trading, by eliminating the behaviors that are costing you money through self-sabotage. You are already disciplined, now it's time to apply the fixes and see the difference it can make in your life (and ultimately trading).   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

When is it time to stop trading for good?  Quitting has been made extremely hard by society's ideas of "fighting through" and our fascination with the underdog story.   However, there comes a time when you may want to consider making an exit from the industry. This was a somewhat difficult topic to cover with Victorio, as it can really be triggering to some people and elicit negative emotions.  However, we focus on the positives and also provide some light at the end of the tunnel you will not want to miss. If you've ever asked yourself this question, this podcast is for you. This episode covers some important topics: Should you take a break or quit altogether? Important distinction. One mindset adjustment to try before pulling the plug. 12 signs you might consider quitting. How to flip quitting into a positive outcome. Making the most of what you learned from trading. How to transition positively into the next phase of your life.   WARNING: This episode unpacks certain topics that are extremely serious, like depression and addiction.  If you are suffering or believe you might be, it is VERY IMPORTANT to seek professional help with your local health care resources.  Healing is a journey, and half the battle is asking for help.  While we focused on the positives, you may find certain topics triggering.   Just a heads up. No matter what you decide, know that many of the most successful people have been plagued with past failures, which are rarely discussed and never celebrated.  The journey of life is full of ups and downs, and everyone can find their path - even if it is not trading. Hopefully this has inspired you and also brought you some real considerations no matter what step of the journey you are in. Sending you love, joy, health and happiness to you and your family. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here. For addiction and depression resources, please contact your local health authority.

You are receiving messages daily, which you have no conscious awareness of.  In fact, subliminal priming can influence your behavior without your knowledge.  This has been used by marketers for decades, but in today's episode I tell you how it is impacting your trading negatively.  Also, I share with you how you can actually flip this around and use subluminal priming to your advantage in trading and in life.  This is a MUST listen, as it will help you get your power and control back. This episode is jam-packed with valuable discussion on: How something as simple as a facial expression can influence your actions Surprising function of the subconscious mind and why it can be primed and influenced How your trading losses could be caused directly by something as simple as a picture of your mom Designing your trading space to include positive priming Actionable exercises on how to turn priming into your biggest strength as a trader This episode is extremely helpful to day traders who are having a hard time getting profitable.  While this is not the magic pill to turn it all around, in this episode you'll learn how to remove negative priming programs and leave you success mind oriented.  You will see positive results in your life and trading. Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoyed the show. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here Follow me on Instagram here and on Twitter here.

In this episode, we are going to be interviewing a successful prop trader, Seth Coley.  Seth started his trading journey after a career change, and is a current member of the TRADEPRO Academy community.   Seth transitioned from stocks to futures, and after struggling at first - he found a breakout strategy that worked for him on Nasdaq futures.  He then qualified at a prop firm and has hit a significant milestone.  He shares the details of his strategy, his results and much more. In this episode, Seth and George discuss these topics: How Seth decided to quit his career as a fire fighter and pursue trading Using the futures micros to learn lessons cheap before scaling up How he made the decision it was time to go to a prop firm When you SHOULD NOT be looking to get funded (gold nugget) Tips for minimizing your costs at pay to qualify prop firms Seth's advice for new traders just starting out This episode is extremely helpful to new day traders and swing traders, who are looking to decide if getting funded is the right move for them. Also, it will help you learn from a new trader who has hit success in the industry after many twists and turns. Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoyed the show. Resources Free 14 Day Trial to TopStep Futures Funding Program: click here to get started. Swing trading TopStep Funding program: click here to get started. Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing the reality of online prop firms and getting funded as a trader. Do you need to get funded to succeed? When should you consider this option? When to avoid external funding, and how to succeed if you choose to take outside money. Choosing to get funded is a deeply personal choice, and most traders make their decision without knowing the full information.  All online prop trading firms will put you in a simulator trial at first, and charge you for it on a monthly basis. You are paying to trade on a demo account, so it's important to create an action plan. In this episode, George unpacks the following topics  & more: The online prop firm business model explained Advertised amount of money you get can be misleading How your fees will increase 1,000% for market data Story of a trader who grew a $500 USD account into over $100,000 in 18 months The real solution to low funding - the money you have is likely already enough! 9 recommendations if you choose getting funded is the right decision for you At the end of the day, choosing whether to try out an online prop firm is a very personal decision. Are you going for it? What did you decide? Thanks for listening, I hope you enjoyed the show. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We’d appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here

In today’s episode, George is joined by options trader Victorio Stefanov, of TRADEPRO Academy.  George and Victorio talk about the different trading styles, and how you can decide yours to match your personality and unique goals. During this episode, we deep dive into these topics and more: Breaking down the 3 styles: day trading, swing trading and investing Why new traders make the mistake to trade an asset that is not aligned to their goals Why new traders should AVOID scalping - and common misconceptions How social media sets unrealistic expectations Why people make the mistake to trade the asset they see successful people showing on socials George and Victorio discuss how they personally found their own style, and their journey getting there Tips on how to find the right asset and trading style for YOU How to set the proper time expectations while you are learning If you are just starting out your trading or investing career, you do not want to miss this episode.  This show can save you years of waste time, and thousands of dollars in learning fees.  The most important part of succeeding in trading is making sure you are doing what is best for you, and not just following others around. Also, we have a discussion around what assets are best for trading in different time zones around the world. I hope you find today's podcast episode extremely helpful in your personal trading journey.   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing the psychology behind trading news events, and how to actually trade them like professional traders.  The reality is so different from what new traders assume, it will shock you! George talks about the two different types of news events, and the different approach you need to take for each.  Also, he shares the type of news trading that new traders should start with, and one type to avoid that could be detrimental to your success. During this episode, George unpacks these topics and more: 2 types of news events you have to know about Complete trading strategy for news events The 3 waves to a news event and which stage to enter on How to get a free news feed so it can read out the news to you Sources for professional paid news feeds - and his favorite one Why you SHOULD NOT watch network news channels Plus much more! You are not going to want to miss this episode, it is jam-packed with value. George speaks on a very technical aspect of trading that can help you learn a new strategy and approach. Also, there has been a big change with the podcast that will probably catch you off guard at first.  However, it is a big opportunity for you going forward, to continue getting amazing value from this show. That's it for today, hope you enjoy the listen.   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading room here

In this exciting episode, we have a guest interview with Twitter futures trader and former member Job.  You can follow Job here on Twitter. On the interview we discuss everything about order flow trading, and why this technique provides a trading strategy edge. We discuss why trading the future market is a great opportunity: Centralized order book  Transparency  Liquidity  24/5 trading hours  Our goal was to demystify order flow trading, how market participant interact with each other and how that creates a trading edge. We also discussed what order flow is not, and cleared up a lot of confusion about the topic from new traders. Job mentioned his favorite tools for futures market analysis and how he uses them: Market Profile Volume Profile Footprint Chart Time and Sales Delta We then proceeded to discuss our individual trading styles, as well as trading psychology hacks to help traders improve their strategy and execution. Importance of understanding not only your own psychology but mass psychology as it relates to the markets  If you understand how retail traders think & act, you can trade against them  The debilitating effect of cortisol on your trading, and how it shuts down your rational mindset and leads to enormous loss of control and destruction of capital  Important of having and following YOUR trading plan The episode finishes off with a fascinating discussion around how to treat trading like a real business, and the importance of shutting down your trading platform once you are done for the day. This was an incredibly fun podcast to record, and guarantee to set off some big aha moments for you.  Get ready for a ton of learning and takeaways, this is an episode you can re-listen many times and still pull away new information. We want to thank Job for appearing on our podcast, and for the awesome interview.   We look forward to having you on again for a follow up!   Where to find Job?  Follow Job on Twitter  Check out the Order Flow Blog that Job contributes to here  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

In today’s episode, we discuss why the trend is not always your friend when it comes to trading. There’s an old saying in the financial markets that the trend is your friend, meaning that you will do well as long as you place your trades onside with the current price trend.  The only problem is that you can never know what the current trend is -  you can only know what the trend was during some prior period. This can provide a false sense of confidence for new traders because the cleaner the trend, the more confident trader will be with taking a position In fact, many new traders take breakout trades “in the direction of the trend” only to see the market reverse on them and stop them out time and time again.  The trend can be your best friend if you are able to identify it in the early stages of development before the expansion phase of the mark-up phase and get in with low risk and high reward potential. Stick around for the full episode to get some great insight on why the trend is not always your friend and how you can put yourself in the best position to capture the most profitable phase of any trend   Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

In today’s episode, we are going to discuss why it’s so important to trade what you see and not what you want to happen! You will often hear traders throwing around the phrase “trade what you see”, however, the reality for most traders is the opposite - they trade based on what they think will happen - driven by emotions and wishful thinking.   Psychological biases can explain how our brains are hardwired to make assumptions  This goes back to the subconscious mind and the filter from which we see things  Think about the scenario where you see a huge rally but did not take a part in it  You may enter long (despite not having a trade entry) because you calculate the amount of money you could have made, and then jump in long with the hope that the rally will continue.  You make your analysis, you follow your rules, you pick a trade that fits your criteria, and then it turns into a loss. No matter how good your analysis and how well you follow the rules, even the best setups will fail. How to start to trade what you see instead of what you think  Next time you are about to make a trade, ask yourself “Do I have an edge or is this something I want to happen”  Wait for more confirmation - Many traders jump into the markets in anticipation of a move that just might not materialize. If you wait for a market to break above resistance to buy will give you higher prob than getting long below resistance, hoping for a breakout  Use a trading checklist to ensure your trading decisions are objective and the trades are well qualified  If/then scenarios so that you always have a plan regardless of what the market does  Trust your analysis and your process; do not listen to other people’s opinions or trades; they may have a bias of their own.  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing some tips & tricks to help you grow a small trading account!  The best investment in life is one in yourself and when you are starting out in any new industry, it's best to start small!  The reason for this is that your mistakes are the cheapest at the beginning which is important because you will make mistakes while you are learning. Now just because you have a small trading account, it doesn't mean that you have to think small!  Trading live is not about making money; it’s all about seeing if you can execute a strategy with an edge and follow a process consistently over weeks and months  When you are starting in this industry, regardless of how much capital you have, you should be starting with a couple of thousand dollars (we recommend between $5000-10,000) until you earn the right to trade a larger size. What does it mean to earn the right to trade larger size? It simply means that you are rewarding good behavior and discipline by increasing your trade size using market money and not your own risk capital. The goal to start is to aim for small profits, even $25/day is a great goal to shoot for! While this amount isn't anything to write home about, if you can consistently make $25/day, then scaling to $250/day or even $2500/day is the same process, just with more contracts. Slow and consistent growth is the aim here - we're not going for wild outsized returns off the bat! So how can you put yourself in the best position to grow your small trading account? See the list of tips below: Set your expectations; the goal is not money it's perfecting the process.  Risk management is always important but even more so with a small account; the margin for error is smaller. Avoid setting daily profit targets; instead, focus on how much you are willing to risk a day and stay disciplined. Look for singles and doubles instead of home runs; get used to getting paid consistently before looking to run profits.  Progressively scale up your position size as you build up the account - in our futures course we offer an account scaling grid, like the ones you get at a prop firm. Don’t quit your day job; have other sources of income while you learn. Avoid comparing yourself to others (social media is full of traders posting massive profits or losses - the thing is that you never know the full story of what it took to get there).  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how traders can deal effectively with execution mistakes!  Mistakes happen to everyone and they can be extremely frustrating especially because, in this industry, they can and often do, end up costing us money. What defines you as a trader is not whether you make mistakes or not, but how you deal with these mistakes when they end up occurring!  So what are some of the most common trading mistakes traders make?  Fat fingering trades (putting on more size than you want or fumbling your order executions)  Hotkey execution error (Having trading hotkeys enabled that are the same as other hotkeys for other applications) Taking trades in live account while thinking you are in SIM (or vice versa)  If you've been trading for any amount of time, you will likely have experienced one or two of these mistakes in your career. Reflect back on that error and ask yourself what lessons you learned to avoid making the same mistake again? For me (Mark), the mistake that comes to mind was having trading shortcut keys enabled on my platform that were the same as the ones I used for zooming in and out of my charts. One morning when I was completing my pre-market analysis, I was trying to zoom out of a chart and while the chart was not moving, I noticed that my DOM was filling trades at market. Just before the opening bell, I was short 5 NQ contracts and managed to close them out for a manageable loss...but the damage had been done and an important lesson was learned! Since then I have personally avoided using hotkeys on my platforms and have disabled this feature so as to avoid this mistake in the future. What is important for new traders to understand is that trying to be perfect and avoiding mistakes will not get you anywhere in this business; you need to embrace that mistakes are part of the learning process. On that note, some of the most common things that lead to these sloppy execution errors include: Being mentally fatigued or tired when trading  Lacking concentration due to distractions  Not being prepared for the session (Fail to plan, plan to fail)  Lack of execution skills on the trading platform  Now that you are familiar with the common mistakes traders make and the catalysts that lead to these mistakes, let's take a moment to touch on how most traders actually react when they make a mistake! Most traders take losses personally and point the finger outwards, effectively adopting the victim mentality - "The market is rigged" or " My broker is hunting my stops"  are common statements- and then they proceed to try to make the money back by trading emotionally.... digging themselves into an even deeper hole.  Professional traders, on the other hand, adopt a different approach to dealing with mistakes which can be broken down into two main categories:  Preventative strategies   Recovery strategies Preventative strategies are rules or guides the trader creates in order to avoid making these common mistakes. Some of the strategies traders use include: Building execution skills by practicing and mastering the execution tools in your trading platform through the simulated trading environment Maintain energy levels throughout the session (starts before the trading day and include proper sleep/hydration & nutrition) Monitor mental capital levels before trading and stop trading once mental capital drops below the required criteria Set up a trading environment that minimizes the potential for distractions during the trading day Even if you have preventative measures in place, mistakes can and will still happen because, at the end of the day,  we are human. In the event that a mistake is made, you can use the following strategies to effectively recover and deal with it: Accept what has happened and take full accountability for it - only when you live at cause do you have the POWER to enact CHANGE Do some breathing exercises { 4-7-8 breathing} if you feel stressed or angry and also repeat to yourself “I am in control” - You can do this exercise either sitting or lying down. The next step is to extract the learning lesson from the mistake and then to "release" the mistake and let it go (some people prefer to physically gesture themselves “throwing” it away). The final step is to rehearse successful execution by imagining what you would do should the same situation happen in the future and affirm that this is WHAT you will do! Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here

In this episode, we provide you with a layout of what the journey to consistent profitability actually looks like so that you can set your expectations for what lies ahead!   A trading journey is never the first thing a trader really considers..in fact, it’s the end result you crave. The money, the cars, the freedom - that’s what you REALLY want.  But if you don’t know a realistic route to get to your destination, you’ll never make it there.  A large part of performing is about setting realistic expectations, because when they are sky-high, even if you are doing well and making progress as a beginner, you will inevitably be disappointed in comparison to what you expect. So start by releasing all expectations! That’s not to say you shouldn’t be committed and have goals, you absolutely should. But your only expectations right now should be to learn. Think about this, there is a good chance you are looking at trading as a career change opportunity. Now ask yourself, what job are you currently doing it? How long have you been doing it for? What did you sacrifice to get here? As you answer these questions, you’ll begin to realize that trading is no different than any other job. It takes patience and hard work to make meaningful changes and to become amazing at it. The Reality of Trading Forget about the marketing promising overnight riches, it doesn’t work. The reality is that it will take you longer to become consistently profitable than you might think.  However, when you do become profitable, you will be able to make way more money than you ever thought possible. The 3 different paths of a trading career: How it’s sold by marketers: instant overnight success – which has worked for 0 successful traders we know Retail reality: how most new traders exit the industry because of mismanaged expectations The TRADEPRO Path: how the journey should look  What Might Your Journey Look Like? We've seen a lot of different reality paths, and they are all unique.  The timing might be slightly different, but almost certain that your path will follow a similar trajectory. It’s all about the work, effort, and commitment you put in – which can supercharge the results and learning curve. But typically, from our experience and that of our profitable community members, here is how reality plays out: Month 1: You will be creating a schedule to go through trading education & content, organizing yourself and preparing to embark on this journey.  This month is all about making the decision to commit and put together an action plan. Months 2 to 6: You will be learning, watching trading videos, applying concepts to charts, and gaining experience through screentime. The expectation for profit at this stage should be $0. Months 6 to 12: During this period,  you will be applying your trading strategy and risk management plan with live capital, and you’ll find out it’s more challenging when real money is on the line.  At this point, if you are breaking even or down some money, it’s a normal part of the learning curve.  You are right on track, even if you are losing capital!  That’s the reality of this stage, which is where most traders begin looking for a magic fix.  The truth is, there is no magic fix, it’s about accepting and embracing the fact you are close and you just need to put in more time. Months 12 to 19: You will finally decide to treat this like a business, and put all your learning and experience together to form a bulletproof trading plan that you will follow with diligence, discipline, and patience. Months 19+: You will start making consistent income, and constantly be learning, adjusting, and improving your process.  This phase will last a lifetime, the only thing that will change from this point forward is that you will gain more experience and comfort, which will ultimately lead to more confidence.  You will make more because your confidence will mean you trust yourself to start trading larger position sizes. So that’s what your next 1.5 years could look like. As we said earlier, it’ll take longer than you expect but it can make you way more than you ever imagined! Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here       

In today's episode, we discuss how bull markets, much like the one we are currently in, can let new traders get away with some bad habits that will eventually lead to blowing out unless they get corrected as soon as possible.  A False Sense Of Confidence Beginner traders often get overconfident when they find a strategy that works -  which may lead to some early success, and then come the plans for how they'll spend those millions. But at some point, when market conditions change,  the golden ticket strategy will stop working.  The resulting losses burn out several months worth of hard-earned gains in just a few days, along with your confidence and will to trade.  Anybody that has started trading in the latter half of 2020 and through 2021 has experienced nothing but a strong bullish stock market. Bad habits such as chasing the markets and FOMOing into trades may have even been rewarded in recent months but where new traders tend to get into trouble is that they can engrain these habits in their subconscious, and these programs will run on autopilot even when market conditions change. How you start influences the rest of the career and sets your expectations so it's important to get started off on the right foot. Traders need to have an arsenal of tools to adapt to changing market conditions  How can traders adapt? Trade less size and be quick to take profits when trades go in your direction  Aim to take your risk off the table and leave a small runner, Remove all profit expectations and be grateful for the opportunities the market gives you! Do some research on how great times end (Ray Dalio - The Big Debt Crisis) Join a community and be a sponge Set some hedging points in your portfolio - there’s no need to get smoked and watch it happen Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Join our FREE trading chat here 

In this episode, we're excited to bring to you another student interview with TRADEPRO member Zalman Sulmayanov! We recently sat down with Zalman for a great discussion on his trading journey since finding TRADEPRO Academy, what he has learned along the way to profitability and how he continues to develop and grow as a trader. Zalman originally hit our radars in our morning trading room one day when he commented to the panelists that he had his best day of the month and followed it up with a screenshot of his trading platform showing a live profit of over several hundred points on the ES futures - a five-figure gain on the session - not too shabby! Zalman was willing to jump on the mic that day to share some of his processes with the community and the rest, as they say, is history! Zalman's journey truly shows what is possible if you remain committed to the process regardless of the obstacles you face along the way and today you'll get some great insight into the reality of what the journey to achieving consistent profitability in trading actually looks like from somebody that has done it within 2 years. Here is a summary of what we discussed:  Life as an entrepreneur before finding trading 02:45 The series of unfortunate events that led Zalman to pursue a career in trading  05:30 How Zalman's mother and grandparents influenced his entrepreneurial mindset 08:03 The inherent risks of starting any new business venture  11:30 The transition from a traditional business model to trading 14:00 Why the low barrier to entry in trading might actually be a disadvantage for some traders 18:08 Why Zalman prefers to trade the futures market instead of stocks or options 22:00 Bouncing around from one trading group to another until finding TRADEPRO  26:33 Getting burnt early on in the journey by looking for shortcuts  31:00 Why just sitting and watching the markets without trading is critical for a new trader's development 35:00 Being unique as a trader and not following the herd 42:01 Modifying your trading style to work with your personality 47:00 Why traders need to have an arsenal of strategies to capitalize on different market conditions 50:00 The more screentime you get, the more obvious some things start to become 55:34 Trading has to be treated like a business  because it's not some game 59:49 Why you should expect to commit one-year minimum before making any money trading 64:00 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we discuss why boring is actually good when it comes to trading!  This statement might be a bit off-putting - especially for traders just beginning their journey because how can trading not be exciting when you can be making life-changing money? While you certainly can make great money in this industry, the reality is that if you are in this business for excitement, you will eventually blow out your account.  Real trading is all about earning risk-adjusted returns which is dull and unexciting - the real fun part is getting to spend the gains and your time however you like!  You have to be willing to take the boring, systematic approach to your trading goals. and we’ll explain exactly how to do that today! To put it simply - a trader's job is to make risk-adjusted returns.  For those unfamiliar with what this means, let’s break it down for you:  The risk-adjusted return measures the profit your investment has made relative to the amount of risk the investment has represented throughout a given period of time.  This is an important concept to understand because many new traders believe that the final P/L is the only important measurement of their “success” and they strive to achieve outsized returns without focusing on risk management.  Profitable trading is both effortless and boring - if you find yourself stressing, feeling excited, and/or frustrated, your mental capital will get drained a lot faster and your performance is likely to suffer.  In order to achieve risk-adjusted returns, a trader must find low-risk, high probability trades that offer favorable risk v reward profiles and execute only on those setups - if you are doing things right, you should be doing nothing MOST of the time. Money is attracted to traders that can control themselves and remain disciplined regardless of market conditions.  Sounds pretty straightforward right? So why do so many fail at reaching consistency then? Because good trading requires a lot of sitting on your hands and we, as human beings, are not the most patient especially when money is involved. How to Make Trading Boring?  The simple answer: Follow a consistent routine! Find a trading strategy that resonates with you and take the same trades over and over again Know exactly what you are looking for and what you consider to be a low-risk, high-probability trading setups Map out your levels and identify your if-then scenarios before the market opens Once the session starts, you are only looking for the market to come into your level and meet your setup criteria Only take a trade when all of your criteria are met  Think like a hedge fund manager trading millions of dollars; would you still want to take that trade? If not, you should pass on it.  Control Your Risk Instead of Looking For Huge Gains A profitable traders main job is to make risk-adjusted returns  In order to do this, you must know exactly how much you will be risking on any given trade  Understand that one single trade does not mean much over the course of a large set of trades  Post Trade Review  Once the session is over, review your trades and grade how well or poorly you followed your process Write down 1-3 learnings lessons and takeaways from the session Continue to build confidence in your process and your profits will Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be focusing our discussion on some strategies that traders can use to overcome the psychological barrier of letting profits run.  After all, one of the golden rules in trading is to cut your losses quickly and to run your profits but the reality is that it’s easier said than done!  This concept itself makes intellectual and financial sense, however, when it comes time to actually execute this, most traders fumble and actually do the opposite - they cut winners too soon and let their losers run. Take a moment now to reflect on your own trading experience to see if this rings true. How often do you get out of winners too early and watch the markets run without you?  How about your losses? How often do you give your trades more “room to breath” and end up running your losers?  If you find that this is a common occurrence in your trading, then today’s episode is for you! What's interesting to note is that our natural instincts are the opposite of what is required in order to become successful in trading:  For example, as humans, we do not like to lose because we are conditioned to be right through our societal upbringing.  This manifests itself in our attachment to the ego - taking a loss in trading can be "seen" as being wrong and therefore being wrong can be a hit to the ego so we try to avoid losses while taking profit early to confirm we are right and stoke the ego. So how can you go about reconditioning these instincts to serve you? Try some of these strategies:  1 Accept on a deep level that losses are a part of trading  Before you can apply any of the other strategies to your trading, you truly have to be comfortable and accept the fact that you will take losses in your career. Losses are a reality of trading and to believe that you are the exception to the rule is a fast track to disappointment and frustration. The benefits of being comfortable with losses to mean that you can maintain your focus on executing your trading process instead of focusing on the result of that last trade. 2 Battle test your strategy One of the recommendations from Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas is to trade a specific strategy for 100 trades before risking any money and to journal each trade. Doing this, and keeping track of your results, will give you the information you need to quantify your edge which is important because it’s going to be difficult for you to let your winners run if you have limited experience with that specific set-up!  It’s a lot easier on you mentally to hold a winner when you know from your journal that on average your setup hits target say 70% of the time.  3 Have predefined stops and targets for each trade When you enter a new trade and you have money on the line with an uncertain outcome, your mind becomes your worst enemy. It's easy to wind up letting your losses run and cutting your winners early when emotions creep into your trading but when you predefine your stops and targets for your trade, you keep it objective and much easier to execute and manage in real-time.  4 Take partials and leave a runner  One of the best ways to learn to run your profits is to get paid on 75% of the initial portion of the position at your predefined targets and to the last 25% to potentially run for extended targets This method allows you to get paid on the initial trade idea and removes the internal dialogue you have that's screaming at you to get paid while you have profits. We're going for singles and doubles, here but on occasion, that runner might just become your next grand slam trade! Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

As we celebrate International Women's Day today, the team at TRADEPRO sends our appreciation and gratitude to all of the female traders out there!  If you look at the trading industry these days, the unfortunate reality is that it still remains a "boys club", however, we are happy to see that there are a growing number of female traders out there silently killing the markets. One of those traders, Sarah Glass, happens to be the new face on our TRADEPRO trading desk and in today's episode, Sarah joins us to discuss her trading journey and some great insights for other women looking to get started on their own trading journeys.  Since joining our team at TRADEPRO, Sarah has become a community favorite in the Options room because she is an amazing options trader with an impeccable understanding of order flow and her ability to decipher institutional orders into actionable trades is unparalleled. Learn about how Sarah got started in this industry and how she is quickly becoming a role model for the women in our TRADEPRO community! Some of the topics we discussed in today's episode include:  How Sarah got started in the trading industry What it takes to become a successful, full-time trader The benefits of being trained by an institutional trader off the get-go The importance of meditation in a trader's routine How women can get more involved with trading The lack of female role models in the industry How Sarah's psychology has developed with trading experience Advice to beginners if she had to start over from scratch Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how traders can tap into the subconscious mind to remove their fears about trading It’s no secret that we are our own biggest obstacles - and our minds - more specifically our thoughts - play a huge role in the actions that we take and the realities that we manifest.  If we can only get out of our own heads and get out of our own way- what kind of effect would that have on your trading performance?  If you feel like fear is holding you back from becoming the trader that you can be, stay tuned, because this episode is for you!  Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real  A person’s greatest enemy is fear  What most don’t realize is that fear is simply a negative thought in your mind  In simple terms, you are afraid of your thoughts   When you combine the thoughts you have with emotion, these are realized in the subconscious mind The reality is that the best way to tackle your fears is head on  But before you can do this, you must first make the conscious decision to master your fears In doing so, you will release the power of the subconscious mind which will manifest that which you think and truly believe. Suggestions control your subconscious mind and when the mind is calm and present, your conscious thoughts can sink into the subconscious. The more positive thoughts you provide to your subconscious, the more these will grow into your reality The Two Types of Fears  Normal Fears  There are two basic fears we are all born with as humans A fear of falling and fear of sudden loud noises  These fears serve as a method of self-preservation and are not the issue  All other fears are abnormal and were caused by  Abnormal Fears  Abnormal fears are caused by experiences from your past and/or passed along to you from others during your imprint years (0-7 years old)  These fears occur when we let our minds run wild and are the destructive ones that lead to fears and self-sabotage Examples of abnormal fears include fear of bankruptcy, fear of heights, fear of the dark, etc.  Fearing something persistently causes panic and terror - the things we fear do not exist but we manifest them into reality by constantly fearing, believing, and expecting the worse. A Technique to Overcome Fear  Whenever thoughts of fear start to appear, find a quiet place without any distractions and put yourself into a deep state of relaxation  Sit still and shift your focus to the opposite of what you fear Visualize yourself tackling your fears head-on and make these images as detailed as possible  The goal is to put emotion into it, really feel these visualize as if you were actually realizing them in that very moment What you are doing is actually feeding your subconscious mind with the visuals and emotions from your imagination. You are shifting your attention from what you fear to what you desire and by doing so you are no longer giving emotion or energy to that which you fear. Expect the good, mentally concentrate on it, and just know that your subconscious has your back Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking on affirmations and how traders can benefit from adding this daily practice into their routines so as to help build a mental edge for optimal trading performance.  You will walk away from this episode with a better understanding of what affirmations are, how they work, as well as how to craft your own powerful affirmations. Stay tuned.  What are affirmations? Affirmations are a powerful tool that many successful people in business, professional sports, and many other professions use on a daily basis.  They are short statements that help you become the trader and more importantly, the person that you want to be - said differently, they are an assertion that something exists or is true.  Now you might be wondering how speaking a bunch of statements out loud might help you make better trading decisions and I don’t blame you.  It goes back to that old saying from Napoleon Hill  “What you think, so you will become” and nowadays, science confirms this to be true. The Science  Neuroplasticity refers to the brain’s potential to create new neural pathways and to reorganize itself  Science has proven that the brain is a dynamic organ that constantly changes as we develop new knowledge and go through new experiences.  The more that we use a certain area of the brain, the bigger and stronger that area becomes while the opposite holds true for less frequently used areas of the brain; they become weaker and less effective  Neurons that wire together, fire together! What does this mean for you? Many of us constantly engage in negative self-talk and we don’t even realize it consciously because these thoughts are programmed at a subconscious level.  So when you engage in negative self-talk, you are effectively manifesting these negative thoughts into your reality. Some examples of such self-talk for traders would include the following : "I can't buy myself a winning trade"  "The market is out for my stops"  "I am a horrible trader"  "I can’t do this" When we deeply believe in something, our behavior is often aligned with that belief, so every time you tell yourself you can’t do something, you are creating a feedback loop for your limiting beliefs and strengthening that neural pathway.  If you keep telling yourself these negative things, then you will start to believe them and ultimately, you will manifest them into your reality - but on the flip side of that coin, if you start to tell yourself “I can” then your behavior will follow in line with that statement, and you will create a new feedback loop that will be reinforced and strengthened the more actively you practice these statements.  The reality is this... if you aren’t getting what you want in life then that is the major clue that you might have a negative program running your life on autopilot.  It's never too late to start utilizing positive affirmations to neutralize and replace your limiting thoughts and beliefs with empowering and serving ones so that you can reframe your focus from negativity and scarcity to positivity and abundance. This will take some time before you start to get noticeable results - after all, some of these beliefs and values have been running since you were a child. Repeating affirmations over weeks, months and years will retrain your subconscious mind to think a different way.  At the end of the day, we use affirmations in our daily lives without even knowing that we do, so why not put them to good use and train your brain to a better way of thinking? Now that you know what they are and the benefits of affirmations, let’s discuss how to write powerful affirmations for trading!  There are 3 steps to this process:  Step 1: State your affirmations in the present tense as if it has already happened  Your subconscious mind cannot tell difference between vivid imagery and something that’s actually happened. If you keep telling yourself that you are a successful, profitable trader, then you will start to feel this way after some time even if your current reality does not represent the end goal. You will take on the identity of that which you are affirming and your subconscious will find ways to align your internal feelings with your external reality. You might feel like this is lying to yourself at first - but you already have the ability to become a successful trader inside of you - it's up to you to choose whether you embrace it or reject it. Step 2: Be positive, keep it short and keep it specific  Your subconscious does not hear “not”; so you have to frame the affirmation in a positive light. If you tell yourself “I will not let my winners turn into losers”, your subconscious mind registers this as “I will let my winners turn into losers”. Keeping affirmations short helps you memorize them more easily so they are more likely to stick!  Being extremely specific with your affirmations will help you bring up more vivid imagery in your mind - this is important because the more vivid the visual, the more it feels real and the more likely you are to manifest this into reality.  Step 3: Always include action and emotion in your affirmations Emotions are the key to making affirmations work; you have to believe in the affirmations so much that you put all of your passion and desire behind them  Including actions and emotional words by starting your affirmations with “I am” Stick around until the end of the episode for some great examples of powerfully crated affirmations for traders using the 3-step process discussed above. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

Think back to the single worst event in your life; Did it defeat you or did you use it to your advantage and turn it into the greatest moment that ever happened to you? In today’s episode, we've got a special guest by the name of AJ Garcia, whose story is nothing short of inspirational! From rubbing shoulders with celebrities as a high-flying marketing executive to suddenly staring at a prison sentence of 25 years to life,  AJ shares the day that everything changed for him and how he ended up beating the charges but still hitting rock bottom when the judge sentenced him to serve 7 years in prison. Despite being written off by friends and family, AJ never wrote himself off and actually committed himself to develop his mindset and psychology while serving his time.  Our goal with this episode is to provide insight to help you with whatever obstacles you’re facing in life. This is a story of how AJ used prison as the launching pad for his personal success, but it's also about how you can use a potential setback to set up your future. Some of the topics we discussed in today's episode include:  The fall from grace and the day that everything changed Being written off by family and friends but keeping it together mentally  Making opportunities out of setbacks Finding motivation during the darkest times Not having control over anything other than what you could control Disassociating from thoughts like “What might happen” and embodying “it is what it is” as a driving motivator The importance of routines in developing and maintaining a strong mindset  The role of gratitude in maintaining a positive outlook on life  Developing an indestructible “I am not going to lose” mindset  Life after prison and being introduced to options trading  The role a strong mindset plays in developing as a trader  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing the recent euphoria around the GameStop short squeeze, what actually happened and some of the important lessons that new traders can learn from this recent saga! What Happened with GameStop (Ticker: GME)?  Around this time last year (2020), GME was trading below the $5 mark and over the course of the year, the price traded as high as $20 in January 2021. Then on January 13th and January 14th, 2021, the price doubled to $40 - two days later, it doubled again. As a result of this rapid price increase, the media caught wind of this and started running stories on the stock - anywhere you looked, all you saw was “GME” and how retail traders were making life-changing money overnight and beating Wall Street at its own game.  There was euphoria in the air and everybody and their grandmothers were rushing to open brokerage accounts and pour their savings at GME to catch a piece of the pie. On each of the following two days, the stock doubled again, bringing the price to an all-time high of $483.00 over the span of two weeks - this represented a 2,265.33% increase in prices. At the time of this recording, GME price was trading around the $65.00 price level - down almost 80% from the Jan 28th highs suggesting that the short squeeze is now over.   How Did the Short Squeeze Happen? Late last year, some posters on a subreddit called r/wallstreetbets, started arguing that GameStop actually might be a good buy because the business had a lot of upside relative to the price.  In addition to this, a number of hedge funds had taken short positions on this stock - so much so, that the short float on GameStop was 120%  Shorting a stock is simply borrowing shares at higher prices and buying them back at lower prices to make a profit - essentially, these hedge funds were positioned to profit from the price of GameStop falling.  The Reddit community saw that Wall Street was heavily short this stock and realized that they could potentially orchestrate a massive short squeeze by buying shares of GME together in a coordinated effort, which would drive the price up, and the hedge funds who were short the stock would have to buy those shares back to close their out their position, which would fuel the rally even higher and result in massive losses for the hedge funds. What started out as an investment thesis based on fundamentals quickly transformed into a battle against Wall Street that actually gained momentum and mainstream acceptance from the retail crowd - and they were successful in causing some damage to Wall Street - namely Melvin Capital - which had to get bailed out with around $3 billion in order to shore up its finances and ended up covering their position for a massive loss. Avoiding a Systemic Collapse Using The Silent Exit  Instead of going out on the open market and buying GME stock to close out their short positions, hedge funds actually went to the Retail ETF (ticker: XRT) to unwind their positions! GME represented 20% of the ETF holdings, so while the hedge funds spent more money to buy the other 80% of the stocks, they took delivery of the assets out of the ETF and that's effectively how they closed out their position in the market. Have the hedge funds been squeezed out? The short float of around 20% would suggest yes. This short squeeze really had the potential to create a systemic collapse in the financial markets as hedge funds would have had to pay for margin losses by selling large stakes of their positions in big-name stocks like Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook to name a few, which would have provided downside pressure to the stock indices.  Fortunately, it did not get to this point, but in the aftermath, the ones really affected by this were those that joined the party late, bought into the hype near the highs, and held all the way down "hoping" it would come back. Here are the 5 Important Lessons That We Can Learn From This Someone always ends up holding the bag  We can't all win and somebody always loses When you buy shares, the only way to get paid is to sell them at a higher price and somebody has to buy them from you When everyone that wants the stock has already bought it, who is going to buy it from them at a higher price if demand fizzles out? Nobody - they become sellers waiting to happen Holding regardless of developments in the market is a losing strategy overall  Every stock symbol you could put up will have paid off at some point in its trading history Think about the companies that don't exist anymore (ie. Enron, Nortel Networks) All of the companies that are now defunct exceed the total number of stocks available to trade today  Just buying something and holding it forever without any rational analysis on it on a continuous basis is not a good idea  In the long run, more companies go bankrupt then they stay afloat Looking at the symbols in the market right now is not an accurate way to predict what will happen because you are not looking at the universe of all companies, just the ones that survived. Remember it only takes one bankrupt company to wipe out a portfolio when you are getting greedy  Amateur traders chase gains; professionals focus on managing risk  The biggest focus for amateur traders is to what they will do with all of the profits they imagine that they will make when considering buying a stock seeing momentum  There is no focus on risk management nor is there any strategy or plan; just trading based on emotions Professional traders, on the other hand, concern themselves with entry & exit plans, as well as risk management. They have a trading plan before taking on a position; if you don’t have a plan to get out before you get in, then you are getting out based on emotion. Huge opportunities don't last a long time  Whenever a huge deviation of a move happens that exceeds the level of what it should be, it’s a only temporary opportunity. This is because there are trillions of dollars at work in the market to make it efficient again - this takes the form of arbitrage  If you are in a position and the market moves in a way that exceeds what you were looking for when you entered, it's a good idea not to get greedy but to take profit. Following other people's trades is a horrible idea  The worst thing that you can do to yourself is to lose money on someone else’s idea  If you wanna do that, you can use a financial advisor  It’s your money, you work for it, so why invest in someone's opinion? You should learn how to think for yourself and to build confidence in an approach that meshes well with your personality. The journey is not easy, but it is well worth it! Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

We often compare the mindset of professional traders to that of professional athletes on this podcast so we are very excited for today's special guest, Natey Adjei, who is a professional wide receiver for the Toronto Argonauts in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Natey has been playing football since the fourth grade and has been playing as a professional in the big leagues for the last seven years. He was originally drafted by the Toronto Argonauts in the 2013 CFL Draft where he played for two seasons before joining the Edmonton Eskimos prior to the 2016 season. Natey enjoyed four seasons playing as a receiver for the Eskimos before rejoining the Argonauts as a free agent in February 2020.   Making it to the highest level of a sport is one thing, but to perform as consistently as Natey has, for as long as he has, takes a different type of mindset - the mind of a champion. What does it take to make it to the top? How do champions bounce back from setbacks? How do professionals stay motivated? What do winners focus on? The answer to these questions and more is a short listen away! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  Who is Natey and what does he do? 01:35 Synergies between trading and athletic performance 04:09 What drove Natey to become a professional athlete 04:51 How self-accountability is what makes the difference between being good versus being great 07:51 Good days and bad days will happen - what matters is how you respond 10:07 Dealing with discouragement and gaining confidence through hard work 14:02 Focusing on the present and winning one day at a time 16:52 Using daily routines to track and understand your performance 20.35 Building mental strength by putting in work when you don't feel like it 25:02 Analyzing your mistakes and correcting your course 31:43 Not all mistakes are created equal 34:30 Why checking the scoreboard in-game is a loser's mentality - it's always a zero-zero game 39:30 How professional athletes self-reflect on their individual performance after a game  43:30 Using visualization to win the battle in your head and improve performance 46:32 Situational awareness and its role in real-time risk management 51:00 If you're going to make a mistake, make it at full speed - no matter what you do 54:45 You can't reach the top without thinking and believing that you are the best 61:32 Self-worth and dealing with the negative pressure and expectations from fans on social media 64:35 When it's really close margins it's the mental game that defines the best 68:00 Finding motivation by striving to get better every day 71:11 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast How to Find Natey Adjei?  Love sports? Listen to Natey's All Ball Podcast on Apple Podcasts or on Youtube Follow Natey on Twitter and Instagram

In this episode, we focus our discussion on resilience and why it's such an important characteristic for you to develop as a trader!  Despite what you see on social media, trading is not as easy as it is portrayed and the reality is that you will face challenges and obstacles on your journey that will test you financially, mentally, and even physically.  Every single trader, yourself included, will go through periods of losses and drawdown and whether you can bounce back and recover to new highs will largely depend on your resilience. Our goal with this episode is to introduce you to resilience, the role it represents in your trading, and some strategies that you can apply to start becoming a more resilient trader! What is Resilience? the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness. Why Is resilience such an important characteristic for traders?  Trading is a very demanding job; you will be presented with challenges, pressure, and adversity The largest source of adversity in trading will be dealing with losses and drawdowns.  Your ability to keep a level head will determine whether you will bounce back successfully or not.  The key is not to try to avoid these periods, but to be in a position to be able to bounce back from these challenges.  Successful traders will endure these challenges and overcome these adversities whereas unsuccessful traders will fail to do the same Now when we consider how to build resilience, we like to break it down into 3 different sub-categories that we can work on as traders. These sub-categories include: Financial Resilience  Physical Resilience  Psychological resilience  Let's dig a bit deeper into each one: Financial Resilience;  If you are going to survive rough patches in the market, you will need a sufficient supply of capital.  To build your resilience in this category, you will want to focus on having enough personal capital to survive slow periods and drawdowns without the need to make money trading in order to pay the bills If trading capital is a large portion of your personal wealth then every loss will have a double impact; both your trading capital and personal wealth will take a hit which increases the pain and emotional impact of the loss If trading capital is small, then you can either accept it for what it is and manage risk accordingly or you will force yourself to take on too much risk while chasing unrealistic expectations. Having a good base of capital will allow you to take risks appropriate for the account size Physical Resilience:  This relates to having the energy required to cope with all of the stress and challenges when things aren’t going our way  When trading is tough it can take a lot of out you mentally and emotionally but also physically  You can build up your physical resilience by practicing good habits; getting enough rest, eating well, doing meditations and getting active, and working out.  Psychological Resilience:  This relates to how you mentally deal with tough situations What you choose to think and say to yourself in tough times and the beliefs, attitudes, and perceptions you have about them determines the outcome that you will manifest.  Cortisol production shoots up when you are stressed and adrenaline increases when you are elated; this takes energy to produce and removes energy from you - almost like a withdrawal from your energy bank  Similar to what we refer to as the mental capital meter- you need to have a high amount of mental capital (7+ out of 10) in order to be able to handle the stresses and pressure from trading.  When you are low in energy your mood gets affected and you become more easily irritated and frustrated which is the opposite of what we want as traders  One strategy you can use to build resilience in this category is to ask yourself what a loss and/or drawdown means to you and examine your responses. Take note of positive and negative beliefs and commit to reframing the negative ones with positive beliefs (ie. I am not a successful trader if I make a mistake - reframe to mistakes are an opportunity to learn, trading is not a game of perfection ) Consider taking the “big picture” approach to events and looking for the positive in any situation; Ask yourself  “What can I learn from this”. This line of thinking generates new possibilities for future outcomes; see losses or setbacks are a cost of learning. Another idea is to think back to a loss or setback and visualize yourself 6 months or more into the future reflecting on the loss or setback - what do you notice?  Practical Strategies to Building Resilience Ensure a positive relationship with personal capital, your trading capital, and the size traded  Maintain and top up your mental capital meter; focus on sleep, exercise and nutrition  Develop positive resilient beliefs, take positive perspective of events and practice positive self talk Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today's episode, we are excited to bring to you an interview with a special guest by the name of Etienne Crete, who is a full-time swing trader and is also the founder of the Desire To Trade podcast. Etienne is known as the traveling forex trader and he really practices what he preaches - in fact, he has built a life of freedom that allows him to travel the world and pursue his passions while making a full-time income swing trading the forex markets. When he's not out exploring new cities and destinations, Etienne also mentors serious traders looking to quit their jobs and pursue trading full-time while also providing huge value to the global trading community in the form of his well-known Desire to Trade podcast. Our very own George Papazov has made several guest appearances on Etienne's show and you can check out his latest interview here.  We recently had the chance to sit down with Etienne (virtually, of course) for a great discussion on what it takes to be a successful full-time trader, how he made his breakthrough to profitable trading, the importance of developing a trading strategy that fits around your lifestyle, as well as the process of getting funded as a trader. If you are even remotely interested in making a full-time career out of trading while creating a life of ultimate freedom, you do not want to miss this episode! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  Who is Etienne and what does he do? 01:25 How Etienne was introduced to the financial markets 02:30 What attracted Etienne to trading the forex markets 06:22 Initial challenges Etienne ran into when he started trading 08:00 The importance of developing your strategy as you mature as a trader 10:10 How Etienne used trading as a means to pursue his passion of traveling 15:00 The daily routine that Etienne practices in order to stay mentally sharp  18:20 The big realization that led to Etienne's breakthrough into profitable trading 22:15 How seeing himself as the CEO of a company helped Etienne find consistency in his trading approach 27:15 Some of the limiting beliefs Etienne struggled with and how he overcame them  30:20 Why working with a performance coach helped Etienne develop his trading mindset 33:00 How professional traders handle losses and drawdowns  38:57 Starting a trading podcast to meet other traders and learn from them 42:50 The most common characteristic of successful traders 46:20 Getting funded by a private investor and going full-time with trading 50:00 How to know when it's the right time to leverage your trading by taking on other people's money 53:15 What Etienne would tell himself if he had to start trading all over again 57:12 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate it if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast How to Find Etienne Crete?  Check out his website and podcast here: Desire to Trade  Check him out on Youtube Follow him on Twitter and Instagram

In today’s episode, our discussion is going to be focused on expectations that new traders have about trading, and more specifically, how unrealistic expectations can be extremely toxic for your journey.  If you’re serious about becoming a trader, it’s wise to understand the nature of the beast now rather than learning it the hard way later. Unrealistic expectations are one of the major catalysts that lead to emotional trading and ultimately a lot of frustration with trading - in fact, the majority of mistakes you will make in your trading career will be a result of expectations that are misaligned with the reality of the markets. Since you are here with us today, our goal is to set the record straight and provide you with a dose of the realities of trading so that you can better manage your expectations in order to give yourself the best chance of finding sustained success!  So what are expectations and why can unrealistic expectations be dangerous?  An expectation is a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future Expectations also bring about emotional highs and lows; meaning that you feel good when your expectations are realized, but you will feel disappointed when your expectations don’t come to fruition When emotions creep into your trading, you become vulnerable to making emotional decisions, which is what can really harm your account Unrealistic expectations are the catalysts that lead to most of the mistakes you will make as a trader These expectations are often the result of buying into online marketing about trading and how it possible to master this craft and attain riches seemingly overnight with a $100 trading account.  This marketing leads people to have a mistaken perception of what successful trading really requires and starts you off on the wrong path for the journey you are about to embark on If you expect to be perfect in your trading or even to be consistently profitable within a short period of time, then you are most likely going to be let down The interesting thing to note here is that when your expectations are unrealistic, you will struggle with trading because at a subconscious level, your monkey brain will realize that reaching those expectations is likely to not happen and your mind will go into “fight or flight mode” at which point, your decisions will be made on autopilot without your control.  This is the real danger of unrealistic expectations! The fact that you will sabotage your own plans and rules when things don’t go the way you expect them to There are generally two types of “expectations” as it relates to trading :  Expectations you have about trading  Expectations you have when actually trading  Here are some examples of each type: Common unrealistic expectations about trading  Expecting to flip a $1k account into a million dollars within a year  Expecting to make money from the first week of trading  Expecting to be able to make money without any training and practice Expecting an easy ride without any work (trading is easy money)  Expecting to make more profits by spending more time in the markets Common unrealistic expectations when you are actually trading  Expecting to never lose a single trade  Expecting each trade to be a home run  Expecting to catch the tops and bottoms with every trade  Expecting to never take any heat on trades  Do You Have Unrealistic Expectations About Trading?  In this next section of the show, we are going to ask you some questions that we want you to be brutally honest with yourself in order to determine whether your existing expectations are realistic or not.  If the answer to any of these questions is yes, then your current expectations about trading are likely unrealistic and it’s time for a reality check: Are you taking too many trades or re-entering the market after taking a loss out of anger and frustration? Do you force random trades because you expect that more trades mean more profits?  Do you tend to hold on to losing trades despite the market moving against you?  Do you try to take on too much risk for your account size?  Are you constantly hopping from one strategy to the next when you run into a loss and/or streak of losses?  Do you constantly shift from demo trading to live trading and back to demo when things don’t go the way you expect them to?  Setting the Record Straight: The Reality of Trading (the fishing hook)   Reaching your trading goals will take much longer and require more effort than initially planned  You will constantly be challenged and must remain persistent in the face of these challenges in order to overcome them There are 4 general stages in the journey to profitability and the most important is the first one because most traders never make it out of this stage when their expectations are not managed accordingly In the first stage of your journey, you will be taking losses as you start to get skin in the game; You are still learning and refining your execution so you will make mistakes and the goal here is not to make money but to learn how to survive in the markets by establishing structure; getting comfortable with your strategy and risk management & develop good habits and discipline; do not rush this stage! In the second stage, as you start to develop confidence in your strategy, you refine your executions, make fewer mistakes and overall feel more confident in the markets, you get to the point where you are no longer losing money and in fact starting to make some money.  In the third stage of the journey, you are now at the point where you have recovered the drawdown and have reached the break-even point in your trading - meaning you are now covering costs and commissions without bleeding the account out  The fourth stage of the journey is where the trader finally starts to make profits and this is where the account growth can occur exponentially, however, most don’t ever make it this far due to unrealistic expectations Managing Expectations as a Trader  The most productive mindset for a new trader is to focus on the process of trading, rather than the profits that come with them If you do that successfully, you will have plenty of profits, but there are no shortcuts Our job is to trade with the odds and accept the probabilities that the odds may not play out on any particular occasion Redefine what a good day means! Have a goal going into each trading day and plan to achieve that goal.  It should not be related to making money (for example, If I make money today it's a good day), instead, it should be process-focused based on what you can control (A good day is a day that I followed my trading plan) Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out George's Path to Profit book here 

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing the concept of a financial thermostat and how your default setting may actually be holding you back from achieving the trading success that you know you deserve! It’s no secret that trading is linked with money; if you think about what initially drew you to this industry, most people would agree that it is the allure of making life-changing money.  After all, what do we spend most of our days fantasizing about? How life as a successful trader would look like! Luxury homes, large bank account balances, exotic sports cars, and really, the freedom of time to do whatever you want whenever you want.  Now, if you’ve been with us for any amount of time, you’ll be aware that it is the logical side of your brain that actually desires and wants these things, but it’s really the subconscious mind that actually runs the show! So if your relationship with money is not aligned with your financial goals as a trader, then you will find a way to self-sabotage yourself and your results.  Our goal today is to help you identify what your default financial thermostat setting is and how to adjust it so that you shake out the beliefs that don’t serve you and replace them with those that will!  Your Relationship With Money  Before we dive into what a financial thermostat is and how to adjust it, we believe that it is important to first identify your relationship with money.  Every single human being has a certain relationship with money and as traders, the type of relationship that we have with money will impact the trading decisions we make regardless of whether they are in our best interests or not. A lot of successful trading has to do with planning your next best trade and waiting for the market conditions to align so that you can execute according to your plan. The issue for most people is that they are unable to follow the plan successfully and this is where your relationship with money may provide some insights into your own trading behaviors and habits.  The unfortunate reality is that if you have an emotionally unstable relationship with money, then regardless of how hard you work, you are setting yourself up for failure as a trader.  Think about your own thoughts and beliefs that come up when you think about money. It might represent things like social status, security, safety, scarcity, opportunity, even resentment. Did you know that a majority, if not all, of these beliefs, were formed during your imprint years up until the time you were about 7-8 years old? These beliefs were created by the things we heard, by what we saw, and by specific incidents we experienced as a child.  Most of us don’t know why we make the choices we make about money and wealth because they are the result of programs we run in our minds automatically based on the beliefs we learned during those crucial imprint years! So for example, if you grew up hearing things like "Money doesn't grow on trees" or "Money is the root of all evil" or you saw your parents struggle to pay the bills on a monthly basis, then your default reaction to material things might be "I can't afford that". This leaves a negative imprint on your psychology because you associate money with feelings of scarcity, pain or even resentment. In an industry like trading, where you have to risk capital, regardless of whether you want to make money or not on a logical level, if you truly believe that money is scarce then this will override your logical thoughts and sabotage your ability to follow your plan.  Now that we have covered your relationship with money, we can move on to the concept of your financial thermostat. What is a Financial Thermostat?  Your financial thermostat is actually very similar to a regular thermostat!  The thermostat is set to keep your room temperature within a certain range - so the thermostat regulates the temperature automatically and will kick in to ensure it always remains in that pre-set range.  Think of your financial thermostat as the amount of money that you are comfortable with, the amount that you have set for yourself.   Let’s say the average American makes $36 k per year, which means that the monthly paycheque would come out to around $3000 - most Americans also live paycheck to paycheck so for example sake, the financial thermostat for an average American would be around $3k on the high end and say $250 on the low end.  When your bank account rises above your thermostat, let’s say you get a larger bonus than expected, for example, you find a way to blow the cash. When your bank account drops below your thermostat, you start to work harder, be more diligent and tighten up expenses to bring it back up. If you reflect on your own experiences with money, does this hold true?  This is why lottery winners usually end up right back where they started after several years - because they never worked on increasing their “default” settings on their financial thermostat.  The level of your financial thermostat determines the level of your wealth. This level may gradually expand over time but seldom, if ever, does it expand rapidly. The faster it expands, the more volatile you fluctuate between the upper and lower bounds of the range.  To bring it back to trading, if your money beliefs are such that you associate money with risk, scarcity, and danger, while you logically strive to make more money, can you see how this misalignment can create a conflict between what you think you want and what you actually believe you deserve?  How Does Your Financial Thermostat Manifest Itself in Your Trading?  There are a number of ways that your financial thermostat asserts itself in your trading and these include:  Position sizing - If you trade positions that make you emotionally uncomfortable, you effectively put yourself in a position where you are too scared to trade because you don’t want to lose money, so you scale back or don’t trade at all. On the flip side of the coin, if you trade too small, then you are not as engaged emotionally and this can lead to sloppy executions and straying away from your plan because the monetary rewards simply do not motivate you.  Self - Sabotage - you might get to a stage in your journey where you are starting to make money and have built up somewhat of a profit cushion. At this stage, you might be above your current financial thermostat range,  and as a result, you self-sabotage by telling yourself that you can take more drawdown now because you have a profit cushion, so you decide to increase the trading size, take on more risk per trade and aim for larger profit targets.  Practical Strategies to Adjust Your Financial Thermostat  The goal of adjusting your financial thermostat is to uncover all of the limiting beliefs living in your head that are hindering your prosperity and challenging them so that they no longer affect you!  The first step is awareness - whenever a situation involving money comes up, take a moment to observe these thoughts as a third party (literally see yourself outside of your body seeing observing these thoughts) and become aware of what you are thinking and/or feeling. When you think about the material things you desire, what kinds of feelings come up?  Do you feel like you deserve these things? By becoming aware of these thoughts, you allow yourself to identify where your financial thermostat is currently set.  The next step is to change how you speak to yourself once you become aware of the thoughts you are having! If you believe that you don't deserve something, then challenge that belief! Ask yourself why you believe that or a personal favorite, "Why are you arguing for your limitations?”.  Remember that limiting beliefs are deeply ingrained and while on the surface they seem like they might be against you; they are really there to protect you.  Your money thermometer might be set really low without your knowledge because your relationship with money might be that of disappointment or resentment, so your brain will try to protect you because it saw that money always brought you pain in the past. The next time you have a positive experience with money, reinforce it by using positive self-talk! The final step is visualization - Use a vision board to make compelling pictures of wealth and income, or of material goods that represent wealth. Take a few minutes every day in a quiet place to visualize your desires and how grateful you are for possessing them! Get very detailed here and don't be shy! If you want to make a million dollars trading, visualize seeing that balance in your brokerage statement. What would that feel like? What would you do with that money? Visualize all of these things in great detail until it feels real! You are now in the process of shaking out the values that don't serve you and replacing them with those that will!  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out George's Path to Profit book here 

As another new year approaches, most people have an idea of what they want to accomplish but their goals might just seem so out of reach, so out there, that it’s almost too intimidating to start.  We often assume that if we want to achieve big things, we need to take big action - but the problem with this approach is that the bigger the action you need to take, and the more drastic the difference is from your current way of doing things, the more likely it is that you will have trouble sustaining these actions in order to accomplish your goal.  But what if you focused on getting just 1% better each day and seeing how your results compound over the next year? That's exactly what we are going to be discussing in today's episode!  If you were to break down your big goals into tiny, sustainable daily actions that you can practice consistently then you might just be surprised with what you can achieve!  In the beginning, these small decisions might seem insignificant, but over time, the small improvements (or declines) begin to compound and the difference between the two camps becomes quite noticeable.  If you get only 1% better each day for just one year, then compounded, you will end up around 37 times better by the end of the year - on the opposite side of the coin - simply being 1% worse each day, compounded over a year, means you are 97% worse off. So imagine for a moment achieving a 3700% return on investment and in this case, that investment is YOU! Why Small Habits Make a Big Difference  The concept of improving only 1% a day seems negligible - but over the long run it can be very noticeable  The societal norm of instant-gratification these days means that small changes are often seen as insignificant  Coupled with the slow pace of seeing noticeable results leads many to let bad habits slide.  Similar to how every chemical reaction has activation energy, we can think of every habit or behavior as having activation energy as well No matter what habit you are trying to build there is a certain amount of effort required to start the habit In chemistry, the more difficult it is for a chemical reaction to occur, the bigger the activation energy For habits, it’s the same story; the more difficult or complex a behavior, the higher the activation energy required to start it For example, sticking to the habit of doing 1 pushup per day requires very little energy to get started, meanwhile, doing 100 pushups per day is a habit with much higher activation energy. It's going to take more motivation, energy, and grit to start complex habits day after day Regardless of whether you are successful or not at this moment in time, what truly matters is whether your habits are putting you on the road to success or veering you off the path Your current trajectory (daily habits) is more important than your current results as habits are the compound interest of self-improvement Your biggest breakthrough moments will occur as a result of many small actions that compounded over time will build up to make a huge change It is so hard to build the habits that last because we often expect progress to occur in a linear fashion and when things don’t occur as quickly as we’d like, we dismiss the habits as ineffective and throw them out the window  This line of thinking makes it easy to pass on the good habits for the comfort of the bad habits that you are already accustomed to. If you find yourself struggling to build habits or break bad ones, just understand that progress takes time and that your efforts are not wasted The period between taking small consistent actions and achieving noticeable improvements is coined by James Clear as the “Plateau of Latent Potential”  Once you break through this phase, people on the outside will see it as an “overnight success” but in reality, it’s the result of all the small actions that you took which makes today’s results possible How to Get 1% Better Each Day as a Trader  Small, Smart Choices + Consistency + Time = Radical Difference The first step is to have clarity on what your goals are and who you want to become and the lifestyle that you want to live  Create a larger vision of what you want to achieve - you can reference our goal setting episode #7 - Goals and Actionable Outcomes for the New Year to help you set NLP-based goals Reverse engineer your stretch goals into actionable small steps that you can execute daily  For example; If you want to develop your trading mindset, you can start by listening to one episode of this podcast per week and as you apply the strategies, you can increase your efforts to two episodes per week and so on and so forth and watch how much your trading mindset improves over the course of the year.  Over time these small smart choices made consistently will provide compounded results Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the book Atomic Habits by James Clear on Amazon

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing a topic that people don’t really talk about much in this industry and that is the fear of success and how it can be detrimental to your end goals as a trader.  Take a moment to reflect on this question:  “Do you fear your own success?”  You might be resistant to this idea at first because after all, why would you fear getting everything that you want? Sounds crazy, right?  But you might be surprised to find out that the fear of success is actually responsible for a lot of the self-sabotage that occurs in our pursuit of what we think we want.  Fear of success is easily confused with fear of failure as both can keep you from reaching your full potential; however, the main difference between the two is that the fear of failure has more to with beating yourself up for underperforming, whereas fear of success is more built in the anticipation of how others will react to your accomplishments.  It’s one of the hardest things to pin down so our goal today is to identify why it happens, how you can overcome it as a trader and how you can become more self-aware so that you can go about dealing with this effectively.  Why would you be fearful of achieving the things that you are working so hard for?  Definition: Fear of success usually doesn’t mean a literal fear of success. People fear the results and consequences of making lots of money, for example, not the money itself. On a conscious level, you don’t actually fear achieving success but at the subconscious level, you might be holding on to a script or limiting belief that is at play which you have to face and challenge.  The subconscious mind works to prevent that which it fears: If you have an unresolved and unreasonable fear of success Your subconscious mind will continue making what your logical mind believes to be mistaken, but the subconscious always overpowers logic and wins. 0.004% vs 96.996%. If you haven’t programmed your mind to succeed, then you have programmed it to fail, and it’s carrying out your orders without your conscious awareness!  (Train tracks example). So why do we fear success? Fear of success is something usually learned in the early years of our lives. It is linked to the beliefs and values that we pick up from parents and others and store at a subconscious level Our parents and friends coach us to avoid looking like losers, to do our best and to always be a winner.  These appear as stories that we tell ourselves at a logical level but when you peel back the curtains there is a deeper underlying belief at play  It is often linked to a low level of self-worth The fear of success can show up in your logical thoughts in the form of the following thoughts: Success will ruin your relationships with friends and family  People will think you are always showing off or bragging Success might not be all it's cracked up to be  You fear the added responsibility that success entails  You fear the changes that success will bring into your life What if I become somebody that I don’t like  When you take a deeper look, these thoughts can be linked to values and beliefs that you picked up in your early childhood years:  “Successful people are bad, evil, etc” “Successful and rich people are lucky, inherited” “You have to work hard to earn a mere living” “It’s lonely at the top” “I am not worthy of success” These kinds of beliefs can really hurt you in the pursuit of your goals because despite your best intentions on a conscious level, at the subconscious level, you do not really want to become that bad or evil person or become socially isolated, so in order to maintain your current status quo, you will self-sabotage your results. Now the reason that you self-sabotage is because your brain is a fan of certainty and changes represent the “unknown” and potential danger to you.  For example, if you believe that achieving the success that you want will bring about negative changes in your life then you will find a way to self-sabotage and become the only obstacle in the way of what you want and deserve. What Does Fear of Success Look Like?  While fear of success can manifest in many different ways, here are the common red flag signs to look out for:  You strive for perfectionism and when you fall short, it’s enough of a reason to not proceed forward. Have you been taught to always be a winner? Are you afraid of looking like a loser? Do you feel the need to win at all costs?  You set goals that don’t really scare you! If you tend to be the type of person that sets a low bar for your goals, you fear challenging yourself and the circumstances of accomplishing them  If you tend to procrastinate and stall just enough for good opportunities to pass  Just when you are on the verge of success you find reasons to quit Do you fear change and the unknown?  Fear of success is both painful and embarrassing because it can cause mixed emotions such as guilt, anxiety, and pressure.   Fear of Success Examples in Trading: I really don’t want to make $5,000 USD a day, I’m fine with just $100.  I just want to REPLACE my income.  Why not increase it? I’ll leave my job to trade full time when I’ve made $250,000 and am out-earning my current income. I’ve got self-doubt that I won't be able to make it. This is too good to be true, what if I am unable to make this last What happens when you finally do get money or get consistent profitability? You have not found what the next step is and you consider throwing in the towel.  Any moment that you start to find success, you find a way to mess up, sabotage, and give it all back. Where do these insecurities come from? A lack of self-worth.  If you don't feel worthy of success then we fear it and when we fear it we find ways to mess it up (self-sabotage) How Can One Overcome a Fear of Success?  Have goals that are lifestyle based, not money goals Reflect on your own past experiences with success and figure out what happened as a result  Are there any stories and beliefs that you adopted in your early childhood years that you’ve held on to?  Make a list of all the ways that you are sabotaging yourself to put it into focus. Once you can identify these behaviors you can put together a plan to counteract them.  Grab a pen and paper and write down the answers to the following questions: Get as clear on your "why" as possible.  “What do I want to do with my life?" “Why do I want to be a trader?” "What kind of experiences do I want to have?" "What kind of people do I want to surround myself with?" Use visualization to imagine your ideal lifestyle. Achieving a goal you have set, what might happen as a result of achieving that accomplishment, and different ways that you can go about dealing with it.  Find a community of like-minded positive people with high self-esteem that you can absorb so that you reframe your mindset. We’ve got a great community but it doesn't have to be with us!  In addition to the above tips, you may also find that making lifestyle changes can help with managing the stress and anxiety brought about by the fear of success. Some of the steps you can take include eating well, taking time to get active each day, making sure you get enough rest, and finally leveraging a journal to help keep you in touch with your feelings and gauge your progress.  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing a topic that we believe will help a lot of traders out and that is why every trade idea is not necessarily a trade that you should execute.  New traders as well as traders struggling to find consistent profitability tend to find themselves in a hamster wheel of frustration which occurs as a result of wanting to jump in on every single trade idea that they come across in an attempt to make as much money as possible as quickly as possible. The issue with this approach comes down to the simple fact that quality always trumps quantity and that the key to trading profitably is to only execute on the highest probability setups because that is where you have positive expectancy.  We always mention that making money is the easy part of this industry, the difficulty, and were a lot of traders struggle, is in keeping those profits as you continue trading!  The real difference between professional traders and unprofitable traders is that the professionals will pass on a potential trade idea if the market doesn’t give them exactly what they want to see, whereas the losing trader will take every single trade idea regardless of the quality of the setup.  Our goal today is to provide you with some actionable tips that you can use in order to find the right balance between identifying trade ideas and executing on only the best ones!  Before we get into trade ideas, let’s pull back the curtain on thoughts in everyday life and how those translate into trading:  It is estimated that humans have on average 6,200 thoughts a day A lot of these thoughts are ideas (hey I should clean my car, I’ll work out today, etc) You have 6.5 thoughts a minute - but how many of these thoughts turn to action? Very few - most of them enter our brain and exit without any meaningful action taken Trading ideas are the same It is a thought about the market - but it’s not a direct call to action, not every thought or idea will turn into a trade We look at trade ideas as opportunities…. but not all opportunities are the same, and not all deserve your capital and mental energy So what is the call to action for a trading “idea”? You have to filter out opportunities to find only the best ones One way to filter out these ideas is to use qualifiers You can’t expect to have the perfect qualifiers on your first trade ever, it takes screen time and experience to refine them The problem is these qualifiers change on market conditions A good strategy to apply is to talk aloud when qualifying a potential trade idea.  By doing so, we become the listener as well as the speaker. It gives our ideas greater objectivity - we become more aware of those ideas, it adds a layer of mindfulness to what we’re doing.  Let’s say I have an impulse to get long or short an asset because of the way it’s moving and I don’t want it to move against me.  If I say out loud what I’m thinking and what I’m about to do, immediately I can recognize if it sounds ridiculous: “This is not how I do my best money management, I’m being completely reactive.”  We get a layer of self-observation when we talk out loud that can be really useful. It makes us in a certain sense accountable.   The process from trade idea to execution can be broken down into two categories:  Trade Idea Formation - Morning mindset and wellness routine Pre-market preparation - news, market drivers, and catalysts Draw your levels of support and resistance Wait for the market to enter your level - this creates a trade idea, opportunity Qualify the trade using your engines (qualifiers, filters) Trade Execution - Use order flow to pick a good place to put in your limit order Once in a trade, manage risk until you’re at breakeven Then manage the winning side of the trade to run the profits Repeat Tips to help you transition from idea to execution Split the process into two jobs.  Job one is to be the analyst, do all your thinking and modeling in this time period.  These are steps 1 to 5 above.  Job two is to be the trader that executes the idea, stop thinking and worrying, all that should have been done by the analyst. Speak your ideas out loud to hear your thoughts and become more mindful of your intentions. The key idea here is that when you talk an idea out loud - whether to yourself or a fellow trader - you force yourself to put the idea into clear words and make it understandable. This forces you to not only speak the idea but to hear it as you are speaking it. This can give you a fresh perspective of what you're thinking and where your psychology is at! By observing your thoughts you become more mindful of your intentions. In this process, you might hear yourself talk out loud and realize the trade idea is not well-formed, other times you might be surprised at the conviction you have in the idea.  It's amazing how bad our worst ideas sound when we actually put them into words! Journal your trade ideas, not just your trades.  Write down your thought process, record what you were looking at, and how it ended up working out.  In the beginning, you can learn a lot about trading by journaling your process, this is “free learning” with zero risks. Remember that not every idea is a good trade.  The problem with new traders is they assume it is their job to be in a trade, but in reality, it is our job to be in the good trades. There is no perfect trade.  Many traders focus on finding a trade that is a risk-free, guaranteed winner. The problem is by the time everything looks perfect, it will be too late to enter, you missed the move.  It’s a business of risk management, not risk elimination. There SHOULD be risk in every trade, and you should feel like it’s “still a little risky”. The only thing that is 100% certain is the past, but it won’t make you any money.  The only time you will EVER KNOW how a trade will work out, is once it’s done.  Focus more on reading real-time order flow and less on trying to predict the future. Practice the process until you create a flow.  Go to replay mode, and work on repeating the trading process steps until the transition between idea and execution feel seamless and fluid.  Repetition is key until it becomes a habit, it will eventually become second nature.  If you suddenly feel fear when you are about to trade, this means you haven’t practiced enough, it’s a confidence issue due to feeling incompetent. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today's episode, we've got a special treat for you in the form of an interview with our very own oil desk manager, trader, and coach Stephen Box! Stephen joined TRADEPRO Academy back in 2017 as a veteran crude oil trader looking for a community of other professional futures traders to trade with. During one trading session shortly after joining, he volunteered to jump on the mic to share some of his analysis with the entire community of traders and the rest, as they say, is history! Stephen has since become the oil moderator in our trading room and for good reason! He's one of, if not, the best oil trader that we know! Stephen is an absolute gem and in today's chat, you'll get some great insight from his 30+ years of trading experience including how to bounce back mentally from a big trading loss, why pressurized trading is a recipe for disaster, the concepts of gambling in the markets, what it really is and the difference between gambling and trading. Here is a summary of what we discussed:  Stephens introduction to trading by way of physical silver coins 03:55 First realizing that successful trading is not just pure luck 07:01 Overcoming the values learned from parents that grew up through the Great Depression 13:10 Lessons learned from being long into 3 consecutive limit down days  20:55 Why you shouldn't put yourself in a position where you lose control 28:25 The psychology of specializing in trading a single market 36:40 Constantly adapting the trading process over the decades 42:00 The most dangerous thing that new traders don't know 46:56 The differences between degenerate gambling and skilled gambling 51:25 Building the discipline of self-awareness and walking away when emotions start to creep in 59:10 Pressurized trading; why money always follows the trading process and not the other way around 65:15 The psychology behind taking a loss on your first trade of the day 70:00  Why not every single trade idea in the session should be an actual trade 75:15 The most common myth in trading is that it's easy money 82:00 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how to break your bad trading habits so that you can finally achieve the results that you deserve!  Traders are constantly telling us that they are aware of the habits that are weighing them down but for one reason or another, they just can't seem to stop themselves from repeating them again and again.  These patterns occur at a subconscious level without our being able to control them and this can become frustrating very quickly and lead to trading on tilt which is when things can really start to spiral out of control.  Oftentimes, these bad habits are developed early on in the trading journey (especially if you stay in demo for too long) and will stick with you until you either face them head-on and change them or get frustrated enough with trading to decide that it's not for you and you exit the industry.  Our goal today is to help you identify some of the habits that are causing you frustration in your trading and to provide you with practical solutions to disrupt these patterns so that you can replace them with habits that will serve you!  What is a habit? What causes bad habits?  an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary In layman's terms; a habit is an action taken in the past that worked to solve a problem which the brain thinks is now acceptable to use for all relevant situations in the future Our brain is always seeking efficiency and will use habits that we have developed in order to deal with situations that it commonly face The purpose of every habit is to solve the problems that you face  The primary cause of bad habits is a way of dealing with stress and boredom  Bad habits address certain needs in your life  The Feedback Loop  There are four stages of a habit which are commonly referred to as a feedback loop, which is a continuous cycle that runs every moment you are alive The four stages of the feedback loop  include (1) Cue (2) Craving (3) Response (4) Reward The cue triggers the brain to initiate a behavior; it is about noticing the reward  The cravings are the motivational force of the habit - without it, you have no reason to act - you do not crave the habit but rather you crave the change in state that it provides (aka the reward) The response is the actual habit that you perform; it is about obtaining the reward  The reward closes the feedback loop and completes the habit cycle As it relates to trading, a good example of this would be someone that has the habit of adding to positions when they go against them  If this works ONCE, then your brain will remember that this action solved your problem before and it will use this habit again when faced with similar circumstances   Cue - A trade that goes into the red  Craving - You do not want to lose money on the position Response - You add to your position (martingale) in an attempt to get back to green  Reward - If the market returns and puts you back into the green Common Bad Habits in Trading:  Taking boredom trades because of lack of patience  Chasing trades due to FOMO  Revenge Trading  Moving stops and taking big losses  Cutting winners short  Risking too much on any given trade  Giving back profits throughout the trading session  How to Break a Bad Habit Each of the four stages mentioned earlier can be considered to be like a domino that influences human behavior. When one domino falls, it triggers a series of decisions that will either hurt or help you; this all happens within a fraction of a second  The first step to breaking a bad habit is awareness! Ask yourself: When does the bad habit actually happen? What triggers the behavior and causes it to start?  If you eliminate the cue, the feedback loop cannot start  If you reduce the craving, then you won’t experience the motivation to act  If you make the response (behavior) difficult, then you will not be able to do it  And finally, if the rewards do not satisfy your desire, then you won’t be motivated to do it again in the future Visualize your negative trading pattern as an enemy that is the ONE thing that stands in the way of your trading success:  visualize all the negative consequences it has caused you, all the emotional pain;  If you visualize something as your enemy, will you buy into it? NO  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how to use uncertainty as an opportunity to get outside of your comfort zone and grab your life and trading by the horns. As a species, humans hate uncertainty! In fact, all you have to do is look back to our prehistoric ancestors as proof!  Think about a caveman leaving the safety of the cave (which is the “certain”) and going out to forage for food. If the caveman came across a large and fierce animal that they’ve never seen before, the immediate reaction would be to turn and go the other way because they were uncertain if this creature would attack them and if their lives were potentially at risk.  The same holds true when you are trading because your subconscious brain cannot distinguish between the perceived danger to you caused by life or death situations or the fear of losing a trade or even the fear of being wrong.  Uncertainty makes us worry, it provides stress and anxiety simply because of all of the unknown possibilities of the things that can go wrong - which generally results in people viewing uncertainty as a bad thing. But where does that get you?  Stuck in the fear of the unknown! Uncertainty is can be an opportunity or an obstacle and our goal today is to help you see it as an opportunity! Pulling Back the Curtain on Uncertainty  Uncertainty is defined as: The state of being uncertain Something that is uncertain or causes one to feel uncertain There are some things that are inherently uncertain and then other things that make us feel uncertain. Being able to separate and know the difference between the two is going to be helpful. Facts are verifiable and observable, whereas states are interpretations of facts. There are many different ways to interpret facts and we cannot prevent ourselves from interpreting everything that happens around us. However, we can become aware of our interpretations. Two people can see the exact same event and interpret it as uncertain OR certain. Then, we can begin to have a choice in how we interpret. This can have a lot to do with whether we live in a state of certainty, uncertainty, or somewhere in between. The problem is the brain processes facts and beliefs through the same network, making it difficult to distinguish between the two.  This is why we all can stare a fact in the face and still deny it. The truth is malleable to the brain If you have a bias towards negativity, your brain will tend to interpret facts according to the worst-case scenario. Your interpretation of uncertainty creates thoughts, which then create reality. If you choose to interpret uncertainty and respond with fear, you activate fight or flight and it shuts off your prefrontal cortex, all rational thought ceases. The problem is many facts are not always uncertain, but we make them so and panic about the worst-case scenario, which is just one of many multiple options. The Role of Uncertainty in Trading  As traders, anything that occurs outside of our control can cost us money and weigh on our psychology Regardless of trading experience, anything can and will happen in the markets  Uncertainty usually creeps up for traders in the form of hesitating to take legitimate trading setups when they occur Traders that gravitate towards trading signals and external social mediums like Twitter and FinTwits are looking to outsource their uncertainty Uncertainty causes an internal conflict between the subconscious brain (which senses danger and triggers your fear response) while the logical brain is saying “ I want to be a trader” - this is why you hesitate to take your trading setups Strategies to Help Traders Deal with Uncertainty Be very clear on your trading setup - make it as binary as possible Don’t overcomplicate your strategy Reframe the way you look at trading by affirming that your job as a trader is to follow the trading plan and not focus on your P/L Understand that you will never totally understand what is going to happen next and that you don't actually need to!  Build positive attitudes towards different market conditions that might arise and the different challenges that trading them brings Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Quotes from Rande Howell over at Traders State of Mind

!n today’s episode we are going to be discussing how to handle trading losses like a winner because at the end of the day, it’s not about how much money you make but how much money you can keep, and if you can’t take a loss then sooner or later you will take the mother of all losses.  Why Traders Have Such a Hard Time Taking Losses As a society, we are conditioned to aim for a high percentage success rate A lot of us judge our self-worth on how often we are right which makes it difficult to accept being wrong and taking a loss  Fear is a stronger emotion than greed; when faced with the potential of taking a loss, we will usually gamble and lose much more instead of accepting the loss for what it is  Trading losses are guaranteed, but newer traders are often surprised when they happen Few traders focus on risk before reward so when they place a trade they focus on potential profits and are not expecting to take a stop; placing a trade is not accepting risk, placing a trade is taking the risk Learning to Take a Loss  Your beliefs and attitudes about what a loss means will have the biggest impact on you  If you take a loss personally and believe it affects your self-worth, then you will naturally have a difficult time taking a loss  A perfectionist trader will often see a loss as a failure and setback which makes taking any kind of loss a real challenge emotionally  Taking losses is not something that we enjoy but we have to accept the fact that losses are part of trading  Once you can accept this fact then you will be able to release the fear around it  Practical Strategies to Handle Losses Like a Winner  Build and refine a trading plan & strategy Before a trader can accept losses, they must be able to believe that they can produce profits, otherwise, each loss will seem like a roller coaster of emotions between life and death The only way to believe that a trading plan can produce profits is to test it in the markets and to build a track record; when there is a track record of success then the trader will understand that result of any individual trade means very little Without a track record, trading losses take on a much bigger meaning  Reframe your beliefs about losses  Losses are part in parcel of trading; the first step to handling them like a winner is to accept that challenges and setbacks are part of achieving anything worthwhile  Be grateful for the loss  Keep the bigger picture in mind  Remember that the result of any individual trade you take is irrelevant to the big picture  If you take 1000 trades over the course of a year, how important is a single loss in the overall context of things? Not very important!  If you detach yourself from the result and see a loss as a simple data point - something to learn from - then you will have an easier time accepting a loss for what it is  Evaluate your losses like a professional risk manager Create a persona for when you are reviewing your trades at the end of the day when you will be grading your execution of the plan  Imagine being a risk manager that is standing over your shoulder as you replay and evaluate your losses This can remove the “emotional” connection to the event so that you can focus on evaluating and identifying the key areas of improvement going forward Develop a routine after you take a loss  Take a moment to journal the trade immediately and reflect on how well or poorly you followed your process  Take a moment to give gratitude to the markets for the learning opportunity  You can give yourself a timer to stay out for a certain amount of time Take a deep breath, identify your next best trade, and fight back! Keep on Learning  Ask yourself; What have I learned from that experience? How will I use it to make me a better trader?  See the implementation of the learning from the loss as an investment in your future trading career  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

If you know anything about us, you’ll know that we enjoy studying disciplines outside of trading to see if there any transferrable skills that we can use to help build our mental edge as traders, and poker just so happens to be one of those cases! In today’s episode, Mark discusses some of the similarities between poker and trading and also breaks down some key lessons that professional poker players can teach us about successful trading. For those not familiar with the game of Texas Hold Em’ poker, players win by betting against other players until one person is left with the entire pot. The betting is based on the perceived value of the hand that they hold relative to what they believe the other opponents at the table have. There are several betting rounds between the flop, the turn, and the river and success take discipline, patience, and diligence! Interestingly enough some of the best candidates for Wall Street trading jobs back in the day happened to be professional card players because these individuals understood that if you managed risk accordingly and executed your edge with consistency, that you were not gambling, in fact, you were simply playing the ODDS! What are the synergies between trading and poker?  Risk  Poker players have a pot or stack When you have what you perceive to be a decent hand in poker, you will bet some of the pot Have to risk when you believe that you have a chance of success The guy that is betting loosely and playing each hand will get lucky from time to time but at some point, someone is going to have a much better hand and will clear him out. Traders have an account and will bet a certain portion of the account size when a setup forms as part of their trading plan If you are ill-disciplined and betting on whatever looks good, then you might survive for a while with proper risk management, but eventually, you will get wiped out Managing risk and tolerating large risk when the time is right Knowing when to put in a certain bet and when to go all-in; in poker, there are some formulas as it relates to correct bet sizing as a percentage of a pot that is in there With trading, the general formula is to risk no more than 1-2 % of your risk capital Patience When playing poker, you are looking for your best hand; eventually, you get a hand that you want to play and you can start betting some of your pot on it The amateur or hobbyist plays for the thrill whereas the professional plays to win In trading, you are waiting for your highest quality setups and you do not want to get involved in the market for the sake of action but only when your edge is present A lot of the time is spent sitting on the hands and doing nothing Self-Control or Awareness Both poker players and traders have to be self-aware of their emotions so that they do not impact their decision-making processes If you are swaying from one polarity to another (angry on one side; excited on the other side) you become vulnerable to going on tilt 3 Things that Traders can learn from Professional Poker Players: Disciplined Money Management  In poker, a player’s main challenge is to stay in the game long enough to have the chance at winning some big pots. To do this, stringent management of their chips is paramount! Going all-in can bring a big winning but it can also get you a quick exit if things don’t go your way. Proper bet sizing is important to stay in the game in the face of a streak of losing hands. The concept of “tilt” in poker describes a state in which sheer frustration with the game takes over and distorts one’s betting If a player were to go on tilt after each losing hand, overjoyed with winning hands, and irritated with mucked hands, they would be relatively easy to read and would be making decisions based on emotions instead of probabilities The goal is to win the game and not the individual hand In trading, a trader’s main job is to manage risk and to stay in the game long enough by cutting losers short and letting winners play out. Trading on tilt arises out of the expectations of a certain outcome; if a trader is not emotionally prepared for the possibility of losing, they will be thrown off by losses. By needing and expecting to win we set ourselves up for the tilt state Let the probabilities play out and accept there will be winning and losing periods The Pareto principle holds true for both these fields; 80% of gains come from 20% of trades or hands Professional poker players know to bet strong and add to their bets when they hold a strong hand Requires a willingness to NOT play  The best poker players know when to hold 'em and when to fold em They don’t make bets when the odds aren’t on their side If a player has a poor hand, they can “muck” it which simply means fold and wait to bet on a better hand Good players know there are times to bet and not to bet; they will bet when the odds are in their favor and when they perceive weakness among other players at their table In trading, you can decide when to bet or not bet and you can also decide how much to bet if you plan on doing so. If a poker player played every single hand they were dealt, over time the odds would catch up with them and they would lose their entire stake You can't win at poker until you master the art and science of not playing Consider the prior market action as cards you are dealt and the current market behaviors representing the new cards being revealed. As a trader, you will want to stand aside if market conditions do not reflect good opportunities as defined in your trading plan. Knowing when to play and how aggressively to play are major elements of success in both professions If you only traded on the days when you have the “odds” in your favor, how would your experience change? How many days would you “muck”? Winning requires knowing who your up against  In poker, the way that you bet will vary greatly based on who you are playing against. You’ll bet differently playing against amateurs at the local casino versus playing the masters against tournament professionals. Successful poker players learn to spot patterns and tells of the players they are up against and will use these as considerations to make betting decisions. In poker, you are always betting against what other people are thinking and trying to get into your opponent's heads Example of Daniel Negreanu and how he gets into the heads of his opponents by talking to them about the hands that he believes they have Subtle tells around the table will tell the poker player it's OK to bluff with a relatively weak hand. Similarly, traders have to learn how to understand the psychology of those who they are trading against, and this is displayed visually on the charts. By understanding who you are up against and identifying when they are “trapped” in the markets, you are able to increase your probabilities of success.  By getting “into the head” of competitors you are able to make better-informed trading decisions. Those that are best in predicting price action are the best at predicting people; the market is effectively social; value is a collective social perception. Poker players and short-term traders need to have an edge and know what it is, but they also have to be able to use real-time judgment as to when to proceed with so-so odds. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how traders can use meditation to improve their trading and their lives!  You often hear us talking about how important mindset is for trading success and one of the best ways that you can build and maintain a positive mindset is by meditating regularly.  Just like our bodies require an ample amount of rest through sleep, our minds also require a “rest” from the thousands of thoughts we have on a daily basis and meditation gives your mind that rest so that you can remain more calm, focused and productive throughout your day!  What is Meditation?  A tool to manage stress and control reactions to stressful situations  “A practice where an individual uses a technique, such as focusing their mind on a particular object, thought or activity, to achieve a mentally clear and emotionally calm state”  You observe your thoughts, release them and then return your awareness to a focal point  The act and practice of focusing your awareness on the present moment  What Meditation is not?  It’s not sitting at a pool and relaxing  It’s not going to the gym or getting in the zone Meditation is not relaxing but it IS relaxing  What are the benefits of meditation?  Builds mental health  Prevents mental decline  Increases awareness  Increases alpha wave activity  Increases happiness while reducing negative emotions (helps with depression)  Improves focus, attention, and the ability to work under stress  Improves information processing and decision-making  Improves mental strength, resilience, and emotional intelligence Why Should Traders Consider Meditation?  Lots of emotional strain as a result of monetary gains and losses  Emotions live on thoughts  The cycle traders often fall into is feeling anxious or happy which gets you thinking about money and your emotional state interferes with market analysis as a result Helps to become more relaxed and to bring yourself back to the present when the brain is distracted by emotions  The chief benefit of meditation for traders may be to ground us in the now, allowing us to make decisions based upon present-centered awareness, rather than past and future concerns over profits and losses How to get started with meditation?  Choose a time of day when you will be able to meditate; the best times for traders are shortly after waking up and/or pre-market!  Choose a quiet and comfortable place that you can meditate safely without any noisy distractions Start off with guided meditations to get more comfortable with meditating; you can download apps such as Calm, Headspace or Insight Timer for free to start or use Youtube to find solid choices.  Start with a 5-minute meditation and build this up as you get more comfortable with the practice; ideally, you will get up to 15-20 minutes+ on a daily basis  When you are first starting it is common for your mind to wander; if this occurs, notice your mind wandering and then gently guide yourself back to focusing on your breathing Some of my favs include Peak Performance visualization by Rebecca Smith & Empowered Performance by Shannon Reinard Demko Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the 10 Minute Deep & Powerful Higher Self Guided Meditation on Youtube here Some of Mark's favorite guided meditations on Insight Timer include: Peak Performance visualization by Rebecca Smith & Empowered Performance by Shannon Reinard Demko

Today's episode is a big milestone for us at TRADEPRO Academy as we mark the 50th episode of this podcast! To celebrate, we wanted to do something different, something that you guys have been asking for and we are excited to finally be able to deliver it to you! We recently sat down with one of our most successful TRADEPRO students, Ryker Savage, for a great discussion on his trading journey since finding TRADEPRO Academy, how he uses technology to help him stay on top of his trading psychology and how his lifestyle has changed since finding success trading the futures markets! Ryker originally hit our radars in our morning trading room one day when he commented to the panelists that he had made a sizeable chunk of money on the session and was extremely grateful for the resources and support that we provide to our community! Fast forward a couple of weeks later and we received a notification of a new review posted to our TRADEPRO Academy business page on Google, in which Ryker mentioned that in a few short months he had gone from knowing nothing about day trading to making good money in only a couple of minutes a day. The next time we heard from Ryker, we received an email with a picture of a beautiful beach house attached to it...it turns out that he had used some of the profits he made from trading to invest in a vacation home in the Caribbean...talk about living a TRADEPRO lifestyle! Ryker's journey has been nothing short of remarkable! What is most impressive is how quickly he was able to learn the foundations and concepts that we teach and apply them in the live market environment with great success! But after listening to this episode, you'll understand that this wasn't a fluke or luck by any means! Ryker has committed his entire being to develop his craft and today you'll get some great insight into the mindset and routines of a full-time professional trader. Here is a summary of what we discussed:  Views on money as opportunity and the concept of freedom tickets 03:15 The initial challenges Ryker faced when starting his trading journey 08:30 Transferring risk management skills from a previous career into trading 13:00 Why having trust in yourself is paramount when making risk decisions  16:45 The importance of a positive relationship with risk 19:15 Why Ryker considers himself an adaptive trader 23:13 Using a heart rate monitor to stay on top of mental capital and physiology 25:30 Why Ryker uses virtual reality goggles to perform his technical analysis 30:50 How Ryker determines when to step on it and when to walk away from the screens 34:20 If you are not confident enough to trade your strategy live, what good will sim trading do you? 37:50 Making the decision to scale up the trading account and the process around it 41:47 The "lost capital" approach to prevent being over-protective of capital 47:00 Why managing your expectations and focusing on the process always wins in the long-term 54:00 The lifestyle Ryker gets to enjoy as a full-time trader 60:00 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the HeartMath Heart Rate Monitor that Ryker mentioned here

One of the common struggles that most traders face is how to strike the right balance between overtrading and undertrading. In today's episode, we discuss how to define overtrading and undertrading so that you can better understand how each of them can impact your mindset and psychology as well as your trading account. We've got you covered  too because we also speak on how you can identify overtrading and undertrading in real-time and some fixes you can implement to help manage the risk and keep yourself in that fine balance! What is over trading and under trading in reference to? The market conditions High volatility means more trades Less volatility means less trades It’s important to recognize the change in volatility and to adjust accordingly If a market range in the SP500 is 100 points….10 trades isn’t bad If it’s in a 4 point range in the summer… 10 trades is too many Remember - it’s always easy to call it over or under trading after the fact - it’s important to work on identifying it in the real time before it happens Quick Tips on How to Measure volatility: Every asset has its’ own personality and screen time will help you create a more accurate measure of volatility Futures:   overnight ranges - high and lows  (higher number more volatility) Session trading volume Stocks 52 week price range Implied volatility Beta What are the cons of overtrading?  Abandoning the trading plan and trading emotionally  Trading based on “feeling” versus trading based on a tested plan  Eating up any profits with excess commissions  Closing winning trades too early and/placing stops too close to entry > leads to increased number of trades and costs  What are the cons of undertrading?  Staying in a fear focused mindset - protecting capital and could be a sign of a scarcity mindset Constantly missing opportunities which causes FOMO and can get you chasing right when you should be out of the trade  (trick yourself like you’re in mindset) Opportunity cost of your capital, and most importantly YOUR time Putting too much importance on any given trade - puts pressure and stress on having to be right all the time Will say things like “my plan tells me to get in and I didn’t” or “Why didn’t I take that trade?”  Subconscious mind might not believe the plan you have in place is the best plan for you How Do You Identify Overtrading In Real-Time?  Are you outside of your daily limit for trades? Is each trade according to plan? Am I trading the process or based on the result of the last trade?  How to Fix Over Trading: Add another qualifier to your setup Set a finite limit of trades daily  Replay the days of over trading  Journal every single trade with screenshots and full explanations  Accountability Partner How Do You Identify Undertrading In Real-Time?   If you miss two valid setups that you were unable to disqualify then you are likely undertrading the session.  How to Fix Under Trading: Stop thinking so much Market Replays Journal the missed trades Start the session with the smallest size position Entry criteria might be too restrictive  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be identifying some of the reasons why traders have difficulty following their trading plans and offering some tips on how you can effectively follow your plan.  Trading is the hardest easy money you can make and when done right you will be doing a lot of things that are unnatural to you which is one of the reasons that make following your trading plan so difficult!  Before we provide some effective ways to actually follow your plan, let's first peel back the curtain on why we as humans tend to make plans but fail to follow through: Humans are procrastinators by nature - our brains prefer instant rewards to long term payoffs.  The Akrasia Effect - a Latin term coined by Socrates and Aristotle- describes the human tendency of acting against your better judgment. It's when you do one thing even though you know you should do something else - similar to how you know you shouldn't take that trade because it doesn't fit your plan but you still do it anyways! If you cannot tolerate boredom, then you might take boredom trade instead of following your plan to satisfy that short-term need to trade. When you are planning you are doing so in your future self - however, when it comes time to make a decision, you are now in the moment and the brain is thinking about present self not future self and the present self really likes instant gratification, so it will intervene the long-term payoff for the instant fix!  Sometimes when we make plans or even take a step toward achieving them, the anxiety that drove you to create the plan in the first place gets greatly decreased - research shows that planning our goals is almost like actually achieving them- if the subconscious considers the source of anxiety as handled you may lose focus of the real reason for the plan. When you fail to follow through on your plan, the subconscious mind knows the real reason you made those plans and that they are not a good enough reason to actually do the work required to follow through and execute on the plan.  You don't follow through on plans because you don't know how you work best if you’ve been trying to make what other people do fit you. During the planning process, things are static and there is much less stress when info is known and unchanging, whereas when it is time to act in the present moment, you are working with variables that might not be known to you at the time which can cause more stress and anxiety as you look to execute. Now that you are more familiar with some of the reasons that we as humans have difficulty following through on plans, let's focus our attention on the most effective ways to actually follow through and execute your plan: Build a plan that you TRUST fully  Markets don’t follow any rules; when we don’t have rules we go by instinct and instincts don't do well for us in trading!  Following rules can be extremely difficult to do consistently when there is real money on the line. The biggest challenge for new traders is to build a plan that accounts for ALL possible scenarios that can occur during a single session  Having a plan doesn’t mean that you will trust it - how can you trust it? Follow it for at least 90 days and see if it produces positive result Find an Accountability Partner   This is one of the biggest reasons we recommend joining a trading community !  Most people will do whatever it takes to avoid being embarrassed or look like a fool to others; social pressure is a strong force we deal with as humans.  Share your plan with an accountability partner or a friend/family member that will keep you accountable if you do not follow your own plan.  Lifestyle Choices + Diet  How you do one thing is how you do all things!  You need to get into the “trader’s mindset” when trading by eliminating distractions so that you can stay focused!   Determine what your active “working hours” will be and make it a priority to limit distractions during that time  The food you eat and drink should not make you tired and should make you more alert; eat whole foods and hydrate with lots of water.  Encourage Yourself with Positive Self-Talk  The way you speak to yourself is going to determine how well you follow your plan or not!  It takes discipline to do this; pay attention to how you speak to yourself and focus on encouraging yourself to follow the plan and be supportive of yourself if you make a mistake .. you are human after all! Make sure to check out Episode 39 on the topic of Eliminating Negative Self-Talk to Improve Your Trading  Identify the Specific Short-Term Needs that Overshadow your Trading Rules & Brainstorm Constructive Ways of Addressing These Needs  If you tend to overtrade when the market is slower, then you desire stimulation and by creating stimulating activities during the trading day you can avoid unwanted market activity. If you wait for absolute perfection in setups before acting then your short-term needs are that of safety and security and you will not execute unless you "believe" in what your are doing.  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

Whether you are already consistently profitable or are a breakeven trader struggling to achieve consistent profitability, there will come a time ( or many) in your journey, when you feel that all the effort you are putting into trading is not providing that steady improvement in results that you instinctively know you deserve.  If you’ve been trading for any bit of time and have stopped seeing improvements in your trading or your results have started to “flat line” then you are likely at a plateau in your journey - you will know this to be true because you will almost feel “stuck” with a certain result or lack thereof. Plateaus can be extremely frustrating to deal with so if you are going through one in your current journey, then this episode is meant to help you understand this process so that you can break through it and level up your trading!  So what is a plateau? It's a state of little or no change following a period of activity or progress. As it relates to trading, an example might be a trader that can consistently make $200/day but when they try to increase their daily profit target to say $400/day, they find themselves really struggling to produce similar results.  Or a trader struggling to find consistent profitability that can locate great trades but manages to fumble the trade management leaving them with less than desirable results.  When a trader reaches a plateau, they effectively have two decisions that they can make:  Quit  Develop the mental edge to level up  Let’s break this down in more detail:  When a trader starts their trading journey, they are in it to win it and they tend to see results relatively quickly - these results aren’t necessarily profits at first, but they are signs of improvement - such as learning to identify market structure and planning out trade ideas to seeing those trades playing out as per their analysis.  After some time learning this they will take to sim trading to practice their strategy and that might go well for them too - leading to funding their first live account! The journey up until this point is rewarding because there are steady improvements that the trader can observe which offers further motivation to keep pursuing the goal of consistent profitability.  However after some time in the live markets, the results might not be the same as what they were in the demo because real money is on the line! So now instead of seeing daily improvements and feeling good about the progress, the trader may start to focus on their results (or lack thereof) and get discouraged because they are not making money - in fact, they are losing money and confidence.  This is a normal part of the journey and the unfortunate reality is that a lot of retail traders never really give themselves a real chance at success before deciding to quit at this point. However those that endure this stage are the ones that double down on their efforts and continue to push forward towards their goals regardless of their current results; Those that get frustrated stop working as hard or eventually quit.  This same thing is often seen in athletes that make massive improvements in their performance early on in training or in the active season only to see these improvements slow down or even come to a halt as the season progresses.  Do these athletes quit? No - that’s not even a consideration! Instead, they focus on making small changes that will help them overcome the plateau in order to level up and that’s exactly what we’re going to discuss next!  Steps You Can Take to Break Through a Trading Plateau  Understand the process; improvements and progress are often followed by regressions and plateaus, this is a natural cycle. To break through the plateaus will require some growth and will lead to another period of improvements that will eventually taper off again and lead to another plateau. IF you cannot accept this fact then you might want to reconsider trading!  Do Not Be a Complainer; If you are sitting around and complaining about your circumstances or challenges then you are living in effect of your external environment and giving away control to make the required changes; shift to living at cause and working towards abundance  Your Biggest Improvements Happen When You Are Not Trading: The biggest strides in your journey happen not when you are actually trading but what you do with the time when you are not trading! If you hit a plateau in your trading, then you should be spending time outside of market hours working on your trading plan,studying and reviewing your trading journal to find strengths and weaknesses and inefficiencies that you can optimize to get you to the next level.  Watch The Markets; Just like athletes review game tape to understand their opponents, you should take some time to just watch the markets without actually trading in order to recalibrate and get a pulse on the markets. When there is no skin in the game it affords you the opportunity to observe the market objectively and identify where you might be going wrong in your approach.  Find a Mentor; Just like tiger woods has a driving coach and steph curry has a shooting coach, a mentor can help you overcome trading plateaus by identifying your strengths and weaknesses and working on these  Consistency is KEY - The most important thing in busting through trading plateaus is to create a process and stick to it regardless of the short-term results; when you only focus on the results, you cloud your judgement , instead focus on the process and executing it flawlessly.  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking on the topic of the most effective ways to overcome analysis paralysis!  Analysis paralysis is one of the most common problems that we are going to face as traders; in fact, this is something that we dealt with during the earlier stages of our careers and we’re sure that a lot of you listening are going to deal with it at some point in your journey if you have not already experienced it!  If you find it difficult to jump into the markets or you are too afraid to make a trading decision to buy or sell then you have likely suffered from analysis paralysis!  So what exactly is analysis paralysis?  Investopedia defines this as “a situation in which an individual or group is unable to move forward with a decision as a result of overanalyzing data or overthinking a problem”  When relating this back to trading, analysis paralysis occurs any time our thinking about performing gets in the way of our actual performance. Regardless of your experience level, nobody is safe from analysis paralysis, however, with the tips we will share throughout this episode, you will be better able to overcome it! Analysis paralysis typically occur for rookie traders when they are trying to do everything under the sun and as a result they end up doing a whole lot of nothing.  Reflecting on our own journey, when Mark first started learning about the markets and doing research, he believed he found the holy grail in indicators - his charts were cluttered with indicators such as moving averages, RSI, MACD and Stochastics and he struggled with pulling the trigger because of conflicting signals from these indicators.  For more experienced traders, analysis paralysis can often occur after a streak of losing trades - especially when the thought of losing the next trade sits front of mind and the trader passes on valid, potentially winning setups. Why Do Traders Suffer from Analysis Paralysis?  People prefer to have more choices; we are wired to believe that the more options we have the better the decision we can make  Leads to information overload and difficulty in making a decision The less options we have the more likely we are to make a decision  How to Avoid Analysis Paralysis  Get rid of the idea that all of your trading decisions have to be perfect Simplify Your Trading Plan Declutter Your Charts and Keep Only What is Necessary Use Visualization  Focus on the Present Turn off the TV Use Market Replay to Build Muscle-Cell Memory Don’t Risk Money You’re Afraid to Lose  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, George speaks on some of the lessons that he learned during his time as trader for an international bank in Canada including why he ultimately left the gig to pursue independent trading and focus on TRADEPRO Academy!  Here are the 9 lessons George learned from 7 years in the trading department at Scotiabank 1. The average person doesn’t know what a trader does (09:41)  But assumes they make a ton of money You only have your colleagues to relate with And then your life is all about work and hanging with work friends 2. Rich people don’t always make money (12:15) But they are better investors Because they know business   Dealt with a lot of high networth clients The ones with the most money we heard from the least The $1,000 accounts were daily calling in with fee waivers, etc 3  Retail investors have great ideas, and bad timing (16:19)  They are the frontline consumer They have the most touch points with end products Yet they follow advice of people who advertise themselves as advisors They allow emotions to destroy their otherwise profitable ideas 4  Most investors trade on news outlets (21:23) Reports in media We’d read them at desk and predict market flow But in opposite direction 5. Professional trading doesn’t mean what you think it does (25:41) You have to pre-clear your personal trades  Plus blackout periods You go to the back of the order queue Compliance reviews your account statements and limits where you can open a brokerage account Proprietary trading is different - you are trading bank capital Dodd Frank eliminated most of that at banks Few true prop firms left - most are just churning traders and banking on commission and desk fees 6. Trading is just a sales job (34:03) Most bank traders clean customer flow High networth clients get “trade ideas” from their advisors Advisors read reports from the analyst desk Advisors make money on commission, not your profi so they are incentivized to turn over the book 7. You are mostly a shrink for your clients (41:35) You listen to their stories Some are great Most are bad and negative energy 8. Very few retail traders win  The more trades and activity  (DARTS, which is how brokers make money) The bigger the loses over the long term  9. The technology and systems that enable you to trade are CRAZY (49:40) Very sophisticated behind the scenes It appears as hey “I bought apple” But the inner workings are insane It’s all about lowering commissions Which in turn compresses revenue And forces brokers to have to be on the edge of “doing what’s best for your client” Why George left the bank (52:25)  We weren’t helping clients win We were helping them trade the wrong way and lose their savings We didn’t work for YOU, we worked for the bottom line of the bank It made me sick to witness it And I had a passion to help and to build this industry up I didn’t wanna just be a part of the system I wanted to shape it and innovate Hopefully I’ve delivered, and will continue to How you can succeed as a retail trader: (55:10) Join a community - be a sponge Find a product that works for you Create a trading plan Test it on sim  Trade it live Review, adjust and adapt Stay in a trading community (or create your own) Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast  

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing whether you should trade one market or many markets when you start your trading business.  A lot of new traders tend to spin their wheels by jumping from market to market, whereas the majority of consistently profitable traders focus on trading one market exceptionally well rather than try to trade whatever’s hot!  If you have been struggling with finding consistency in your trading, this episode has been created for you! So to trade one market or many markets - that is the question! Unfortunately there is no cookie-cutter answer to this and it really depends on where you are in your trading journey!   Before digging into this, let’s have a quick look at some of the benefits and drawbacks of trading one market versus trading multiple markets. Trading One Market  You become a specialist; the more screentime and experience you get with one market, the more you pick up on different nuances (identifying moods of market participants, key levels that are being defended, etc)  Prevents overtrading - most traders lose money because they trade way too much!  Manage risk and exposure more effectively  Reduces the temptation to trade if there are no quality setups to trade Easier to build consistency in execution of process  Drawbacks  You might start to force trades out of boredom if there are no valid trading opportunities present If other markets are moving and your market is not, you may feel like you are missing out on potential profit opportunities (FOMO)  You’re not gonna be cool at parties - but you will be among the most successful Trading Multiple Markets  Potential to make more profit when compared to trading a single market   More trading opportunities on a daily basis Less likely to force trades out of boredom or FOMO  Drawbacks  Harder to manage risk effectively across multiple markets due to various tick values and margin requirements  Mental capital drains a lot faster when tracking multiple markets  Analysis paralysis can become an obstacle especially if there are setups forming at the same time  in multiple markets Often leads to tail chasing - you become a jack of all trades and master of none!  Now that we've identified some of the benefits and drawbacks of trading a single market versus trading multiple assets, let's focus on where you should start depending on where you are in your trading journey.  If you are a new trader, then you will want to start with trading one market!   This reason for this is if you haven’t found consistency in your results or if you're still losing money in one market, then adding more markets to your plate will only drain your account three times as fast. In order to give yourself the best chance to survive and thrive, you will want to first build consistency in executing your process in one market.  Once you have several months of consistent profitability under your belt in one market, then you could look to add a second market to your daily routine.  When considering which market to add to your arsenal, its a good idea to make it one that is correlated to your primary market.  So if you specialize in trading the S&P500 e-mini futures, you might consider adding a market like the Nasdaq futures (positively correlated) or something like the 30-year US Treasury Bond futures (inversely correlated). This way your knowledge of your primary market will transfer over via the relationship to the other market! Most experienced traders have a go-to market to trade but will also trade one or two other markets when there is volatility because movement is opportunity. If you are an experienced trader with a few years of trading experience and a track record of consistent profitability then you will have a bit more flexibility with trading multiple assets.  You'll notice seasonality and patterns across different markets and specific months where there is likely to be volatility in a certain asset.  A great example of seasonal patterns is the gold market! Unless there is a major risk-off appetite in the global markets, the gold market is somewhat lacklustre to trade throughout the year except for the Diwali holiday in November.  During this month, the gold market tends to experience more volatility due to increased demand for the precious metal.  Experienced traders know this seasonal pattern so they may also look to trade Gold during this period while still trading their favorite market - best of both worlds!  You might be asking, "If I will be trading one market does that mean that I should ignore all of the other markets?"  The answer to this is NO and here is why:  Trading a market is where you will be risking capital for trades according to your plan, whereas following markets is just keeping a tab on them. In today’s global markets you have to watch more than what you trade and what you follow depends on your strategy!  How to Choose the Right Market for You Most people make the mistake of choosing the market that they are first introduced to by their YouTube guru, but in reality, the market that works for you depends on your schedule and your strategy!  The first thing to determine is what times you can commit to trading:  During the London session, forex and metals are the most active markets you might consider trading.  If you can trade during the New York session, then you might consider focusing on equity futures, crude oil futures and/or bond futures.  If you can only trade during the Asia session then you might consider trading forex.  Another consideration is your strategy!  If you are trading a high volatility strategy, then trading gold in Asian session won’t produce nearly the same results as trading gold in London session.  In this scenario, you might consider trading the AUD/JPY pair which is most active during the Asian session.  While there are many different markets that you can choose to trade, we suggest starting with the market that has the most volatility in your planned “trading work schedule” so that you can work on applying patience and proper risk management while taking advantage of daily opportunities!  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, Mark discusses the syndrome that prevents many new and experienced traders from finding the consistent profitability that they desire!  This is actually something that people experience in many different facets of life (outside of trading) but it holds especially relevant as it relates to trading.  Mark personally experienced this when he started his trading journey and it wasn’t until he stopped to reflect on his results (or lack thereof at the time) that he realized he had also fallen victim to it!  What is "it"? It's the shiny ball syndrome. You may have heard it called something different; maybe shiny object syndrome, but regardless what you want to call it, it is the phenomenon where a person constantly changes their focus from one thing to another everytime they see a new “shiny ball” of potential opportunity.  Are you somebody that commits all of their focus and energy on something and as soon as you lose motivation or things don’t go as planned, you jump ship to the next “opportunity” and start from scratch all over again?  This is the shiny ball syndrome at work! Most people that fall trap to it spend a lot of time and energy on what they want but don’t get anywhere!  It’s human nature to want the best options so it makes logical sense that we go for the one that looks the best - the issue is that what we believe looks the best right NOW might not really be the case! People that suffer from shiny ball syndrome tend to give up too early on the things that really matter to them - that’s why they are stuck in a constant loop of frustration - because they lose sight of what’s important to them and focus on external forces instead of working on the internal operator. They do not give themselves enough time to let things play out so that they can reap the rewards!   Most people’s plans to achieve their goals looks relatively simple in their heads. They say I am at point A and I want to get to point B (mastery), which is the end goal. They wholeheartedly believe the journey is going to be a straight path from point A to B  but unfortunately we know this to be extremely rare in reality.  Now to paint a picture of the reality -  imagine that same path from point A to B as a road, however, this time around the shoulders of this road are cluttered with distractions that act as magnets to throw you off of your course.  You have to build strong commitment walls to protect yourself from any outside influence so that you can remain on the path to your end goal. As it relates to trading, new traders typically start off their journey looking to become proficient in trading the first market they are introduced to. On their path to mastery, they will inevitably run into distractions and obstacles that will ultimately determine whether they will find success or continue to spin their wheels without accomplishing much. If things don't work as expected right away, they may start looking for different trading strategies on YouTube or another asset class to trade in search of finding that holy grail. These all become distractions that drive them away from consistency - afterall, how can you be consistent with your trading if the only thing you do consistently is change things up? If you have been trading for any amount of time and not achieving the results you want then ask yourself this, "Am I being consistent in my approach or am I always searching for the next best thing to level up?" If you answered with the latter, then you are likely falling victim to shiny ball syndrome. Fear not because identifying this is actually a huge first step towards correcting course! Here are the next steps that you can take to overcome shiny ball syndrome:  Understand that results do not come overnight; it is a marathon and your expectations have to be set accordingly Develop a strong “why” statement for why you are trading; what are you trying to accomplish and how will you serve others with the profits you make? Keep this front of mind daily! Reframe your mindset from one of lack to an abundance mindset; this will provide your "internal operator" with the foundation to achieve your goals and remain positive in the event of setbacks. Shift from living in effect of things to living at cause for your life; this is an opportunity for you to take accountability of your current reality and to stop blaming external forces which gives you ultimate control! Focus on the process instead of the result; if you are solely focused on the results then you will not commit to the journey when things don't happen how you might want them to. Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing the characteristics of gambling traders versus the characteristics of professional traders with the goal of helping you identify if you are trading or gambling! This episode is not ABOUT you, it is for you! The discussion that we will have is meant to help raise your awareness of patterns that might be holding you back from achieving the success that YOU deserve!  Many people believe that trading the stock market is a form of gambling. Think about this and ask yourself what your opinion of this is?  Have you ever thought trading is gambling? If so, where did this belief come from?  We hear it all the time, “The stock market is nothing but a gamble” - “Trading is as good as going to the casino and betting all in on red” - “Day trading is gambling” For many who trade the market, gambling is exactly what they are doing - but is it correct to say that trading IS gambling?  Before we can differentiate between the gambling trader and the pro, it’s important that we dispel this myth that trading is gambling!  What is gambling? Wagering money on an unexpected outcome with the intent of winning money  If you take this definition literally, then you might consider trading to be gambling but consider this; everything in life is a gamble if we define it by taking a calculated risk in everything we do, and we do that 100s of times per day without realizing it. Getting out of bed in the morning and going to the office, there is a chance that you get hit by a bus; that's a gamble, isn’t it? Same with going out for dinner! The chicken might have salmonella which can get you sick. That’s a gamble too right?  In our opinion Trading is NOT gambling:  Why? You have a sense of control  The sense of control has nothing to do with the actual outcome (which is why people consider it gambling) One important difference between day trading and going to the casino is that when you go out to gamble, you have a negative expected return because the house has the edge.  In trading, you can replicate the edge that the house has by controlling your risk and by controlling your trade management. A majority of people that come into this industry treat the markets like a casino with a gambling mindset because of unfit expectations that they can make money overnight, get riches, quit their job, and buy their dream car.  This is why the majority of traders, over 90%, are consistently losing money! Because they have unfit expectations and they do not have any structure.  Successful trading is about consistency! Especially as it relates to trade and money management.  It allows you to determine positive expectancy  Now that we’ve dispelled that myth, let discuss some of the main characteristics of a gambling trader!  Many people who call themselves “traders” are operating in a gambling mindset and these are some of the main characteristics to distinguish the approach between a gambler and a professional trader: The Gambler  Wants to be in the market at all times - treats trading like an addiction Does not have a trading strategy and trades on emotion Does not treat trading like a business (no business plan in place - does not track and review trades in a journal) Lacks education and/or knowledge of the financial markets and trading Trades with money they can’t afford to lose which puts them in a state of despair Which leads to wild mood swings on a daily basis When is trading NOT gambling - The Professional Traders  Do the work and put together a business plan  Have a clearly defined set of rules for trade and risk management  Understand their expectancy and strike rate Follow their rules even when emotions take over  Remain objective in analysis and execution Focus on process and how well they executed the process  We invite you to take this information and identify where you stand so that you can work on your internal operator and approach the markets with a bulletproof mindset!  Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we speak on ego and trading, more specifically, what the ego is, warning signs that ego is getting in the way of your trading, and finally some rules to help you keep your ego under control while trading! Most people that enter this industry believe that the markets are against them, when in reality, they are the ones holding themselves back from success! This happens beneath the surface because of the ego!  While you can’t trade without ego, for the majority of traders, their ego is working against them and not for them. Have you ever asked considered the question “Do I want to be right or do I want to make money”?  Most people would believe that if you are right, then you are going to be making money - but this isn’t really the case!  How many times has it occurred that you might have an idea for a trade and then you execute the trade, get stopped out, and then the market goes in the direction of the trend without you onboard?  You were right - right? But did you make money? Probably not - you actually lost money AND you were right at the same time. How does your ego handle that? If you are like most people - your sense of self is in the thought of the loss and that taps into all the previous times you failed and felt a similar pain which leaves you vulnerable to start trading emotionally and can become a very slippery slope quickly!  So let’s get started by first defining the word EGO: “Ego is your idea or opinion of yourself, especially your feeling of your own importance and ability”;  The Ego is the part of a person’s mind that tries to match the wishes or desires of the unconscious mind with the demands of the real world. Your identity - who you think you are - is formed through a collection of thoughts, beliefs, experiences, memories, emotions, and perceptions all working together.  As human beings, the ego wants to uphold the ideal versions of ourselves that only allow for success and not failures - we don’t want to admit that we are wrong about anything including trades.  Your ego will be very defensive about what it believes to be true - outright rejecting anything that does not align with your confirmed thoughts, behaviors or beliefs which is why traders lose lots of money trying to protect the “ego's version of reality.  In fact,  Albert Einstein had a great quote about ego which went along the lines of “More the knowledge lesser the ego, lesser the knowledge more the ego.” When we relate this back to trading, the more knowledge you acquire the less your ego is present in your trading, whereas, the less knowledge you have the more ego plays into your trading.  One of the major psychological challenges for new traders is that our conditioning throughout life is based on being right! It’s all about self-preservation!  Our grades are determined by how right we are on tests, we then move into the corporate world where our livelihood depends on us doing our job “correctly” without making mistakes. So when we enter the trading arena - we bring along these existing beliefs that we have to be right to make money.  A lot of smart people tend to make poor traders at first because they are used to being right when they apply their “brainpower” to a task - so they just assume that this will carry over into their trading and equate to profits.  But what happens when things don’t go as planned? When something we believe should have happened, doesn’t? The ego takes a hit and can create wreak all kinds of havoc on your trading account if not kept in check!  So how can you determine if your ego is coming into play while you are trading?  The easiest way to do this is to perform some self-analysis by asking yourself the following questions:  Am I attached to the outcomes of my trades?  Do I take my losses personally?  Am I focusing on my P/L as soon as I get into a trade? Do I need my analysis to be right?  If the answer to any one of these questions was yes, then that means that your ego is controlling your trading.  Self-concern lies at the root of ego-related issues, so by taking things personally instead of remaining objective, your ego believes that being wrong say’s something about “you and your abilities” and actually threatens your survival.  As soon as you give in to these thoughts, you become vulnerable to making the following “ego-centric trading” mistakes:  Trying  different setups consistently because you believe that you can make money with every trade Moving or canceling stops on a trade when it starts going against you because you do not want to take a loss Trying to force a trade at a level several times despite clear evidence from price action telling you differently  Handcuffing winning trades by taking profit as soon as they become available  Taking large amounts of risks on individual trades  Adding to  losers  Marrying a trade  Hesitating to pull the trigger So how can you keep your ego under control when trading?  Identify your “why” statement for trading and keep that front of mind  Understand your strategy and know your numbers Accept that the market is always right; detach yourself from the idea that individual trade results are not a reflection of yourself as a person  Remain objective in your trading by implementing rule-based processes to protect you from yourself (talk about shit like what Chris did the kitchen timer. Etc ) Perfection is impossible; trading is a business and that’s how you should operate as well Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode we are going to be discussing limiting beliefs about money and how they are affecting your trading performance! If you don't think you have an issue with money, ask yourself this: Do you have a fear of entering trades because you are scared to take a loss  Do you jumping out of trades with little (or no) profit  Do you beat yourself up after taking a loss  Do you revenge trade to make losses back?  Do you lie to yourself and others about your trading performance? These are all associated with your beliefs about money that you learned a long time ago. If you have never done any mindset work, then you are walking around with the beliefs that you held since childhood ( seven years old)  The mindset about money that you bring into trading is NOT the mindset that will produce the results that you want! You might be wondering if I know how to trade, then why do I always seem to drop the bell when the money counts?  We see it all the time - traders that have a great knowledge and understanding of what to do, but when it comes time to apply their knowledge in the live environments they seem to fall apart.  Intellectually they may be top of the totem pole but when put under pressure, all of that knowledge seems to escape them just when they need it most - why might you ask?  Simply because they are blind to the beliefs that they currently hold about money.  What is a belief? An acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. You are born into an environment and circumstance where your brain organizes you to survive - you are not born with beliefs, you inherit them from family members, and experiences - they become the lens through which you see and interpret the world and this holds especially true as it relates to your relationship with money!  Common Limiting Beliefs About Money “Money doesn’t grow on trees”  “Only smart people make money in the markets”  “I probably won’t make money but I’ll give it a try”  “If I’m not good at this, it’s not for me”  “I can’t afford this”  “We aren’t part of the wealthy”  “You need money to make money”  “I’ll never be rich or successful”  “The rich get richer while the poor get poorer”  “I can't ever make millions of dollars. It’s impossible”   “ You have to work hard to get wealthy”  “ I’m just not good with money”  “Money can’t buy happiness”  “Only materialistic people want to make money”  “Rich people think they are better than everyone else” The Truth About Money Money is nothing more than a medium and we give it too much importance and too much power  If you want to do good and make a real change: you need money Do you think plants say: water is the root of all evil? No, they use water as a tool to grow!  Money is the same thing… a tool! The universe does not know money - it’s man made You DESERVE to be abundant, to have anything you want You ARE already abundant  If you are living, you are growing But there is a law… you only get what you want.. If you want to be broke, you will receive Steps to Change Your Limiting Beliefs Identify your limiting beliefs first List the way the limiting belief is limiting you and decide how you want to be/act/feel Create a new belief or affirmation and repeat these affirmations! Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking about your negative self-talk and how this misunderstood concept actually creates your reality and your trading results!  How we talk to ourselves about ourselves and our world shapes our reality -unfortunately for the majority of the population, they live out their lives stuck as prisoners of the mind.  If you tend to beat yourself up inside when you make a mistake or worse yet, if you allow yourself to only feel as good as the result of your most recent trade, then you may be prone to negative thinking -  but if you are here with us today, then you’re in luck because we will provide you with some actionable steps to turn your mind into your best friend!  Did you know that on average, humans have about 12k-60k thoughts per day? Of those daily thoughts, about 80% are negative and 95% are repetitive thoughts day in and day out! So it is any surprise that the general population, yourself included, is so familiar with their inner critic?  The inner critic is who we face when trading so our success depends on our ability to remain positive and not feed into negativity! What is Self-Talk? The dialogue and conversation directed towards the self  Occurs out loud or internally; manifests as self-statements or things said about the self  Negative self-talk is any self-talk that puts you down, diminishes you, reduces self-confidence or self-esteem, or prevents you from being the best self  You might not be aware of inner dialogue but you engage in self-talk most of the time What actually happens from a neuroscientific perspective when you participate in negative self-talk? Humans have over a hundred thousand neural connections within the brain; neural pathways are connected by and communicate with synapses; the more neurons that fire and communicate with each other, the stronger these neural pathways become.  Negative self-talk creates neural pathways within the brain; like walking trail on a forest; the more you walk it the more the trail gets etched out  Negative self-talk can increase levels of cortisol (stress hormone) and is also linked to other mental health concerns such as depression and anxiety  The choice of our language during our trading will definitely help to empower the decisions we make and help control our emotional state. Creating a new path is much like creating positive self-talk; the more you do it the more you will create neural connections How  Negative Self-Talk Manifests itself in Trading When setting up for a trading session you might hear a small voice saying “ Will today be one of those losing days?” or even “I wonder if I can even get a good trade today”  Coming off the back of some great trades, you might start hearing that inner critic again saying “Most likely I'm going to blow it cause I will do something stupid”  After taking a losing trade “Ah why did I do that, that was stupid, I should’ve known that was a bad trade”  So how do you identify and reverse negative self-talk in its tracks? Stick around until the end of the episode to find out some actionable steps to get you started! Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

In today’s episode we are going to be talking about the process of getting back into trading after taking some time off! Keeping mentally sharp throughout each trading session while battling fear and greed on a daily basis can definitely wear on a trader's psychology and sometimes it's best to take a break in order to prevent burnout from affecting your bottom line. Whether it's a voluntary decision or a forced one - many traders that end up taking a break from trading go about it the wrong way. They simply disconnect from the markets and return on a whim - often expecting different results while doing the same things as before - the definition of insanity! If you are considering taking a break from trading or are currently on a break from trading - understand this - there is work to be done on the "internal operator" before you return to the markets. We've got your back here at TRADEPRO Academy, so we will share some of our own processes today that you can use and implement during your time-off in order to ensure that you are ready to hit the ground running on your return! Before we get into the process of getting back into trading after taking time off, let’s first discuss why you might take time off in the first place: Feeling burned out (not in the right headspace) Stuck in a rut (not following your plan, self sabotaging)  Life circumstances ( health scare or life change <aka kid>)  Losing motivation for the process  Loss of hunger for success  Summer markets If high-performance athletes such as football stars and hockey players have an off-season, should you too? Think about it - performing day in and day out over a series of 8-9 months will take its toll on you - it will affect you mentally and physically and even spill into your daily life (lack of sleep, etc)  These athletes NEED the time in the off-season to recover their minds and bodies and to also build up the foundation in order to come into the next season stronger and more dominant.  Trading isn’t much different, albeit there is not as much physical activity, there is a lot of mental stress and pressure that goes into day trading and if we ignore our own well-being these things can spiral and affect our bottom line-performance.  Getting out of the daily trading routine is one of the best things that you can do after several consecutive months of the daily grind! Why? Because trading requires constant focus, discipline, diligence and patience.  A proper “break” removes that daily stress and brings the trader back into balance with life: family, relationships and any other hobbies or interests.  More importantly a proper break will bring the trader’s motivation back for the return.  The idea is to add balance back into life, work on other aspects of life (outside of trading) and slowly start to work on the “blueprint” and goals for returning back to trading - like a Reset button if you will.  So you’ve identified that you are going to take a break, what’s the process now? Assuming that you’re on board with taking some time off, let’s look at how you can make the most of an off-season: The first thing that we’d recommend is getting your sleep in line. Your body is very capable of recovering on its own, but recovers optimally when it’s not expending energy staying up late!!  The second thing is to spend at least a few days doing nothing. Yes, nothing. This accomplishes two things. It gives your mind a chance to recover from the wear and tear of the daily grind and stress and for most traders, it will also create a mental hunger to get back to their trading desks.  Finally, after a few days off, start working on your "internal operator" - identify areas of strengths and weakness in your trading and psychology and work on a plan to come back at 150%  Whether we want to admit it or not, every single one of us has something they can improve and the "off-season" is the ideal time to take care of these issues so they don’t affect you while in competition!  Some Things We Discuss in Today's Show: Some reasons why you should consider taking a break from trading 02:21 How trader's could use an "off-season" that is similar to professional athletes 07:17 Using time off to mitigate the chances of burning out 12:28 Hitting the reset button on your trading 16:35 The importance of getting your sleep in line during your time-0ff 23:57 Doing nothing and falling out of routine to rejuvenate your mental hunger  26:45 Working on your internal operator and your values to come back stronger 29:20 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

In this episode, we are excited to bring to you a special guest interview on the Mind Over Markets Podcast! We recently sat down with one of our very own traders and coaches, Victorio Stefanov, for a great discussion on his trading journey and the key lessons he's learned along the way. In addition to his own story, Victorio has worked with 50+ traders in a coaching capacity, so he also shares an interesting perspective on the struggles of new traders from the viewpoint of a mentor. He is one of the most disciplined traders that we know so there is a lot that you will take away from his journey! Back in 2015, Victorio had dropped out of Engineering at McMaster University and around the same time, his father ran into George at a Starbucks and set up a meeting between them. Shortly after he met with George, Victorio decided that trading was the path that he wanted to pursue and so he signed up to TRADEPRO Academy to start the journey - in fact - Victorio was actually one of the first members of TRADEPRO Academy. Victorio started to trade the options markets with some success around 2016 after going through the TRADEPRO courses and building out a trading plan, all while studying Financial Planning full-time at George Brown College. Over the next year (2017), Victorio joined the TRADEPRO Academy team on a part-time basis and started to learn how to day trade the futures markets alongside his mentor George. After encountering some initial setbacks during his early months trading futures, Victorio stuck with it and carved out his own niche which is when he started to close out back to back weeks in the green. Fast forward to 2020 and Victorio is a full-time trader and coach/mentor at TRADEPRO Academy, where he focuses on running the morning and ELITE trading rooms and coaching traders individually and in group settings to help them achieve consistent profitability. Stick around until the end because you will walk away with some great insights on trading psychology and the challenges traders face as they work towards consistent profitability. Here is a summary of what we discussed:  How Victorio got started with trading 02:20  The challenges of day trading while being a full-time student 07:40 Some of the mistakes Victorio made early in his trading journey 10:00 How Victorio gauges success in his own trading 20:00 Why you don't have to trade every single day to be a day trader 23:50  A walkthrough of Victorio's trading process 27:42 The most important part of Victorio's trading plan 34:20 Walking the fine line between holding onto a trade because of instinct vs being stubborn 36:00 Looking for trades that you are unable to disqualify 39:00 Learning when to step on it and when to stay away 42:17 The role psychology and mindset play towards successful trading 45:45 How Victorio dealt with limiting beliefs at the start of his journey 48:30 Gauging your mental capital meter before trading 50:50 Bouncing back from a losing trade with NBT's 53:07 Keeping yourself accountable if you break your trading rules 56:50 Working on weaknesses to fuel your growth 59:15 Why you will often fail the plan before the plan fails you 62:30 The characteristics of the most successful coaching students 65:00 The one thing Victorio would tell himself if he had to start all over again today 68:45 Resources Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today's episode, we continue our discussion on the common cognitive biases that traders deal with and we close out this series with some actionable steps that you can take to overcome these biases in your own trading!  Last week we introduced why cognitive biases can be a bad thing for traders and also identified four of seven common cognitive biases that we deal with as traders. If you haven't had a chance to listen to part one of this series, we suggest you listen to that episode in full in order to get up to speed for today's discussion! As a quick refresher, last week we introduced the following cognitive biases: #1. Confirmation Bias  This occurs when you seek out information that confirms your preexisting beliefs. #2. Loss Aversion Bias  This means that you will not act because you are fearful of losing money - you will hesitate to take trades. #3. Recency Bias  This occurs when you put more importance on recent events compared to historical ones - our brains tend to put more weight on recent experiences. #4. Sunk Cost Fallacy  After buying or investing time into something (planning and executing a trade), we tend to rationalize and prove that our purchase was right due to the time and capital already invested. This week we close out this list with the final three common cognitive biases we face as traders: #5 Overconfidence (Hot Hand) Bias Based on the irrational view that consecutive winning streak will continue because of the previous streak of winners. If you start winning trades consistently, you can succumb to overconfidence by starting to take trades that are not part of your high-quality setups. OR you may think that you have a hot hand and that your next trade will be a winner, so you scale up the position size. Generally, previous successful outcomes do not influence longer-term performance because each moment in the market is unique. The issue with overconfidence is that you might start taking shortcuts and relying on instinct for your trading decisions.  Falling victim to the overconfidence bias can have you giving back a majority if not, all of the gains from the hot streak  #6. Gambler’s Fallacy One of the most common human biases and is the opposite of the recency bias  It occurs when you start to believe that because a certain result happened more frequently in the past,  there is a higher probability of a different outcome in the future.  Think about roulette for a second - the ball may land on black several times consecutively - the gambler fallacy is based on a premise that the roulette ball must land on red very soon, however, a roulette table has no memory and a spin of the ball has no connection with previous spins of the wheel.  Over a large enough sample of trials, a red or black number will be evenly split, but they are randomly distributed in smaller individual samples. Similar to trading, just because you lost the last 5 trades does not mean that the 6th trade “has to go your way” and will be a winner. There is still a statistical likelihood that’s the same across all those outcomes - this is why the martingale method is so dangerous!  The fallacy is when you start to believe that the probability of one happening over the other has increased based on the previous streak!  This tendency arises out of an ingrained human desire for nature to be constantly balanced or averaged. #7. Anchoring Bias The idea that we use pre-existing information as a reference point for subsequent data.  This cognitive bias refers to giving too much weight to the “anchor” when we make our decisions - the anchor in this case being the first piece of information offered. An example would be something like being the first to name a price during negotiations as this will set the tone for the rest of the negotiation.  In the context of trading, we often anchor on our support and resistance levels or entry levels.  When we anchor to these levels, we often anchor to what they should be doing (based on pre-existing info) rather than focusing on the factors that we see - factors that could push price through our levels.  This could be holding on to a bias based on the information you initially received “ ie. If the market opened the session on a strong sell-off, you might convince yourself that the session would be a bearish trending day". If the market fails to follow through on the sell momentum and reverses higher, you may be stuck looking for short positions despite the fact that the market is clearly showing you something different.  As the market offers new information in the form of price action -we must analyze it- however, some traders remain anchored by the original information received.  You are effectively ignoring the new data because you are anchored to the information that was originally provided on the open.  Being aware that these biases exist is an important first step, however, they are so deeply ingrained in our psychology that knowing about them is not enough to manage them! That being said, there are definitely some actionable steps you can take in order to improve the quality of your decision-making.  How exactly can you accomplish this?  Plan your trades and trade your plan - you should not have to be making split-second decisions under the gun when you are trading.  Have a good trading journal with a large data set to quantify your edge is another way to mitigate the chances of emotional decision making while trading. Actively monitor yourself for these cognitive biases in real-time- now that you are aware of them you can implement a check-up on yourself to ensure you are clear-minded and objective. Talk aloud to yourself in real-time and analyze how you are feeling!  Reduce your active stimuli - commit to trading the market during predetermined times! The more you sit in front of your screens, the more stimulus your brain receives, and the more likely you are to have an emotional response!  Some Things We Discuss in Today's Show: How the overconfidence bias can lead to emotional trading 06:15 The gambler's fallacy and why it doesn't have to be different this time 12:30 Why anchoring bias can put (and keep) you on the wrong side of the market 23:49 Why volatility can have you anchored to certain expectations 27:30 Most people fail their plans before their plans fail them 37:20  Keeping a trading journal to track how well you execute your plan 41:40 Using mental checks to actively monitor for cognitive biases 44:50 Reducing your active stimuli to prevent boredom trades 52:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

Over the next two episodes, we are going to introduce you to the seven common cognitive biases that impact our decisions as traders. By building awareness of these common biases, you will be in a better position to identify them in real-time so that you can reframe your mindset right there and then in order to make better trading decisions going forward! When money is on the line and time is limited, human decision making can be flawed and trading is one of those fields where irrational behavior patterns can be quite common. So being aware of these cognitive biases can provide a trader with some advantages - namely - it helps you better manage these in your own trading, but also, they can help you understand some of the reasoning behind the moves in the market that may seem irrational!  Let’s quickly take a moment to look at some of the reasons why cognitive biases can be bad news for traders: Effects of Cognitive Biases  Missing out on valid setups because of preconceived notions of price Cutting winners too early and holding on to losers  Deviating from your trading plan  Building a reliance on crowd-driven information & opinions Handcuffing trades and getting whipsawed  Now that you are more familiar with some of the effects of feeding into these cognitive biases, today, we'll focus on four of the seven.  #1. Confirmation Bias  This occurs when you seek out information that confirms your preexisting beliefs. The majority of traders have been guilty of this! Said differently, the confirmation bias means we ignore inconvenient information.  We tend to place a lot more weight on the information that confirms our ideas and trades and filter out the information that does not agree with it.  Let’s say for example that you are in a losing trade and then you find information online, maybe it’s news or a trader you respect that supports your trade idea.  Because this information supports your bias, you may end up holding on to the trade despite what the market is telling you!  # 2 Loss Aversion Bias  Nobody likes to lose, it’s simply human nature, in fact, most people would rather not lose than win! At its heart, this cognitive bias does not accept that trading losses are part of daily business operations.  This type of cognitive bias is rooted in your top values being security and safety and that taking a loss in the markets affects your safety. This basically means that you will not act because you are fearful of losing money- you will hesitate to take trades. You have to pay to play; the money in your trading account should not be money you need to survive; have to find a balance between not being in gambler mentality and not to be averse to losses. There is a big opportunity cost to this; if you are not taking a trade when your edge is present you may be missing out on potential profits. Related back to trading, let’s say you get into a short position and the market dumps lower and you quickly move your stop to break-even - you might subconsciously be handcuffing the trade in order to take the risk of a loss off of the table.  #3 Recency Bias  Refers to illogical ways of putting more importance to recent events compared to historical ones - our brains tend to put more weight on recent experience. If an outcome has recently happened this way, you're going to then think that it will continue to happen that way. Just because it happened recently, does not dictate that future outcome  We are more affected by losing trades, so we avoid trades that remind us of the recent losses. Using a trading-related example, let’s say that you’ve taken a handful of pullback trades in a healthy trend and were stopped out on all of them; you might pass on the next valid setup because you have concluded that trading pullbacks is a losing strategy, so you might try a new strategy instead thus giving up your valuable edge  Abandoning logic and your trading plan because of emotions. #4 Sunk Cost Fallacy (aka Post-Purchase Rationalization) After buying something we tend to rationalize and prove that our purchase was right  Sunk cost is not a good perspective to be making decisions from!  For traders, the most common purchase is getting into a trade  Let’s say you waited patiently for a setup to form and you took the trade, but as soon as you get filled and it starts going against you - sunk cost fallacy starts to creep in.  You spent a considerable amount of time waiting patiently for the setup to form, disqualifying lower quality trades in the process, so you refuse to accept that THIS one trade might be a loser - after all - you did your due diligence, however, despite warning signs that the trade might not work out, you rationalize that it is a good position and give up your chance to scratch for a small win/loser.  Some Things We Discuss in Today's Show: The advantages of understanding and identifying cognitive biases 02:06 The negative effects of cognitive biases on traders 03:46 Breaking down the confirmation bias and how traders ignore "inconvenient" information 09:04 The loss aversion bias and why most people would rather not lose than win 16:50 Why the recency bias can have you skipping out on your best trading setups 26:56 The sunk cost fallacy and rationalizing your trades based on time and capital already invested 34:50 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking about the importance of thinking for yourself as a trader! A lot of people that enter this industry look to copy other people’s trades, or worse yet, sign up for signal services in the hopes of changing around their circumstances overnight! What they might not be aware of is that the trading industry favors independence and if you have a tough time trusting your gut and tuning out the noise of other people’s opinions, you will have a tough time trying to succeed. Imagine this scenario for a quick moment; You sign up for trading signals and start to generate profits every month - before long you are ready to quit your day job and enjoy true financial freedom - no boss and no stress. Best of all - you don’t have to do any additional work other than pulling the buy or sell trigger when an alert comes in - sounds like a dream life right? Now, what happens if the service suddenly shuts its doors? You are basically SOL - you’ve lost a potential stream of income AND you have not built up any skills or confidence to trade independently. We are completely against trading signals here at TRADEPRO Academy because we are of the firm belief that it is more valuable for someone to "learn how to fish" versus "being given a fish". Let's take a quick moment to discuss the points of the journey when traders tend to gravitate towards signal services: At the beginning of the trading journey A lot of new traders believe the fastest way to make money in the markets is to copy the same trades or take trading signals from somebody that markets themselves as a consistently profitable trader. They convince themselves that if they sign up for the trade signals, they could almost eliminate the learning curve and start earning profits right away. At the very end of the trading journey Traders that have been stuck in a cycle of self-sabotage and constant drawdown will often seek signals as a last-ditch effort to convince themselves that making money trading the markets is actually possible. They are searching for the holy grail and not looking inward at the operator. Whether it's at the beginning or towards the end of the journey, the reality is that you have no chance of succeeding in this industry by following somebody's else signals. You need skill to execute signals and by the time you actually have that skill and confidence in yourself, you won't ever want to execute anyone else’s signals. If a computer can execute 12,800,000 trades before YOU blink a single time…. What is a signal really worth? And why would you expect to succeed with it? Now let's dive into the five reasons why it's important to think for yourself as a trader: #1. Accountability - Living at Cause vs Effect #2. Copying Somebody Else's Signals/Trades is not a Strategy #3. Professional Traders Dislike Knowing Where Others Are Positioned #4. Finding Your Niche and Building Confidence in Your Process #5. Finding a Good Mentor That Wants To See You Succeed Some Things We Discuss in Today's Show: Why we don't endorse signal services or signal providers 01:50 The real reasons why traders look for trading signals 05:20 What is a trading signal really worth to you? 07:10 How accountability defines how you trade 10:03 Copying somebody else's signals is not a strategy 14:55 The differences between dependent and independent traders 21:35 Finding your niche and building confidence in your process 29:26 What's the point of finding a mentor? 36:45 If you're going to be a high-performance athlete, you need a coach 41:32 The most important information in this business we don't have yet 46:22 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Enjoying this podcast? We'd appreciate if you can drop us a rating and review on iTunes here 

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing how traders can prepare for the transition to summer trading. When we say summer trading, we’re referring to low volatility market conditions with tight ranges and choppy price action.  These are the types of environments that challenge traders of all experiences and both George and I would agree that it is a lot more difficult to transition from a volatile market to a slower market than vice versa. We’ll talk about how you can prepare for the transition to summer volatility and some rules that you can implement into your trading plan to give yourself the best shot at success!  There is an old industry adage that used to be thrown around along the lines of “Sell in May and Go Away”. In fact, from 1950 - 2013, the Dow Jones posted lower returns from the May to October period compared to November through April - which gave further merit to this saying - however, it's worth noting that this trend has somewhat changed since 2013! Advances in technology over recent years have provided traders with instant access to the global markets, leading some to believe that the old "Sell in May and Go Away" adage is no longer relevant - however - in our experience, there is still some truth behind this saying.  So What Causes Lack of Volatility in the Summer?  When do you typically go on vacation? Institutional money managers and decision-makers will be doing the same!  A lack of market participants means that volume tends to dry up, ranges will narrow and volume can decrease due to low liquidity conditions  There are typically less high-impact economic releases scheduled in the summer months  High-Frequency Traders (HFT) are more active during these low liquidity periods which can cause price movements on low volume  HFT business model involves capturing profit on micro-movements day over day so they will be on and firing during the summer months  Impact of Summer Doldrums  Slow markets tend to have a negative impact on trader’s psychology  Traders can be tempted to trade more aggressively due to lack of market movement  Especially if they have a profit goal they are trying to achieve  This can result in some nonsensical price action that leads to frustrating trading experiences and getting stopped out due to low liquidity.  Low volatility = poor price action = minimal trading opportunities What do you need to do to adjust for summer volatility?  You have two choices:   Decide to take the time off  Continue trading during the summer months  Option #1: If you decide that you want to avoid the summer doldrum altogether, then it might be good to take a break from trading and do something else!  This could be a great time to enhance your knowledge of the markets, review your trading journal and refine your strategy, back-test your strategy, and build up a data set of information.  Option #2: If you decide that you want to continue trading into the summer months, then you will have to make some adjustments to your trading plan in order to accommodate for the lower volatility.  We’ve put together a list of four rules that can help you out if you plan on taking this route:  The four GOLDEN rules of summer trading  Increase patience for entries - since there is more consolidation during summer months, moves often take longer to develop and you will likely be in your trades for longer periods of time  Reduce total daily trades - With lower volatility, you will want higher quality setups over quantity;  Reduce overall trading size - Summer is a time that will test your risk tolerance, so we would recommend reducing your trading size and number of open trades at any given time. This will help prevent you from making emotional decisions because of multiple positions in low volatility  Get paid quicker, less patience on runners - As we mentioned earlier, the markets tend to consolidate a lot more during summer months, which means that directional movements are often rapid and short-lived, followed by more consolidation and range contraction. It’s a great idea to get paid quicker in these environments and to be a lot less patient with your runners as they often reverse before trading into extended take profits.  Some Things We Also Discuss in Today's Show:  "Sell in May and Go Away" - is this still relevant today?  03:58 Why summer markets tend to lack volatility 08:37 How slower markets tend to challenge new traders 15:45 Why keeping the same daily profit target for summer months can negatively affect your psychology  16:45 How market movements tend to be more rapid and short-lived these days 19:45 How to stay sharp if you plan to take the summer months off from trading 21:48 What traders can learn from elite athletes and how they train in the off-season 24:05 Why working on the "internal operator" in the off-season will make you a better trader 27:35 Why you have to increase your patience for entries in summer markets 30:40 Is it better to start your day trading career during high or low volatility market conditions? 33:40 Reducing total daily trades in order to stick with the highest quality setups 35:45 Reducing your position size to limit risk exposure 38:18 Why the idea of consistency is unfounded in this industry 41:04 Why you should get paid quicker and be less patient with runners in summer markets 42:50 Adjusting your trading brackets for summer trading 44:50 Patience pays - you will often get a second chance in summer markets 46:35 How momentum traders can adapt for summer market conditions 49:47 Tips for new traders looking to trade through their first summer market 53:15 Why screentime is your best friend as a new trader 56:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today’s episode, we will be speaking on the topic of how to cope with burnout.  It’s been said that trading is the hardest easy money that you will ever make and we believe this to be true here at TRADEPRO Academy.  As traders, we are required to perform at a high-level and this constant grind can weigh on you after some time, after all, nobody is immune from burning out. With that being said, there are some warning signs that you can look out for because burn out doesn't just happen - there are several stages that lead up into it. Since there are several stages that lead to burning out, that means that you can prevent it from happening by being proactive from the start! If you are already dealing with burnout, then it's okay! We'll share some tips that will help you navigate through this rough patch and get you back into the right mind space. Before we can identify the stages of burnout, let's first define what it actually is! Our two favorite definitions for burnout are: "A state of physical, emotional, and mental exhaustion caused by long term involvement in emotionally demanding situations." – Ayala Pines and Elliot Aronson. "A state of fatigue or frustration brought about by devotion to a cause, way of life, or relationship that failed to produce the expected reward." – Herbert J. Freudenberger. Let's dig into these definitions a little bit - note the role exhaustion plays, especially at the hands of emotionally demanding situations and how mismanaged expectations can lead to frustration. Trading successfully demands mental sharpness and emotional objectivity at all times - the longer you do this, the more emotionally demanding situations you will encounter. Think about it - the winning streaks and the periods of drawdown - all of these situations will test your emotions and if you are not proactive, they can lead to burnout! Now that we know what burnout is, what are the different stages that lead to burnout? The "Honeymoon" Phase The "Onset of Stress" Phase The "Chronic Stress" Phase The "Burnout" Phase Each phase has different symptoms that are associated with it and these symptoms can provide traders with warning signs so that they can be proactive in identifying burnout before it happens. But what if you've realized that you are already in the "Burnout" phase? What steps can you take in order to manage your way out of it? To get a better understanding of how to cope with burnout, let's take a look at how elite athletes deal with it - after all - traders are elite athletes! How do elite performers deal with burnout?  Take mental breaks Manage their expectations Find new and interesting ways to challenge themselves Take some time for rest and recreation - recharge the batteries Some Things We Also Discuss in Today's Show:  Breaking down the definition of a burnout 03:00 Are stress and burnout the same thing? 06:00 Why performance athletes burn out 09:20 The four phases that lead to burnout 12:25 The Honeymoon phase and symptoms 13:59 The Onset of Stress phase and symptoms 17:00 The Chronic Stress phase and symptoms 24:20 The Burnout Phase and symptoms 32:55 Mark's recent bout with burn out and how he handled it 38:23 How George struggled with burn out shortly after starting trading full-time 49:45 Turning down the volume on your negative thoughts that don't serve you 53:54 How elite performers deal with burnout 57:39 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the YBS Youngbloods channel on Youtube Check out the book on NLP that Mark mentioned in the show on Amazon  

In today’s episode, we will be speaking on one of the most common fears in trading; the fear of missing out!  FOMO is one of the biggest account killers that we’ve seen as educators in this industry, so we believe it is important for you to understand what it is and how to manage it before you you fall victim to it.  Have you ever jumped into trades early without confirmation because the market was moving and you didn’t want to miss out on potential profits? How about scaling up your size to catch up to other people’s results in trading groups that you are part of?  If this sounds familiar, then you have already experienced the fear of missing out to some extent in your trading. It's only natural as humans for us to want to be part of the action especially when volatility starts to pick up!  If you stick around for the full show, you will learn what FOMO is and how it manifests so that you can be better prepared to manage or even avoid it!  So what exactly is the fear of missing out?  Well by definition, it is the "fear of not being included in something (such as an interesting or enjoyable activity) that others are experiencing".  In other words, the fear of missing out is a social anxiety that extends beyond the realms of trading; it is present in everyday life! It is characterized by a desire to stay continually connected with what others are doing - translated to trading - it is the equivalent of wanting to continually be in a trade so that you don't miss out on any market action. Falling victim to FOMO can be devastating to your trading account and your psychology - traders that suffer from FOMO trading will typically experience the following cycle repeat time and time again: Buying into market tops when experiencing excitement to get into a position and letting greed turn winners into losers. Selling out of losing positions into market bottoms when experiencing peak fear and anxiety about losses. This cycle repeats every time the trader loses patience with their trading plan and can be incredibly frustrating - to the point that many go bust and exit the industry at this stage. Now that you know what FOMO is and the typical cycle that a FOMO trader experiences, let’s take a moment to discuss some common things that a FOMO trader says. This is important because if you can catch yourself saying or thinking these things in real-time, then you will be able to adjust your emotions on the fly and avoid FOMO altogether! "Everyone else is making money, it can't be that bad" "Just think about how much money I could have made on that trade" "Meh..I'll just give it a go" "I knew that was going to happen" "They must know something else that I don't" "I can't miss out on the next great opportunity" "XYZ stock looks like a pretty safe bet, everyone's trading it, why wouldn't I? " What you should realize by this point is that FOMO is an internal feeling and the words you speak can and will affect your psychology - with that said, there are some external factors that can also trigger the FOMO process! These include: Increase in market volatility Coming off of a long winning streak Taking repetitive losses Social media, especially Instagram and Twitter News and rumors While it's great to understand what FOMO is and how it can be triggered, the last piece of the puzzle is how to manage or avoid it altogether! We've put together the following tips and tricks to help you eliminate FOMO from your trading experience: Have a trading plan - know EXACTLY what you’re doing and your role - find low-risk high probability setups and only trade those  Accept that trading has its ups and downs - understand that you can’t win every trade  Be present - focus on the next best trade ALWAYS The first stock exchange in the U.S. was formed in Philadelphia in 1790 In the last 230 years...how many trades have you missed? You’ve missed more trades then you’ll ever take! Focus on the process and setup, not the end result (the score) Keep a daily gratitude journal Keep a trading journal with your emotions and thoughts pre/during/post-trade Don’t compare your results to others (learn from their approach, not their fills) Some Things We Also Discuss in Today's Show:  The fear of missing out in everyday life 04:31 How the fear of missing out shows up in trading  06:40 The typical cycles that a FOMO trader experiences 09:15 Is there really such a thing as a FOMO trader? 12:52 The seven things that a FOMO trader often says 16:50 The external factors that trigger the FOMO process 36:30 Several solutions you can implement to manage FOMO 46:50 Why tracking your emotions pre/during/post-trade can help you identify patterns 55:30 Why you should not compare your results to anybody else's 60:02 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out Matthew McConaughey's speech here on Youtube 

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking on the topic of trading while traveling! It’s no secret that one of the major benefits of trading the markets successfully is having the ability to work anywhere in the world (being location independent) while making a full-time income.  While there are several benefits of trading while traveling, there are also a number of challenges that you will face on your journey that are not often marketed on social media.  It is important to first understand the pros and the cons of trading while traveling before determining whether it is something you can consider as an option for yourself! So what are some of the benefits of trading on the road? You can trade for a few hours and then use the rest of the day to fulfill other purposes You get to see the world and experience cultures while making a full-time income Being on the road forces you to simplify things (You only keep the essentials vs overdoing it with charts on the office desktop)  Now that we've identified some benefits, here are the most common challenges traders run into when trading on the road: Finding the right place to trade (At home you have a high-performance trading environment which you will have to replicate while on the road)  Bringing the right equipment (Laptop + portable monitors)  Internet connection limitations (How to ensure you have a fast and reliable ISP when you are traveling)  Balancing the line between work and play - managing your time (Can you walk away when it’s time to shut down the monitors?)  Adapting your routine - time zone changes and giving your mental state time to adjust While there are certainly a number of challenges to trading while traveling, the benefits often outweigh them - after all, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it! With that said, it's an important point to make that there are some times when you should consider not taking the portable setup with you altogether. This is especially important if you struggle with letting emotions from your trading leak over into your personal life - good or bad! Sometimes it's better to just disconnect, recharge the batteries, and come back with a renewed sense of opportunity and we discuss these times in more detail. If you're still committed to giving this a go, then the first thing you will need is a mobile trading setup! We've put together a handy list of some of the hardware and software requirements for traveling traders which you can reference below:  Laptop  Backup battery for laptop or external power supply Portable monitors (USB -C) LAN cable for hardwire connectivity A nice portable and comfortable mouse USB hub with monitor support VGA to HDMI converter Software Download your trading templates to your laptop Move over any data you have captured in last 30 days (these files can be huge and take hours to load if you don't do this before you leave)  Once you have your portable trading setup ready, the next step is to plan ahead for your travels! The first thing you will want to do is to identify your "working hours" in the time zone of your planned destination. For example, if you live in Toronto and trade between 9.30 am - 11.30 am EST and you are planning to travel to Sydney, Australia (which is 14 hours ahead), then your working hours would effectively become 11 pm - 01:30 am. Knowing your working hours at the destination you plan on visiting will help you decide whether trading on the trip is actually a good idea or not! If you are happy with your "new" working hours, the next step is to find accommodations with access to high-speed internet so that you can actually connect to the market and trade when you arrive at your location. There are a couple of websites and apps available these days to help with this research and we've included a list of some of them below: WifiMap (Available for iPhone and Android) Hotelwifitest.com Nomadlist.com  You can also call the hotel and ask them to provide you with a screenshot of the internet speeds from their location using Speedtest.net! Now that you have put together your mobile trading office and planned ahead for your travels, you are prepared to trade while traveling! You'll walk away from this episode with a concrete understanding of trading while traveling, including what to bring along with you, how to plan ahead, and how to adapt once you arrive at your destination! Some Things We Also Discuss The benefits of trading while traveling  03:50 The challenges that traders will face when traveling  10:15 George's experience trading from the beach 14:20 Mark's most memorable experiences trading while traveling 22:16 The situations when it's not a good idea to trade while traveling 30:20 The hardware and software requirements for a mobile trading setup 36:25 Identifying your "working hours"  at your travel destinations - timezones matter! 43:40 How to research wifi hotspots and hotel internet speeds for your travels 47:35 How to pack for convenience as a traveling trader 56:10 Leveraging the benefits of travel rewards cards 61:20 How to adapt to trading while traveling 65:05 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out George's Portable Trading Setup on Youtube Check out the ASUS portable monitors on Amazon

In today’s episode, we are going to be talking about something we feel strongly about and how overconfidence can really ruin your trading success. This pattern occurs when you've been on a stretch of above-average performance and suddenly your mindset shifts out of alignment and causes greed. If you've had multiple winning days or weeks at a time only to erase all of that progress in a single session, this is an episode meant for you! At TRADEPRO Academy, we refer to this overconfidence in your trading ability as the "God complex". It's called the God complex because you start to feel indestructible - it’s a point during a hot streak where you start to develop the belief that everything you touch turns to gold or said differently, you just can't seem to stop winning trades. This is where the mindset of a trader shifts from confident to cocky - the trader bypasses the process mindset which has given them confidence in their performance and turns everything into a matter of trading based on feelings. By this, we mean that a trader may start to loosen up on their trading process and begin to trade based on gut feelings and opinions on what they feel the market should do - not necessarily what the market is actually doing. Overconfidence after a hot streak is a mental aspect that really exposes the human mind and ego for how easily it is affected by results =whether success or failure! So how does the God complex start to manifest? In our experience, many traders don’t get into the God complex until they actually realize the streak that they are on! For example, Victorio shares a story of when this happened to him back in September 2019. After realizing he was up 20 days in a row, the God complex kicked into his mindset and ended up costing him a couple of week's worth of gains within a handful of sessions. If Victorio hadn’t come to that realization that he was doing really well,  he would have continued to trade seamlessly throughout the rest of the month - in a state of flow - however, he ended up losing 25% of those gains in 5 days. What is interesting is that the God complex is actually rooted in a lack mindset - it's not that you think you are above the market, rather, you are so used to everything you touch turning to profit that you've convinced yourself that taking losses is not part of your trading business. When you do take that first loser after a hot streak, it will trigger your lack mindset into wanting to "make my money back" as quickly as possible. This is where it can get dangerous for you and your trading account especially if you are a relatively newer trader and going at it on your own. If you have been on a winning streak over the last couple of days or weeks, it's important to know what the God complex is so that you can avoid it if possible -that is the best-case scenario! Your second option is to accept it, make your mistakes, and fight back and your final option is to blow out your account and accept defeat (avoid this at all costs!!) Here are a few tips on how you can work through the God complex or avoid it altogether: Remind yourself and re-affirm your skillset Constantly review your trading plan Review your hall of fame trades Take a day off to recharge your batteries Constantly work on your personal development You'll walk away from this episode with a lot of value and a solid gameplan on how to manage and avoid overconfidence from wreaking havoc on your trading! In This Episode You Will Learn The difference between confidence and cockiness in trading 02:20 Why success in other areas of life doesn't necessarily translate to instant trading success 08:25 What is confirmation bias and attempting to predict the market 11:04 How to know when overconfidence is starting to creep into your trading 20:55 How being part of a community can help you manage overconfidence  27:36 The 5 steps you can take to avoid falling into the God complex 43:15 Some Things We Also Discuss The psychological challenges of going from being a breakeven trader to a profitable trader 05:45 How to use prior success and confidence and adapt it to trading 09:25 Victorio's first experience with overconfidence creeping into trading 15:05 How this God complex cycle can stem from a self-worth issue 23:50 The three paths that classify the God complex 33:05 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In this episode, we're excited to bring to you a new guest interview on the Mind Over Markets Podcast! We recently sat down with our colleague and former prop trader, Brad Alcini, for a great chat on what it's like to be a professional trader. Brad shares some great insight into how big traders stay alive, what's required to be successful in this business, as well as examples of seven-figure traders and what they do to win consistently! If you are looking to level up your trading mindset, this is an interview that you will not want to miss! Brad's trading journey started back in the pits of the Chicago Board of Trade as a clerk in 1995. In his time as a clerk, Brad worked for several successful traders and was able to learn a lot about trading and mindset from people that were winning on a daily basis. In 1996, only one year after joining the CBOT as a clerk, Brad was hired on by Goldenberg Hehmeyer to trade firm capital in the 10-year T-note pits as an interest rate trader. During his time at Goldenberg, Brad was actually at the forefront of the industry's transition from the open outcry pits to electronic trading on the screens (known as "Project A" in those days). In fact, he was part of a group of traders that was the first to be able to open a position in the 10-year T-note pit and then close it out (flatten the position) electronically at the end of the session - fungible from pit to screen. Brad stayed on with Goldenberg Hehmeyer for a full year before making the decision to trade his own capital with the backing of Gelber Group, a Chicago-based prop firm in February 1997. When he joined on with Gelber, Brad had pretty much transitioned to electronic trading and would meet his mentor - a gentleman that would end up introducing Brad to the world of spread trading. With the help of his mentor, Brad went on to develop his trading strategy and psychology to a point where he was able to put on trades with size that would make the palms of most retail traders start to sweat just thinking about it! Brad stayed on with Gelber for four years until an exciting opportunity presented itself out of the blue in 2001. One of Brad's old colleagues from the pits that he had a relationship with, Harris Brumfield, was a large angel investor in Trading Technologies at the time.  Harris had some patents on a revolutionary product and was looking to build a team of senior sales managers to become the software of choice in the industry as the transition to electronic trading was in progress. What was the product you might be wondering? It was called the "Verticle Market Up Trader Ticket" at the time, however, these days it is better known as the DOM or Depth of Market! Brad spent 5 years in this capacity with Trading Technologies and was part of tremendous growth during that time! By February of 2006, Brad was running a CPO (Commodity Pool Operator) with a partner while simultaneously consulting to Ransquawk - a news aggregation service for traders. Brad and his partner decided to go separate ways - his partner became the COO of a well-respected proprietary trading firm in Chicago, while Brad took over the consultancy business to Ransquawk. In November 2019, Brad become a shareholder of Ransquawk and rebranded the business to Newsquawk, which is our go-to news source here at TRADEPRO Academy. These days, a majority of Brad's time is spent on developing and growing the Newsquawk service while passively managing his own investments. Brad has offered listeners of this podcast an exclusive 10-day free trial to the Newsquawk Multi-Asset Channel! If you want access to the same news service that is used on institutional trading desks then make sure to claim your free trial in the resources section below! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  How Brad started his trading career 01:15 "Project A" & Globex - the transition to electronic trading 02:10 The mentor that introduced Brad to spread trading  04:00 The exciting opportunity that got Brad to leave trading 06:10 How Brad got involved as a consultant to Ransquawk 07:30  How Brad dealt with the initial intimidation of trading in the pits  10:00 The one thing that helped Brad scale up his trading in the beginning 12:25 The power of scratching trades and learning to not lose money 15:45 The factors that led to Brad's decision to leave the pits and trade electronically 20:00 Finding a trading style that suits your personality - the difference between outright and spread trading 24:00 Why big money traders consider themselves professional loss takers 27:00 How professionals adjust their strategy for high volatility environments 30:36 How the average investor can use futures to hedge their portfolio 39:45 The qualities Brad would need to see from a trader in order to fund them 41:30 The characteristics and behaviors that you want to avoid as a trader 44:55 Why you must get rid of emotional baggage if you want to be a good trader 46:32 Routine, Exercise & Eating Healthy - The trifecta for protecting your mental capital 48:28 How Brad uses visualization as a reset switch 51:35 The Newsquawk service and what it is 57:15 What TRADEPRO likes about Newsquawk 60:00 Resources  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast For more information on the Newsquawk service click here    Claim Your Exclusive 10-Day Free Trial Here

In today’s episode, we discuss how your physical environment influences your trading performance, as well as the components that go into building a high-performance trading environment so that you can put together a space that inspires you every time you sit down to trade!  Working from home has its obvious benefits and these include: Avoiding the daily commute Working flexible hours Relaxed, comfortable environment With this freedom comes great responsibility! It becomes increasingly more important to separate your trading environment from where you spend the majority of your day at home when not trading because failing to do so can lead to a lot of distractions that will throw you off of your game..and that's the opposite of what we are after here! So what are the components that make up a high-performance home trading environment? (1) A quiet, dedicated space for YOU. (2) A comfortable desk. (3) A comfortable, ergonomic chair. (4) A computer with solid specs (5) Monitors (2 at a minimum if day trading) Now understand that having a quiet space and the equipment to run your trading business operations is not enough to qualify as a high-performance environment... this is only the first piece of the puzzle! There are some additional tips and hacks that you can implement in order to really optimize your space for high - performance. To start, you will want to ensure that the office space is clutter-free because clean and organized spaces tend to have higher energy to them - which you will need! A cluttered space leads to a cluttered mind,  so make sure that your desk area is clean so that you are not starting the day or the session with clutter on your mind! As we mentioned earlier, the best trading environment is one where there are no distractions! A great way to mitigate them [the distractions] is to put any and all of your electronic devices on airplane mode or silent when you are at your trading desk. Let that sink in! One of the ways many athletes get into the winning mindset is by using visualizations! This is something we would highly recommend you outfit your trading space with so that you can always remember why you are doing this (trading) when you eventually run into challenges and obstacles. If there are any experiences that you want - print them and post them in your space. Material things too? Perfect - print em and post them up. This is something that is unique to YOU - whether its positive messages, quotes, posters, or reinforcement - if it inspires you, you should have the visual readily available in your office. Another little psychological hack is to include memorabilia, trophies and/or success symbols in your office. This can be anything that reminds you of times you won, felt high vibes, or just generally felt at your best and blessed. By doing so, you will be priming your mind with the emotions related to winning and success so that you bring that same winning attitude to your trading desk with you! Stick around until the end and you will have all of the components that you need in order to build the high-performance trading environment that will take your trading to the next level! In This Episode You Will Learn The two types of trading environments for traders  02:24 How long it takes to get into a flow state for high-performance 07:40 Why the TRADEPRO team uses standing desks in the TPA office 13:45 How many monitors you need in your trading office 21:00 Why a clean office space leads to a clear mind 33:00 Visual reminders as a method to attract the results you're looking to achieve 39:04 The finishing touches on comfort and productivity 52:00 Some Things We Also Discuss How work-life balance can blur when working from home 04:00 Why a quite space is crucial for performance 12:15 How a comfortable ergonomic chair can protect your mental capital 17:30 How to choose which computer you should get for the office 29:50 Why our phones have become a dopamine hit for us 37:50 How to replicate the feeling of winning in your trading office 47:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out our trading setups here 

In today’s episode, we are going to be speaking on some of the morning routines and rituals that traders can use to put themselves into the right mindset for high-performance trading!  Routines and rituals are actually an integral part of daily life and every person has their own that they have developed over the years - both consciously and subconsciously - that allow them to get through the day.  Traders are no different, we are creatures of habit and require routines in order to complete our jobs effectively.  So let's unpack this topic in deeper detail and along the way you will learn how to build a powerful morning routine that you can implement right away!  When studying successful individuals (whether athletes or business moguls), a majority of them swear by their morning routines that they use to get into the required state for action which is necessary for achieving high-performance.  Some common traits of the morning routines of these high-performers include the following: They set alarm clocks to wake up early, the same time every day and especially on weekends and days off They start the day with a few minutes of meditation (quiet time) They establish a routine for morning exercise They sit down for breakfast with the family* They start the day with a to-do list When you look at how high-performers start their days, they are effectively priming themselves to win from the get-go! And it makes sense because there are plenty of benefits to implementing morning routines such as: They bring you into a positive mental state  They inspire confidence and clarity  They increase energy levels  They kick start your brain  They encourage self-reflection So now think about your morning today? How did it start? What did you do to prepare yourself for the day? As a trader, it can be beneficial to establish some similar routines in order to be in the best position to perform at a high level when you sit down at your desk for the session. But why a morning routine you might ask? Because at the end of the day, what the market does is out of our control but what we CAN control is how we think, feel, and behave! It's no secret that trading is a high-performance sport and that we as traders exert a lot of energy and resources to win!  If you are constantly depleting these resources without following a routine to replenish and recharge your batteries, you will burn out very quickly and your performance is likely to follow suit. It is a constant balance of depleting and recharging these resources for optimal performance so it should go without saying that you will want to stay away from any negative routines that are not conducive to your goals!  The bottom line is this: Your body and mind need to be on their A-game to synchronize and deliver strong performance, this is why athletes train so much, so often, and why you need to also as a trader.  So now that we’ve got a better understanding of the benefits of morning routines and how successful individuals use them to win, let’s put together a morning routine!  When crafting a morning routine, you will want to replicate what high-performers are doing in order to level up your day. In the Morning Routine by Hal Elrod, he suggests that there are six components that make up a powerful morning routine. These are better known as the SAVERS: Silence (Meditation) Affirmation Visualization Exercise Reading Scribing (Journalling) Stick around until the end because we break down each component and provide trading-related examples so that you walk away with a morning routine to win the day! In This Episode You Will Learn The common traits of morning routines of high-performers  04:45 The one thing we can control in the universe of trading 10:15 The two aspects of performance: the mental and the physical 17:20 Why Mark starts his day by making his bed 28:51 The root of meditation and why it is so recharging 38:05 The 6 components of a powerful morning routine 44:15 How to visualize your way to a successful day 50:57 Why a little exercise in the morning goes a long way 55:56 How journaling in the morning can clear your mind for the day 60:00 Some Things We Also Discuss Why morning routines can be useful for traders 09:30 The fine line between exerting energy and burning out 15:11 The benefits of implementing morning routines 25:57 What George's morning routine looks like 33:01 How to use affirmations to create your state 48:01 Using books for morning inspiration 57:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod on Amazon  Check out the Tool of Titans by Tim Ferris on Amazon  Check out Mark's favorite guided meditation on the Insight Timer website

In today's episode, we are going to be speaking on the benefits of being part of a trading community!  More specifically, we will be looking at some of the challenges that new traders face when learning to trade on their own, and how being part of a trading community can provide them with the resources to address each of these challenges.  We’ve experienced the benefits of being in a community first hand and when speaking with many other successful traders, they often mention that having a community to lean on was one of the key factors that influenced their own paths towards consistent profitability! It's that important for your success!  So what are the challenges that new traders face when they start trading live capital? Well, it's easy to get lost when you first start out because there is a sea of information out there on trading strategies and indicators.  Most of it is useless and irrelevant but there are some hidden gems if you know what to look for!  You can learn how to read candlesticks on YouTube, find free strategies on Google, and put it all together into a plan and then go and trade it with some success on demo. But here's the catch!  When you go live, the results are going to be a lot different because emotions will inevitably start to creep into your trading and sabotage your plans.  Finding a strategy or making a plan is not the hard part of this journey! The difficulty lies in the execution which comes with a whole bunch of psychological challenges that most new traders are not prepared for!  The issue here is that when you are new and don't have any guidance, you are more prone to make some of the common newbie mistakes. And it might not be clear to you where you are going wrong, so that makes it even more difficult to find a solution. This, in turn, leads to even more confusion, frustration and unfortunately, this is the phase at which most new traders remain stuck in before they decide to quit after a streak of losses. Whether it’s with us here at TRADEPRO Academy or somewhere else, there are plenty of benefits of being part of a trading community!  The Impact of Community on Humans  The people we surround ourselves with are the biggest influence on our behavior, attitudes, and results.  Who you are around — what they’ve got you thinking, saying, doing, and becoming — sets the course of your life. In the words of motivational speaker Jim Rohn: “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” The people you spend the most time with shape who you are.  They determine what conversations dominate your attention. They affect which attitudes and behaviors you are regularly exposed to. Eventually, you start to think as they think and behave as they behave. Human beings are intrinsically tribal What sports teams are you a fan of?  Which ones do you dislike? Why? What gym or fitness club do you belong to? Why? What associations do you belong to? Think of your friends, what do you all have in common? What unites you? Now think about trading….  What do you want to be part of?  You are a part of a community everywhere else!  In This Episode You Will Learn The challenges that new traders face when learning to trade on their own  04:33 The away motivations that cause people not to want to join a community 10:40 How human beings are tribal by nature 22:25 The benefits of being in a trading community 25:30 How trading communities act an emotional stop loss on drawdown days 37:00 Using trading communities as a feedback mechanism for your trading development  51:02 Some Things We Also Discuss George's experience with learning to trade before the digital age of information 06:30 How an opinion that you accept can shift your entire reality 14:10 How your current environment can be wearing you down 18:45 How everything we learn is from somebody else 28:13 How trading communities can provide you with a much-needed sense of accountability 42:15 How a community can show you what's really possible to achieve 55:10 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out our friend Danny Riley on Twitter Check out our friend Anthony Drager on Twitter

In this episode, we continue our discussion on full-time trading and how to know when its time for you to go full-time with your trading! You will learn some of the common mistakes that many traders make when transitioning to full-time trading, which ironically enough, often sabotages their chances of a successful career from the get-go! By being aware of these mistakes, we aim to help prevent you from making the same ones on your journey. These mistakes include the following: Unrealistic expectations - expecting smooth sailing from the get-go Putting themselves in a situation where they NEED to make a certain amount of money Trading randomly - no plan, no tactics, no results Overlooking the progress - not appreciating how far you have come After breaking down the above mistakes in detail, we also take some time to speak on the two scenarios below: (1) When you should you NOT consider taking your part-time trading hustle full-time If you have been recently laid off and have more time available to daytrade If you've only traded SIM and are doing well When you are bored - especially relevant during the COVID-19 quarantine (2) When it might make sense to take the plunge into full-time trading If you have several months worth of savings in the bank (3-6 months minimum) When you are using trading capital that you DO NOT rely on for survival (to pay for necessities) When you have a record of live trading success (about 6 - 12 months of consistent returns) If you have completed enough personal development to believe that you can succeed - any doubt is dangerous! But that's not all! We've got your back here at TRADEPRO Academy and we want to see each of you succeed so we also put together a set of actionable steps that you can follow to give yourself the best possible chances of success as a full-time trader! You'll walk away from this episode with a lot more clarity on where you stand on your pursuit towards full-time trading as well as some steps that you can implement to get yourself closer to your goal! In This Episode You Will Learn The common mistakes that traders make when going full-time  05:00 Why you have to start at the entry-level in trading regardless of external success 12:30 3 situations where you shouldn't consider full-time trading 19:60 When it would make sense to go full-time with your trading 29:30 How shifting towards living at cause puts you in control of your life 44:50 Why reviewing your trades daily is important for growth as a trader 56:00 How trading is a lifelong journey of constant adaptation and growth 61:00 Some Things We Also Discuss Why tomorrow money is more valuable than today profit 07:30 George's experience with his first month of full-time trading 14:45 How sim trading can bring you a false sense of confidence 26:30 A story about scarcity and relying on the outcome to work  41:30 Why setting up visuals in your trading environment is vital for your success 51:15 Why more time spent working does not lead to more pay in this industry 58:25 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

In today's episode, we discuss the things that no one tells you about full-time trading! As a bunch of guys that have been trading full-time for the last several years, we are able to share some of our own insights on the benefits and challenges of trading for a living. If you look on Youtube or on social media, the marketing tactics from charlatans are to pinpoint your problems (time or money) and try to solve it with trading. It's a magic pill industry and we have a problem with that at TRADEPRO Academy so we're here to set the record straight We reflected on our own experiences as full-time traders and put together the following  list of thirteen things that no one tells you about full-time trading: You are becoming an entrepreneur You have to embrace uncertainty You have to constantly look at challenges as opportunities You will become more self-aware and reflective You will look at everything as risk versus reward It can be lonely to trade full-time alone You will have a lot of extra time to pursue other hobbies and interests Your traditional nine to five career diminishes over time You will need to focus more on your health You have to focus on personal development Money stops making sense You have to be or become a fighter It really changes your life! You will walk away from this episode with a deeper understanding of the realities of full-time trading so that you are best prepared to determine whether this is a career where the risk versus rewards lies in your favor! In this Episode You Will Learn: How full-time trading is a form of entrepreneurship 04:30 Why uncertainty is our business and you have to embrace it  11:00 How you deal with challenges can affect your chances of success 15:20 Why being self-aware and reflective allows you to give yourself the feedback to continue to progress 21:00 Why trading alone can get really dark fast 28:00 Why you need hobbies and interests to pursue outside of trading 38:00 How your career resume gets stale quick as a trader 42:12 How your mental and physical health impact your trading performance 47:00 Why personal development is important towards your growth as a trader 50:15 How money stops making sense after a while 54:15 Why you've gotta release your inner fighter 59:50 How trading really changes your life 62:00 We Also Discuss: How being in a community of traders helps you embrace uncertainty 13:04 Why full-time trading is not for everyone 16:50 How life is all about filling gaps 24:00 Georges experience trading alone 30:00 Why stagnation is not a good approach to trading 52:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

Let's face it, nobody takes a trade with the intention of eating a stop..but it happens and sometimes when things don't go your way, you can end up hitting your daily stop limit early on in the session. This can leave you in a very vulnerable position if you do not have a plan of action and that's exactly what today's episode is going to focus on! Whether you should stop trading for the day after hitting your daily drawdown limit or if you should reset and fight back. The truth of the matter is that many traders have difficulty with this decision in real-time and not knowing when to walk away can lead to a downward spiral in performance and trading results. Don't worry though because we've got you covered over here at TRADEPRO Academy! We've put together a two-step process for you to follow in order to ensure that if you are going to be resetting your daily stop, you're in the best position to do so and fight back! You’ll walk away from this episode with a better understanding of how to manage your drawdown days like a professional trader so that you can protect your capital and live to fight another day! In This Episode You Will Learn How proprietary traders manage drawdown days   07:00 The three factors that risk managers consider when resetting daily loss limits 09:30 The two factors to consider when deciding whether to fight back or walk away on the session 16:45 Three mental check-in exercises you can use to objectively identify your mental state  19:20 Which market conditions present the best opportunity for you to bounce back  24:25 Some Things We Discuss Accountability to your trading plan and being both the employee and the boss 13:35 When it makes more sense to walk away for the session with a loss 21:00 The bonus question to ask yourself before the final decision 32:48 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast    

In this episode, we're excited to bring out our friend Matt Brown for a great discussion on consciousness, personal development and abundance.  Matt has been working on his own personal development for over 10 years now after being introduced to the concept by a friend while living overseas in Spain. We believe that a lot about success has to do with the inner-self and that by learning how to work on yourself, you will, in effect, be making yourself a better trader. A lot of the success we've seen in our community is when traders get to the stage where they realize that they are the ones standing in their own way to their goals. This could be for a number of reasons such as limiting beliefs kept since childhood or not understanding their relationship with money. Everybody deserves to be successful but they must first believe it and be in harmony with their actions in order to receive that which they desire. That's exactly the focus of this discussion! How to allow yourself to step into the reality of "you" where money isn't an obstacle so that you can unlock your limitless potential! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  The unorthodox way that Matt got introduced to personal development 02:17 Going all-in on himself by speaking with his father  06:00 How Matt identified the purpose of money in his life to overcome the saver mindset 12:25 The importance of identifying your relationship with money 13:45 The subconscious identity and the logical levels of NLP (Neuro-Linguistic programming) 16:05 Your financial barometer and the shift required to go from a saver identity to an abundant one 19:30 Matt's experience with money identity hypnosis and deserving success  27:45 Once you accept a belief it will funnel down the logical levels 32:15 How to hack the victim mentality with this one sentence  34:45 The three qualities that make entrepreneurs successful 43:25 Knowing your core values and aligning them with your actions 50:00 Matt's favorite mental model that he uses for everything 51:42 How your internal vibrations will affect everything that you do 55:00 A self-check-in routine that you can use each morning before trading 57:00 What is the intention behind your actions 61:00 Resources  Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the Jim Fortin Podcast here Check out Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz on Amazon Check out Dollars Flow to Me Easily by Richard Dotts on Amazon Check out A Brief History of Everything by Ken Wilber on Amazon Check out Kybalion by Three Initiates on Amazon Check out The Abundance Book by John RandolphPrice on Amazon

In today’s episode, we will be breaking down the emotional cycle that traders must understand in order to deal with the challenges that they will face in the live markets.  Different market cycles tend to challenge the emotions of those traders and investors that choose to participate. In fact, these market participants are the reason that these market cycles exist; because traders are human and humans are emotional beings!  Fear and greed drive the markets so not only do we have to learn how to control our own emotions, but we also have to recognize what the collective crowd is thinking.  By understanding how the collective crowd thinks and reacts during certain market cycles, we can start to read market sentiment a bit more clearly and even learn to identify our own emotional states with more clarity in the real-time.  So what are the emotions that make up the stages of the cycle that we will be discussing today? Optimism Excitement Thrill Euphoria Anxiety Denial Fear Desperation Panic Capitulation Despondency Depression Hope Relief These emotions drive market sentiment at different stages of the market cycle! Emotions will also creep into your trading once you pull the trigger and can affect your decision-making processes! You will walk away from this episode with a deeper understanding of each stage of this emotional cycle so that you can easily identify where you stand at any point in time and implement a means of managing the emotions that are present.  In This Episode You Will Learn The fourteen emotions that make up the trader emotional cycle 09:25 Why euphoria is the point of maximum risk in the cycle 20:20 How fear of crystalizing losses can lead to sabotaging your trading plan 26:05 The point of the cycle where traders lose the most amount of money 28:28 How going through the lows of the cycle builds your resilience as a trader 36:52 How this emotional cycle plays out over the course of a trade 42:55 Some Things We Discuss How the study of cycles applies to the stock market 06:15 Why we tend to remember bear market cycles more clearly 11:22 Why your reaction to panic and fear go to the subconscious level 23:30 The point when capital and wealth transfers from the retail to institutional portfolios 32:15 Where do we think the stock market is currently at in this cycle 51:40 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out the book "Cycles - The Science of Prediction" by Edward R. Dewey & Edwin F. Dakin on Amazon    

In this episode, we are excited to bring to you the first guest interview on the Mind over Markets podcast! We recently had the pleasure to sit down and chat with veteran futures trader Anthony Drager, who is also the founder of Edge Trading Group and a great friend to us at TRADEPRO Academy. Anthony is one of the most experienced and knowledgeable traders that we know in the futures industry and we can't wait for you to hear and learn from his trials and tribulations! His trading journey started on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange as a runner in 1991 when Anthony was only seventeen years old. He managed to find his way back into the pits as an arbitrage clerk in 1996 and then became a member of the Chicago Board of Trade in 1999 as a floor trader in the Dow Jones futures pit. As the industry transitioned from the pits to the screens, Anthony was picked up by Chicago based prop firm International Trading Group in April 2000 where he went on to trade European and US futures successfully for the firm. After leaving the prop firm to trade independently, Anthony made it a priority to keep himself around a small network of traders in order to prevent complacency in his trading. It was after spending some time teaching friends of friends about trading that Anthony found his true calling! He wanted to build his own community of traders to trade with! In 2013, Anthony took this concept one step further and created the Edge Trading Group which offers an education program and trading room, which our founder George was actually a part of while on his own journey learning how to apply order flow tools to his day trading strategy several years back. These days a majority of Anthony's time is spent focusing on growing his community of traders while actively trading the markets! He has scaled down his trading to keep a balance as an educator and we can guarantee you that you will pick up on some golden nuggets from today's show! Here is a summary of what we discussed:  How Anthony got interested in the stock market 1:50 How he found his way into the trading pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange  03:25 The one thing Anthony's brother told him that changed the trajectory of his life  05:50 The challenges Anthony experienced as a clerk in the pits of the CME and how he overcame them 07:00 How Anthony conquered the fear of putting on a trade after becoming a trader in the DOW pits 08:45 Why Anthony left the trading pits and joined a prop firm as an electronic futures trader 11:30  Why Anthony credits the group dynamic at the prop firm for finding profitability 15:00 Why the trend is not your friend 18:00 Why trading a process reduces the fear of being wrong and taking losses 19:05 The importance of putting yourself around quality people for your trading success 28:00 Why recording his trading sessions helped Anthony identify and learn to keep control of his emotions while trading 35:00 Why you have to learn to anticipate before you participate 39:40 That fearing being wrong will keep you from success in trading  44:20 How Anthony stayed accountable to himself when he went independent 53:00 How to motivate yourself and break out of a plateau 56:00 How traders can best prepare themselves for the mental toughness required in this industry 65:00 Anthony's EDGE Trading Group education program 73:12 How the Verbal Journal can help you with missed trading opportunities 77:12 Resources  Connect with Anthony's community online: EDGE Trading Group Connect with Anthony on YouTube: EDGE Trading Group Connect with Anthony on Twitter: @EdgeTradingGro1 Check out the Verbal Journal Software and claim $50 OFF using the TPA50 coupon. Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Here is the YouTube clip of the trade we mentioned at the 40-minute mark: Authentic Professional Trading 

As the title suggests, in today's episode, we focus our attention on the topic of how to stop overtrading! A lot of the feedback we hear from our community of traders on Youtube is that overtrading is something that they regularly struggle with...and we get it! New traders often enter the industry enthusiastic to start trading and making money - but this enthusiasm can be a double-edged sword at first. Why? Because when you are new and you see markets moving, you want in - you've always gotta be in a trade to be a trader right? WRONG - in fact, one of the things we hear quite often from TRADEPRO members is that they are surprised at how little we actually trade throughout the session. And there is a good reason for this! Want to know why? Well, it's really quite simple - we are only looking to take the highest probability setups - anything else is just noise! But does that mean that experienced traders are immune to overtrading? Not in the slightest - they have just learned to identify the patterns that trigger the overtrading so that they can manage them as soon as they start to surface. So what is overtrading and what are its true costs? Well overtrading in itself is simply the act of taking more trades than you have allotted for in your plan. The true costs for day traders, however, can be split into two main categories: 1.  Financial Costs (Extra Commissions Paid) Paying commissions is one of the costs of doing business, however, getting trigger happy will keep your broker paid and your account in drawdown. As daytraders, we are the most sensitive to commissions which is why we prefer the "less is more" approach to the markets. Sure you can make a bunch of points on a session but there's a difference between doing so in one or two trades versus clawing your way out with ten or twelve! When you start to focus on the higher probability setups then you will find yourself filtering out a lot of those lower quality setups...which means that you will be more paytient going forward. This means that there may be fewer trades, but the ones that do pass the qualifying process will likely be worth the capital you risk. 2.  Psychological Costs (Ingraining Self-Destructive Trading Habits) More costly than losing actual account capital is ingraining bad trading habits by overtrading and throwing more good money after bad money.  A majority of the time when we overtrade or see other traders overtrade, there is a good chance that those trades did not fit in with the trading plan. In our experience, these trades are often lower quality and lower probability trades that are often the ones affecting your bottom line. By falling into the habit of trading emotionally and losing money you are effectively programming your subconscious mind to believe that closing out a trade as a loser is bringing you closer to safety. And so the self-sabotage cycle begins to unfold until you are mentally drained and considering quitting trading altogether... But there's hope! We've got your back here at TRADEPRO Academy so now that you're familiar with the true costs of overtrading, let's talk about some of the common reasons that day traders tend to overtrade and how to overcome this bad habit! So what are the main culprits that we tend to see? Not having a strategy Lack of patience (boredom) A situation where you NEED to make money Overenthusiasm to start Revenge trading (Need to make money back immediately)  If you find yourself struggling to keep control of your emotions while trading, take a good hard look at the list above. Be honest with yourself..do any of these reasons relate to your current experiences? If so, make a note of that, you're making progress! So what are your next steps? Now that you have a better idea of what you need to work on, it's time to take action! If you don't have a strategy, the solution is quite simple... it's time to treat this like a business and to put together a plan. If you need some help with this step - make sure to check out this link to get directed over to our YouTube series on making a trading plan. If you find yourself overtrading as a result of being bored, feeling a need to be in the market and trying to force trades, then you've likely got to work on revising your trading plan to manage this habit. One effective solution in this scenario is to make it a habit to ask yourself this one question before you place a live trade: "Am I taking this trade because I am bored or because it fits my trading plan?" If the trade in question does not fit your plan, then you don't take the trade! Seems too simple right? Humans tend to dismiss simplicity in pursuit of complexity so why would something so simple actually work right?  Try it for yourself and judge the results on your own! If you're in a situation where you NEED to make money from trading in order to put food on the table and pay rent, then you are putting yourself in an extremely difficult position to succeed. Putting this type of pressure on yourself will greatly affect your performance as your psychology will get in the way of success. If you find yourself in this scenario, then it's best to take a step back and evaluate your financial picture. If losing the trading capital in your account means that your family doesn't eat then you are risking too much of your net worth. The general rule of thumb here is to have no more than 10% of your net worth in accounts used to speculate the markets. So you're new to the markets? Just learned a new strategy or indicator and ready to start printing your millions? We get it.. we were there once! Enthusiasm to get started can be a double-edged sword for newer traders! This goes back to our earlier point about the misconception that you always have to be in the markets to make money. Being too enthusiastic to make money off the get-go is a recipe for overtrading, especially, in slower markets conditions when opportunities come few and far in between and boredom starts to creep in. It's very easy to get sucked into the markets and try to force trades, however, the fix to this is for new traders to focus on remaining disciplined and executing their trading plans flawlessly. Remember that process always precedes profit! Finally, if you find yourself overtrading as a result of taking a loser and having to make it back immediately, whether it's a fat finger error or a clean loss, then it's important to identify the behaviors that trigger this habit before they cause more damage. Revenge trading can really drain your account regardless of the market conditions so it is important to come up with a plan to manage your emotions as you notice them creeping into your trading ever so slightly. Many traders have developed unique safeguards into their trading plans to help them manage these emotions. One such example is to enforce a time-out rule where you step away from your screens for 5-minutes after taking a loss. This will give you the opportunity to brush off the loss mentally, clear your mind and come back refocussed on taking advantage of the next best opportunity that the market provides. Remember that in order to stick around in this industry, we have to constantly adapt ourselves as traders! Managing overtrading is one of the challenges all traders face and that's exactly what you'll learn to do today! In This Episode You Will Learn What is overtrading? 3:47 The true costs of overtrading 07:40 Why not having a trading plan leaves you vulnerable to overtrading  22:05 Why boredom and lack of patience are the gateways to overtrading 25:47 How over-enthusiasm can lead to overtrading 40:30 How to identify and manage your revenge trading triggers   46:30 Some Questions We Discuss Why it's more important to stay patient when the markets are volatile? 06:25 Why ingraining bad trading habits is more costly than actually losing money? 15:20 Why overtrading creates a bad sequence of habits? 18:45 How traders who suffer from a lack of patience can overcome boredom trades? 26:20 Why putting yourself in a position where you need to make money trading can be destructive? 34:00 How we at TRADEPRO Academy manage overtrading in our own plans? 52:00 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out our Youtube: Trading Plan Series

In today's episode, we discuss how to bounce back after blowing your trading account! Because let's face it, blown accounts are sort of considered an "initiation" if you plan on sticking around this industry for any amount of time. In fact, we don't personally know of any traders that have reached a level of consistent profitability that haven't blown an account (if not many accounts) on their path towards profit. This is a very common stop on the journey towards becoming a consistently profitable trader and how you decide to proceed once you've blown your account will determine your future success or failure in this industry. If you blew your account and did not learn anything from it, then wiring some more funds to your broker and topping it back up will likely lead to the same disastrous result. So if you find yourself in this position, fear not! We've got your back here at TRADEPRO Academy so we've put together a structured, 5-step process that you can follow in order to put yourself in the best position to recover your account and take it to new equity highs! So what exactly is the process? STEP 1 - Accept your responsibility for the losses STEP 2 - Analyze your results (losses) STEP 3 - Make a plan STEP 4 - Take action STEP 5 - Absorb like a sponge It looks easy on paper, however, many people live their lives in effect meaning that they tend to blame external factors for failures as opposed to taking responsibility for their circumstances. This makes accepting responsibility for the realized losses extremely difficult. Most don't ever get past this stage and will throw blame towards the markets and even their brokers for the losses in their account. Without accepting responsibility for your current situation, the chances of you making a lasting change greatly decrease. If you can commit to living at cause and accepting responsibility, then the next step is analyzing your results and looking for strengths and weaknesses in this data. If you are not already keeping a trading journal and recording your trading activity, then we suggest starting immediately! You CANNOT grow as a trader unless you have data to review! At this point in the process, you will want to identify whether the machine (trading strategy) or the operator (you as a trader) is broken. Once you do this, the next step is pretty simple. It's time to build out a trading plan! A trading plan is extremely important because it will be your operation manual for trading the markets. Without a trading plan, you are essentially gambling, so if you want to treat this like a business you've gotta do the heavy lifting here. If you are not sure what a trading plan is or how to make one, see the resources below for a link to our Youtube Series on this topic! So you've spent some time putting together a trading plan, now what? It's time to take action! Spend some time in a simulated environment testing out the strategy for a week or two with success before transitioning to the micro contracts to get some skin in the game while testing out the strategy in a live setting. Once you rebuild your confidence and get comfortable getting paid, then you can scale back into the mini's and work from there. What's the final step in the process to recover your blown account? Joining a community of successful traders and becoming a sponge. Look for things other traders are doing that you may not be! You will always be a student of the markets trying to constantly refine your trading edge in these markets and there is no better way to do this than to be part of a community of real traders. In This Episode You Will Learn George's experience with his first blown futures account and how he bounced back 6:50 Mark's experience with blown accounts and lessons from the bounce back 8.25 Why accepting your losses is so important for moving forward 14:25 The two types of categories that are causing you losses 22:45 Why you need a trading plan for a chance at success in the markets  30:00 How to put this whole 5-step process into action 35:00 Why joining a community of successful traders can accelerate your development 44:40 Some Questions We Discuss Why accepting responsibility for your losses helps empower you to make a change? 16:45 Why the majority of traders have a difficult time analyzing their losses? 22:05 What are you planning to achieve without a trading plan? 33:10 What to ask yourself before every trade in order to mitigate emotionally trading? 36:15 Why it's important to take trades that you are proud of? 40:00 If you're trading against someone, doesn't it make sense to trade with someone? 48:30 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out our Youtube: Trading Plan Series

Things get controversial on this episode of Mind Over Markets. As the title suggests, we’re discussing demo trading and why too long on the stock market simulator can really hurt your chances at being a successful day trader.  In all honesty, your success in demo does not guarantee your success in live trading. There’s no real risk involved in sim trading, so it can lead to you developing some really bad habits when it comes to trade strategy. This doesn’t mean you’re a terrible stock trader - you just need to learn how to use demo trading properly. We typically see new traders overstay their welcome in demo. It’s a comfortable and safe place for you to practice day trading. Unfortunately, live trades are anything but safe and comfortable. Too much time in demo means too much time fake risking fake money. When you have real money on the line, your reactions can change pretty quickly. If you don’t have a well-practiced strategy in place, your first few live trades could blow up in your face. We know because we’ve been there. We’ve made those mistakes and lost real money when we really didn’t have to. That’s why we’re doing this particular episode. We want to guide you away from these mistakes if we can, and we want to guide you out of them if you’re stuck in the middle. To start, here are five signs you’re overstaying your welcome on sim mode -  You’re trading at a bigger contract size than you plan to use when you go live You don’t have a checklist  You’re winning most of your trades most of the time You’re not journaling any of your trades  You reset your simulation data very often  If you see yourself in any of those five signs, you need to start weaning yourself off of sim trading sooner rather than later. You don’t have to leave just yet. If you aren’t ready to trade in real-time, there’s no pressure to start. Here are some steps you can take to use simulation mode properly while you continue to learn: Learn how the price ladder moves and acclimate yourself with the trading interface Learn how to move, adjust, and cancel orders Get a feel for the volatility of the markets so you aren’t surprised  Practice your analyzation skills and learn the right time to execute your strategy The trick to using stock market simulators is developing your strategy ahead of time. You never want to start demo trading without a clear plan in mind. Otherwise, that’s when all the bad habits start sneaking in. Instead, use demo mode as a way to test your strategies before you go live. That way, you’ll have a better understanding of what works, what doesn’t, and what you can look out for you so you don’t get scratched in your first live trade.  We go into those 4 steps and more in this episode. Tune in now for our 2 BONUS STEPS on how to use simulation mode properly. If you’re a trader who’s ready to enter live trades, these bonus steps are for you. We tell you how you can get out of demo mode quickly without risking your savings account and start trading live today. There’s never been a better time to start day trading than right now, and with us here to tell you how to start using demo mode properly, you don’t have a single excuse not to start.  In This Episode You Will Learn An overview of how new traders typically think demo works 2:59 The biggest pitfall in demo trading 11:34 Five signs you’ve overstayed your welcome on sim mode 18:20 The six steps to using stock market simulators the right away 31:52 Ways to learn how to start with multiple lots without sim mode 49:50 Some Questions We Discuss How does demo trading hurt your development as a trader? 4:42 What kind of bad habits was Mark developing in demo? 15:47 Why do we love micro contracts so much? 40:40 How can you use demo mode while you’re live? 44:20 How do you start trading live quicker without spending too much time on demo? 47:30 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

Are you keeping a journal? We get it - stock trading and journaling seem like they’re on the opposite ends of the spectrum, but we’re here to tell you that that’s just not true. Keeping a journal is the one thing you need to do if you want to be a successful stock trader. Think about it this way - all businesses keep a record. As a stock trader, you are your own business. It’s important that you keep a record of your wins, your losses, and your bank account. But keeping a journal is more than just tracking your performance metrics. Journaling helps you recognize patterns, inventory emotions, and build your confidence. In fact, actually writing in a journal can help remove the stress and mental blocks that are affecting your trades. Take a look at some of these other benefits of keeping a journal:  reduces depression and anxiety cultivates gratitude helps with recovery from trauma  strengthens emotional function keeps memory sharp improves self-awareness and confidence enhances learning and development Your personal journal will reflect and shape your reality, and we go into more on how this works in this episode. For example, if you keep a journal when trading, you’ll be better able to define your strengths and weaknesses more clearly. You’ll know where to make improvements, and it will help you set better goals that will keep you away from those questionable trades.  Successful stock traders keep a certain kind of journal, and we go into the different ways you can journal to get the most out of the experience. We discuss which apps to use, which metrics to measure, and also which patterns of emotions to track. There’s more to keeping a journal than you think, and we’ve put together a list here that will help you get a headstart on this episode: Which Performance Metrics to Track: Asset traded Position size Time/date and entry/exit price Screenshots of the trade Notes and performance grade Emotion tracker Which Patterns of Emotion to Track:  Negative thinking Impulsivity Fear The most important thing to remember when keeping a journal is to track your emotions before, during, and after the trade. We share techniques on how to do this and what to look for so you can keep an emotional inventory in real-time. Journaling like this has the power to shape healthier environments for our bodies and our minds, which makes it crucial to successful trading. At the end of this episode, we want you to start keeping your own trade journal. Consider your journal as feedback on not only your techniques but also on the patterns in the market. Too many stock traders don’t take the time to master a technique, but if you start keeping a journal right now, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a real success story in this industry.  In This Episode You Will Learn The one thing you need to be a successful trader 4:51 How to write a solutions-focused journal 17:02 Some of our biggest emotional triggers on the trading floor 28:05 The ways journaling can improve your trade performance 42:33 Our favorite ways to keep a trade journal 44:35 The three patterns of emotion traders should track in a journal 54:00 Some Questions We Discuss Why is the failure rate so high among traders? 3:29 What are the benefits of journaling? 9:23 How do these journaling benefits work for traders? 22:10 How can journaling keep you out of questionable trades? 37:23 What should traders actually be journaling about? 48:01 What is the most important element of a trader’s journal? 49:37 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Check out these journaling insights: 'Trade Journals that Work' by Dr. Brett Steenbarger  Here’s the journaling process: YOUTUBE LINK The book that Mark keeps re-reading: Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Try journaling with these resources: Evernote, Google Docs, Microsoft OneNote, Tradervue, Verbal Journal

P&L. This term gets thrown around a lot in stock trading, but what does it really mean? Profit And Loss is the obvious answer, but the P&L means a lot more to many different traders. In this episode, we’re going deep into why focusing on the P&L can be detrimental to your trading strategy. For stock traders, especially new traders, focusing on the P&L will only lead to emotional trading. Emotional trades will force you off of your intended plan and will almost always end up in losses. We know this from personal experience. George used to be one of those traders, staying glued on the P&L, completely ignoring the rest of his charts. This is so common among traders. Since we’re in a competitive situation, we instinctively want to keep score. How else will we know if we’re winning or not? But that’s the problem - you can’t keep score if you want to win.  Keeping score is for the fans. The players - the traders - they need to create the score by focusing on what needs to be done to make the best trade. A good trader focuses on the steps they need to take to follow their plan in order to make the best trade possible. When you think about winning, or worse - breaking even, then you’re missing out on what the markets are really about.  In this episode, we take a look at why the P&L is important to sock trading and why it’s even more important that you don’t pay attention to it. We take a closer look at some of the most common trade scenarios we’ve seen fall down the spiral of a P&L mindset and offer up a few strategies you can use to pull yourself out of that hole.  There are 6 techniques we talk about in this episode that you can build into your trade plan right now, and we tell you exactly how many you need to master in order to get the most out of your trade strategy. Remember - trading isn’t a solo activity. We want to hear about how these techniques are working for you. Visit us at Trade Pro Academy to talk strategy, join the community, and catch up on all of our latest episode of Mind Over Markets.  In This Episode You Will Learn The real definition of P&L 2:08  Why traders need to stop saying “I just want to break even” 15:20 One trade cannot make or break a trader’s P&L 31:32 6 techniques to prevent the destructive P&L mindset altogether 45:40 How to focus on your next best trade instead of worrying about the last loss 55:00 A little bit about Canadian hockey, courtesy of Mark 58:57 Some Questions We Discuss What is up with our psychological fixation on the P&L? 5:40 When does the P&L mindset start creeping into your trade strategy? 24:15 Which toward-motivated techniques can traders use to stop that mindset? 26:25 How can you keep your mindset positive even after a string of losses? 38:21 Can you remove the P&L column from your trade station? 50:00 How many of our solution set-ups should you master first? 61:08 Resources Connect with our community online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Sharpen your mental toughness with this episode: #8 Mental Toughness Leave us a review on iTunes: Mind Over Markets on Apple

Patience is something you have to get used to as a trader. You’re never going to get to a point in your career where you just don’t need to be patient anymore. That’s why we dedicated this episode of Mind over Markets to helping traders cultivate PAYtience. Yes, we’re spelling it that way because having patience in trading means earning capital, and cultivating patience means you’re setting yourself up for long-term success. Developing a strategic plan is the only way you’re ever going to cultivate patience. Get over that instant gratification that defines our generation RIGHT NOW. We’re sharing tips and tricks for how you can stop looking for that instant win or fast-lane to success and start training yourself to look for the market signs and signals that will point you to the good trades. It’s going to take a bit of practice. Successful trading is the opposite of what you see on social media. In fact, it’s really boring. Cultivating patience will help you make it through the boredom. When you learn to be patient during the learning curve, you’ll be more likely to keep your cool on the trade floor, during risk management, and throughout the long-term as you work your way through your career milestones. Because becoming a successful trader is going to take much longer than you think, and cultivating patience now will make you that much more successful further on down the road.  Cultivating patience as a trader is actually a very strategic move. Being patient means you’re always waiting for something. When you’re patient, you’re prime and ready for when the right trade hits. Having patience will help you manage your emotions, help you stay focused, and ultimately help you make better trade decisions. We go into how cultivating patience leads to better decision making, and George even shares his top tip for cultivating patience and living in the moment. In this episode of Mind Over Markets, we’re also looking at Inc.com’s Top 7 Facts about Patience: Being patient means you’re less likely to make reckless risky decisions Your co-workers, your friends, your family all want you to be more patient  Having more patience means you procrastinate less Patience will calm your mind and help you cope with stress Having patience will inspire more gratitude in your daily life Patience can improve your health by reducing headaches and ulcers Reframing the way you think about emotional situations can help you cultivate more patience We dive deep into these facts and share our personal experiences with how and when patience has helped us. When we use patience, each and every one of our trading outcomes improves, which says a lot about our mental capital while we’re cultivating patience. Unfortunately, you aren’t going to patient all of the time. We explore the most common reasons why traders lose patience and the steps you can take to cultivate and manage your patience on the trade floor.  If you’re curious about the ways you can start cultivating patience as a trader, take a sneak peek of some of the steps we talk about on this episode: Know the value of patience in your personal trading strategy Set a maximum daily trade limit and a daily mental limit Build safeguards to stop you from losing your patience These are just a few of the tactics you can use to keep your patience in check while you wait to make the right trades at the right time. We go into these strategies and many more to help traders at all points in their career cultivate the patience they need to be truly successful instead of just chasing the markets. In This Episode You Will Learn The reason why we have no patience these days 2:10 Why successful trading is actually really, really boring 5:40 Our favorite quotes about patience 19:51 Top 7 facts about patience 26:36 How these patience top facts parallel one of our listener’s experiences 40:12 Steps to cultivating and managing your patience as a trader 59:00 TRADER CHALLENGE: How to create a daily trade limit that works 63:18 Some Questions We Discuss What is the most important aspect of cultivating patience? 1:08 How do we define patience? 12:30 What are the different levels of patience you need to overcome to be a successful trader? 10:04 How will patience help you make better trading decisions? 16:00 Why do traders lose their patience and their capital at the same time? 46:12 Where does the idea of a “fixed income” come from? 56:16 What’s a “hall of fame trade”? 73:10 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Read More: These 7 Surprising Facts About Patience Will Change Everything About How You Live Your LIfe Catch up with The Market Wizards Amazon is airdropping George’s new book: Path to Profit: A Trader’s Journey Pick up one of our favorite books: Reminiscences of Stock Operator

Fear is one of our most natural subconscious responses, but it’s also one of the most important elements of trading. In this episode of Mind Over Markets, we’re sharing our own experiences with the fear of loss and how our own personal risk management strategies help us - and will help you - overcome the fear of loss in trading.  The important thing to remember about fear is that it will never go away. There will always be a little element of fear in everything you do, especially when the risks are high. That’s because fear is an innate defense mechanism. Fear exists to keep us alive, and fear helps us recognize and react to perceived threats. For early humans, these threats were more likely large predators, but for those of us in the modern age, these threats can come in many forms. In trading, the threat could be to our income, our livelihood, even our emotional well-being. George believes in two different types of fear: fears that we need to listen to, those ones that truly threaten our wellbeing, and fears that are just a precaution or warning system. Understanding the way your brain responds to these two types of fears is your first step to overcoming the fear of loss when you’re trading.  Fear of loss is a real thing. In fact, loss in trading is an unavoidable reality no matter how good of a trader you are. You can’t win everything all of the time, and learning how to accept these losses will make you less fearful on the trading floor. We both know that working for a variable income like this is scary, and we’ve devised our own strategies for managing trade fears that will work for you, too.  If you’ve never had a risk management strategy in place, then right now is the time to start. This episode will help you understand the psychology behind your fear, including the brain functions behind it all, and give you tips for managing your own fear of loss so you can take on trading with confidence. It might be scary to step out of your comfort zone and risk your own money out here with the rest of us, but it’s also an opportunity to take control of your own success. Don’t be afraid of it. In This Episode You Will Learn: Why fear is more powerful than greed 0:50 Fear is an unconscious, automatic reaction 8:00 The five areas of the brain that control your fear 9:23 How your value system can influence your fears 16:57 Mark’s top tips for managing fears while trading 25:29 How to design a risk-management strategy 29:20 How AI and automation is changing the way we all work 36:18 Some Questions We Discuss: What is the purpose of fear? 4:27 Are all fears the same? 6:53 What is the high road fear? 12:13 What about the low road of fear? 13:23 What kinds of people make the best traders? 32:56 What are the trading mind-hacks for managing fear of loss? 42:05 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast

On this episode of Mind Over Markets, we are taking a closer look at our emotions and - most importantly - our emotional awareness. Emotional awareness is more than just being aware of what moods you’re experiencing. It’s about being able to manage and maintain these natural feelings. All of our emotions lead to thoughts, and you have to be able to manage your emotions before they start to negatively influence your decision-making on the trading floor. Think back to our earlier episodes. Remember when we said all emotions are based in the subconscious mind? That’s because our lizard brains are designed to react to perceived threats with a fight-or-flight response. Emotions trigger this kind of response, but fight-or-flight is really dangerous if you’re a trader. What we’re talking about on this episode are ways you can learn to identify and interrupt this natural pattern before it takes over and starts controlling you and the way you trade.  We’re both sharing our different strategies for maintaining emotional awareness, but first you have to understand what emotions we’re talking about. Take a look at the 8 basic human emotions, and ask yourself which ones often get the better of you: Anger Sadness Fear Joy Interest  Surprise Disgust Shame No matter who you are, you’ve experienced at least one of these emotions this week - if not already today. You can’t really detach the integration of these emotions with your thoughts, but you can control your reaction to these emotions, and that’s what we’re diving into today. Whatever emotion you bring into the trading space, that’s the emotion you’re going to operate in. If you’re an optimistic person, you’re going to have a more optimistic trade experience. But if you’re an angry person, you’re going to be an angry trader, and you might not be too happy with those results. So tune in right now if you’re ready to learn more about your emotions, where they come from, and how to manage them. Because maintaining emotional awareness as a trader is the first step in developing that peak performance state of mind we all need to be the best day traders we know we can be. In This Episode You Will Learn Why and how emotional awareness influences our thoughts and our decisions 0:52 The eight basic human emotions we all experience 12:00 2-WEEK POWER CHALLENGE: The negative emotions you need to control most 25:40 The importance of journaling your emotions while trading 32:02 George’s MCM and other strategies for managing emotions while trading 36:06 How to interrupt your negative emotions at the neuro-physical level 44:32 Some Questions We Discuss Why is fight-or-flight mode so dangerous to traders? 3:03 Why is too much joy just as dangerous as too much fear? 16:35 How can we fight off these negative, forced emotions? 28:25 What are the 5 main components of our emotions? 33:30 What strategies does Mark use to manage his emotions? 39:20 What are session check-ins and why are they important? 48:32 Why is it so hard for humans to be emotionally aware? 51:12 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast George’s favorite book from today’s episode: Power vs. Force by David R Hawkins

Are decisions made with the conscious or the subconscious mind? That’s the big question we’re answering on this episode of Mind Over Markets. We have strategies to help you break out of your subconscious decision making patterns, and the personal challenge in this episode is designed to challenge your unconscious decisions.  You make roughly 35,000 decisions per day. That breaks down to making a decision about every two seconds. And when you’re making that many decisions, how can you be conscious of every single one of them? The truth is - you can’t. And this truth is even more important when it comes to decision making as a trader.  Unconscious decision making comes from our subconscious desire to find the “right” answer. In trading, the right answer isn’t always so obvious. That’s why decision making is so hard for new traders. The decisions we have to make as traders aren’t always easy, but taking the pressure off of yourself to make a profit right away can make it a little less difficult. This way, you can focus on learning and trying different strategies until you develop a decision making process that works for you. You can’t rush into decision making when you’re a trader because you’ll fall into a pattern of habit-based decisions. Those are the impulsive decisions you make when your unconscious mind takes over. If you’ve ever had a day when you look back at your trades and think to yourself - “Who made these? This doesn’t look like me at all.” - then you know you’re starting to make a habit of unconscious decision making. We’ve all been there. In fact, nearly 25% of our trades are habit-based. But it’s time to break that habit. In this episode we’re discussing the differences between value-based and habit-based decisions, and sharing trade pro tips on how you can start training yourself to make more conscious decisions when trading. Learning how to make value-based decisions takes practice, but as you familiarize yourself with the good habits of successful traders and take your time to understand the ins and outs of the market, you’ll find yourself making the right decisions sooner rather than later.  In This Episode You Will Learn: The two types of decisions human beings make 3:30 Why new traders have such a hard time making the right decisions 10:08 NEW TRADER CHALLENGE: A new perspective on winning and losing trades 18:04 Which types of decisions will create the biggest opportunities for you 30:15 How your personal purchasing patterns will affect your trading strategy 40:43 How to make the decision that’s right for you 48:58 Some Questions We Discuss: How many decisions do we actually make every day? 1:48 How do habit-based and value-based decisions work together? 6:45 How many trades have we made that are value-based? 15:29 What decisions do we have to make as traders? 24:24 Is there a template for making the perfect decision? 46:00 Why should you forget about decision making by the end of this episode? 51:04 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Catch up with one of our favorite traders: Anthony Drager

Get ready! We’re flipping the script completely today here on Mind Over Markets. Your host, George Papazov, just finished writing his first book and we’re asking him all about it. You’ll discover the inspiration behind his book and the motivations that led him to finally put pen to paper. You’ll even find out how he came up with the title - Path to Profit: A Trader’s Journey to Success. What George shares with us today is that writing a book is a very vulnerable project. But being able to share his story and his journey with fellow trade pros like us is worth every bit of the struggle. Back in our day, when we were first stepping into professional trading, it was really hard to access other successful traders and learn from their stories. Being able to learn through Geroge’s story and what he’s been through is an extremely empowering process and can make you a better trader.  That’s why George included personal questions and exercises at the end of each of his chapters, and we go into some of those exercises today. Path to Profit is more than just an autobiography. Reading this book is like a mindset meditation that can help you on your own journey to trade success. We all know that everyone’s journey is different, and rather than force one kind of strategy on you, George opens the floor to let you explore your options and learn from his experiences. You’ll also hear about some of the big challenges George faced while writing, including how hard it is to actually think of a title. Some of the surprises he faced during this process might surprise you as well, so listen carefully to the nuggets George is sharing today. Especially if you’re considering writing your own book. It’s always hard to open up and reveal your personal story, but George is proof that sharing it with others is the best way to learn, and you can learn a lot just by listening to this episode. Tune in now for the big secret that George reveals at the end of this podcast, and also in the end of his new book Path to Profit: A Trader’s Journey to Success! In This Episode You Will Learn: That your host George Papazov wrote his first book 1:06 How to find the inspiration to write a book 6:33 Your personal journey will never be a straight line 7:50 The significance behind the title of the book “Path to Profit” 12:20 What kinds of questions and exercises are at the end of every chapter 16:45 All about George’s sense of hustle and how it’s impacted his trading 24:30 The biggest highlight of Path to Profit: A Trader’s Journey to Success 31:36 Where you can leave us a review on iTunes 39:18 Some Questions We Discuss: What do you think makes a good story? 2:10 What was George’s favorite chapter to write? 5:45 When did George realize he wanted to write a book for other trade pros? 9:46 What challenges did George face while writing his book? 13:28 What surprised George the most while writing Path to Profit? 19:11 What is George’s biggest motivation? 28:25 Will George spill a secret this episode? 34:00 How can you flip the script on failures and look at them as feedback? 36:13 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Catch up with our earlier episodes: Mind Over Markets Podcast Read George’s New Book: A Path to Profit: A Trader’s Journey to Success Other books mentioned in today’s episode: Market Wizards: Interviews with Top Traders by Jack D. Schwager

If you never thought of trading as a sport, this episode of Mind Over Markets is going to blow your mind. Because you’re more like a professional athlete than you think. Just like playing a professional sport, pulling off trade strategies requires a lot of mental strength and acuity. There’s a lot of competition - and a lot of pressure - out there on the trade floor, and your mental toughness is going to make or break your trading success. Mental toughness is at the core of today’s episode. It’s a term we picked up from one of our favorite books - The New Toughness Training in Sports. In this book, mental toughness is likened to a psychological edge athletes have which allows them to take on the mental, emotional, and physical challenges of the professional arena. Trade pros can develop this same psychological edge by strengthening their inner selves. What do we mean by “inner self”? Well, that’s another concept we’re going into on today’s episode because your mental toughness depends on the strength of your inner self. Think of it this way - inside of you are two people: one is the performer, and the other is the real you. When you’re trading, you’re in performance mode, but that doesn’t mean the real you isn’t participating. Your success on the trade floor depends on how in sync your performance self and inner sef are. When you strengthen your inner self, you give yourself the ability and, more importantly, the confidence to take on those challenging trades and cope with any snags or losses that might come your way. We’re sharing a few techniques today to help you develop your mental toughness, and these strategies will give you the tools you need to strengthen your inner self. Here’s a closer look at the 12 Key Attributes of Athletes that we go over in this episode and how they apply to trade pros: Switching your focus between performance mode and real mode to hone your competitive edge Remaining fully focused in the performance arena despite personal life distractions Thriving under pressure and using competitive energy to bring out the best in yourself Ignoring social media and not being adversely affected by others’ performances Accepting that competition is inevitable and planning ahead Pushing boundaries and battling back through physical and emotional challenges Regaining and maintaining psychological control, even after a particularly bad day Remaining fully focused and maintaining a mental focus meter Finding your internalized motivation for success Having an unshakeable belief in yourself that builds your confidence Bouncing back from setbacks and looking at them as growth opportunities Having an unshakeable belief in your ability to achieve your goals As we go over these key attributes today, you’ll recognize that your sense of self-worth is at the core of each of them. Your belief in yourself and trusting in your trade abilities makes up more than half of your success. Negative thinking will only inspire negative actions, and learning how to apply these athletic attributes to your daily and professional life will hone your mental toughness and definitely give you a brand new, optimistic perspective. Mental toughness isn’t something you’re born with. It can be learned and you can learn how to strengthen it just like a muscle. Everyone possesses the ability to build their confidence, it just takes practice. We want to challenge you guys to cultivate a success mindset and mental toughness with these key attributes in mind. Because competition is inevitable. You’re inevitably going to face pressures in this industry, but you have the power to choose how you respond to these challenges. This kind of mindset will keep propelling your forward through your trade career, and each of these podcasts are opportunities for you to learn and grow. If you’re ready to take the challenge head on, then this is the episode for you.  In This Episode You Will Learn How psychology and mental toughness can influence your trading success 1:47 What it means to achieve IPS: the Ideal Performance State 3:40 The reason trading strategies don’t always work 11:51 The key attributes of athleticism that apply directly to trade pros 16:20 How to use mental toughness on social media and in other communities 24:50 Using a toward-motivated mindset to regain your psychological control 33:21 Questions to ask yourself to uncover and understand your trading motivations 41:55 The top 3 key attributes of athletes and trade pros 44:42 The ability to bounce back from any trading setbacks 51:37 How to develop your mental toughness like a muscle 61:00 Some Questions We Discuss Who coined the term “mental toughness”? 1:08 In what ways are professional traders and professional athletes similar? 7:25 What kind of trading career are you going into? 13:30 How do we thrive so well under the pressures of trading? 19:31 Why are the stories about failure more important than the successes? 30:41 What is George talking about when he says “mental capital”? 35:43 What is the real definition of “internal motivation”? 40:45 Do you have a plan in place to help you handle losses? 47:37 How can you recreate success and avoid losses? 56:15 What are we going to be talking about in our next episode? 59:20 Are you afraid you can’t develop your own mental toughness? 63:00 Resources The New Toughness Training in Sports by James E. Loehr

It’s that time of year again, time for all the new goals and resolutions for the New Year. But did you know that nearly 80% of people give up on their goals by the middle of February? That’s barely 45 days into the New Year. It’s almost embarrassing to think about, but we’re all guilty of it. Our goals can get away from us sometimes, especially if we aren’t setting smart and authentic resolutions that actually align with your purpose. There is a way to set smarter goals, and in this episode of the Mind Over Markets podcast we’re taking a closer look at the psychology behind the infamous New Year’s Resolution. We’re discussing ways you can use Neuro Linguistic Programming - or NLP - to set goals you’ll actually stick to. You’ll start to notice the amazing effects it has on your attitude and, ultimately, you’re trading too.  Before we go any deeper, it’s important to understand why some people set goals and others don’t. Some people set goals to create a sense of motivation and direction in their lives. This experience provides feedback that lets you know how close you are to achieving your goal. More importantly, it gives you the opportunity to change your lifestyle accordingly. Others see goals as ahead of where they’re at right now in their lives, and that’s okay too. What we’re doing today is helping any of you stuck in that moment to see how you can make goal-setting work for you. George used to be one of those people who never set goals. He was more focused on being grateful for what he had and saw goals as something way ahead of where he was at that moment. But there are ways to resolve that misconception, and you can create achievable outcomes easily with the exercise we have for you in today’s episode.  Take a closer look at some of the questions we ask to create achievable outcomes: What will you see, hear, and feel when you’ve accomplished your goals? Where are you now in relation to your outcome? How will you know when you’ve accomplished this goal? What will this outcome allow you to do? Is the goal only for you and are you the only person in charge of your results? Are there any drawbacks to you achieving this goal? What personal resources do you have that will allow you to achieve your goals? For what purpose do you want for this goal? When do you want to have this accomplished by? What time of day? We both share are own experiences with goal-setting as we go over these questions with you. We each have different perspectives, and different resources for example, so you can see how different types of goals work with this exercise. Once you see the big picture of your New Year’s Resolutions from this NLP perspective, you’ll be better able to create SMART goals that align with your sense of self-worth and your purpose.  These smart goals are more than just making the smart decisions. SMART is actually an acronym for Simple goals that are Measurable, Achievable, and Realistic while all being Toward-motivated. We go deeper into each of these words and how they apply to our goals, including: S. Seeing yourself from a disassociated perspective that allows you to look at yourself objectively M. Measuring your goals with specific directives that speak to your subconscious mind A. Achieving goals with “I am” phrases that put everything in a positive perspective since the subconscious mind doesn’t process negatives R. Responsibly creating goals that don’t harm others or go against the greater good simply for your benefit and T. Timing your goals so they take you toward what you want instead of farther away Most importantly, on today’s episode, we want to know what you’re going to see, feel, and hear when you accomplish your New Year’s Resolutions. Creating these emotions and visualizations around your goals makes them real, more tangible, and much easier to actually achieve. It’s time to recreate your goals for 2020 with this achievable outcomes exercise. We’re both sharing our own business and trading goals for the new year, and we can’t wait to hear all about yours too. It’s not easy to be vulnerable with your personal goals, but we welcome the opportunity to talk right here and right now on the Mind Over Markets podcast. In This Episode You Will Learn How we set our own goals around New Year’s (and all year round, too!) 2:29 A few key reasons why we set goals for ourselves 5:44 How to set smart goals with an NLP framework 12:43 The 3 reasons why people ultimately fail at their New Year’s Resolutions 19:35 The 3 reasons why people end up sticking with their New Year’s Resolutions 20:12 How to be responsible for the goals you’re setting 25:00 Some of our big business and trading SMART goals for 2020 32:10 What your goals look like after creating an achievable outcome 39:19 How to create affirmations around the goals you’re creating 43:33 Some Questions We Discuss Why do we always give up on our New Year’s Resolutions? 1:08 Why do people sometimes not set goals at all? 8:40 How can you see yourself disassociated from yourself? 17:04 What does it really mean to “fake it til you make it”? 21:25 How can we set goals that are toward-motivated? 26:50 What will you see, hear, and feel when you’ve accomplished your goals? 34:04 What personal resources do you have that will allow you to achieve your goals? 37:44 What are you really doing when you start using “I am” statements? 48:08 When is the best time of day to practice mindfulness and meditate? 49:12 Resources Learn more: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Last episode we wrapped up on the power of positive thought, and it’s an excellent segway into our sixth episode on rethinking your self-worth. You may not realize it now, but your sense of self-worth has a huge effect on your trading. The things you think you deserve revolves around how much you think you’re worth. If you think you aren’t worthy of something, how do you think you’ll ever become a successful trader?  Listen to this episode now with that thought in mind. Self-worth is your opinion of yourself and what’s most important to you once all the external factors are removed. Think about it, because we want to know not only how much you think you’re worth, but what does self-worth mean to you right now? What do you value most about yourself? How much of this value rests on the opinions of others?  Don’t get overwhelmed by these questions. There’s actually a simple equation that will calculate your self-worth for you, and it might surprise you. We’re discussing it today but here’s a hint - you’re already worthy! You just have to accept it. That’s the trick and the hardest part of measuring your self-worth. But once you accept that you’re worthy of the success you’re working towards, this whole trading thing becomes a whole lot easier.  Accepting your self-worth is at the core of today’s episode. Social media, negative thinking, and other people’s opinions all contribute to your sense of self-worth, and they can all diminish the way you feel about yourself if you let them. Today, we’re reminding you to Live At Cause and let go of these external factors and focus on only the things that are important to you. We share techniques to help you navigate social media in healthy ways, and teach you to look for opportunities to reverse engineer your goals when you start seeing things on Instagram that might bring you down. Rethinking your self-worth involves looking at yourself from the outside and stop comparing yourself to others in the industry. Use them for motivation and education, not as a marker of what you’re not. Progress isn’t linear, and your self-worth can’t be measured by a linear projection either. As Mark says today, your first chapter can’t be compared to someone else’s Chapter Twenty. Remember to give yourself props for the work you’re doing, and we have a few tips to help you change your mindset when things get tough. Your biggest takeaway from today’s episode will be not only recognizing your own self-worth, but being able to recognize it in others. When you’re aware of your own self-worth, it becomes easier to accept or reject another’s opinions of you without rejecting that person all together. You’ll understand them better simply because you understand yourself better, and that’s the ultimate achievement.  In This Episode You Will Learn That social media is a big contributor to a growing lack sense of self-worth in our generation 5:09 Why you shouldn’t be comparing your first years of trading to somebody’s decades of experience 11:11 How Living at Cause can help improve your sense of self-worth 19:30 What to do when people give you their opinion (whether you asked for it or not) 23:33 Just exactly how big a human brain can grow 29:02 A recap of the steps to elevate your self-worth and apply it to your trading 33:15 How to keep a gratuity journal 40:50 Some Questions We Discuss What does self-worth mean to you? 1:28 What do you think your self-worth is? 13:35 Is there a quantifiable metric to measure self-worth? 16:40 How many times did someone else’s opinion affect your self-worth? 18:21 Do you think you deserve successful trader? 27:30 What’s the connection between your income goals and your self worth? 39:29 What are two ways you can start rethinking your self-worth right now? 43:55

We all have a special superpower, which is the power of positive thinking. The thoughts you think and how you share them is powerful enough to change who you are. Words and thoughts are energy, and they interact with all of the energy around us to influence our life and our decisions. Remember, there’s no such thing as empty space. It’s all filled with energy, and the kind of energy you put into it will directly influence what you get out. So if you fill that space with self-doubt and negative thinking, how are you supposed to pull something positive out of it?  Don’t worry, the trick to positive thinking is easy. We’re sharing our favorite quotes and social experiments to show you how positive thinking works and, more importantly, how you can make it work for you. The first step is taking a mental inventory of what you’re thinking about. Try it right now. Before listening to this podcast, make a note of all the things you were thinking this morning. What were you thinking about at lunch? What did you think about before you went to sleep last night? Write it all down and then push play. We’re about to show you want to do with all of those thoughts with our 9-Day Positivity Challenge. This challenge will be easy if you’ve been listening to the previous episodes in this series. If you’re already living at cause, then positive thinking will be an easy hurdle to cross. You already know that the subconscious doesn’t think in negatives, so you recognize that you hold the power to change your life with simple language. Thoughts and words can cultivate the results you’re looking for, you just have to know when to turn the volume down on that negative thinking. That’s when those positive thoughts can come to light. As long as you’re specific with your thoughts, you subconscious will quickly pick up on this positive energy and guide your decisions accordingly. After today’s powerful conclusion, you’ll be well-versed in the psychology of your subconscious. This positive guidance is easy to apply to your trade strategies once you know how to apply them to yourself. You’ll be able to take everything you’ve learned from this series and use it in our upcoming episodes to become the successful trader you’ve always wanted to be. In This Episode You Will Learn The power of words and how they affect different objects 4:30 Skepticism is a good thing, especially in trading 6:45 How to take responsibility for your actions with your thought process 12:30 Opposites don’t always attract 15:00 Our favorite quote from Napoleon Hill 23:04 Our favorite quote from James Allen 27:24 Our favorite quote from Guy Finley 38:05 The top 3 questions to answer in your gratuity journal every night 42:31 How to find the silver lining in your setbacks 44:51 Our all-time favorite books for positive thinking: 49:40 Some Questions We Discussed What did Dr. Masaru Emoto discover when he talked to water? 1:18 What do you think about most of the time? 9:45 We’re all superheroes, but what’s your superpower? 17:45 How specific do we have to be with our positive thinking? 24:20 What’s the first step in our Positivity Shift Challenge? 30:40 Why do we think of ourselves as Lamborghinis? 34:22 What are you grateful for? 41:15 What’s coming up in our next episodes about trading psychology? 48:43 Have you listened to all 5 episodes in our mini-series? 51:47 Resources Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Learn more about Dr Masaru Emoto: Hidden Messages in the Water  Check out the Double-Slit Experiment: Double-Slit Experiment Some of our favorite books from today’s episode: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace Wattles Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy  The Power of Your Subconscious Mind Joseph Murphy Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz

We’re still here unlocking the user manual for your brain, and today’s podcast is all about unlocking the subconscious’ secret to motivation. If you haven’t caught up with other episodes yet, get over to our website and start listening. You’ll need to know what we did last episode and have your list of values ready in order to participate in today’s motivation exercise.  We already know that motivation is what inspires us to move forward and pursue our goals. Whether these goals are for trading, your daily life, or both is entirely up to you. We just want to give you the tools and resources you need to get there. To all of you listening right now, if you’re ready to unpack your values and your motivations, it’s really important for you to be honest with yourself. As you go through the exercise with us today, be sure to answer these questions as quickly and as honestly as you can. Your subconscious will always answer with your gut instinct, so the first and fastest answer is going to be your most honest and it’s what we’re looking for today. So let’s get started! Mark offers himself up as guinea pig to show you how it’s done. Using his personal value system showcases the positive emotions that come from getting to know yourself better. The way Mark talks honestly about his values and how he frames his motivations is inspiring. He really demonstrates what it means to use toward motivations over away motivations, and you’re really going to learn a lot about being honest with yourself just by listening to him talk. As we work through our values and motivations today, you’re going to hear a lot about away motivations and toward motivations. There’s no wrong or right way to be motivated, but if you’re away motivated, the challenge comes down to defining what you really want. Sometimes these away motivations only work until you’ve gotten away from what’s bothering you. That’s when you realize you aren’t any closer to where you want to be, you’re just farther away from where you’ve been. This is when towards motivations often become more inspiring. Once you’ve gotten out of the negative environment, you can start to focus on what’s really important to you and develop a real sense of direction for yourself.  Helping you develop this sense of direction is key to today’s episode. You need to have a sense of where you’re going if you want to unlock your subconscious.  Remember the prime directives we talked about? We discussed in other episodes how your subconscious loves to follow orders, so giving it a direction to follow is exactly what you need to do in order to tap into these motivations. Be as specific as possible or your subconscious is going to fill in the blanks for you by following the path of least resistance. This path may or may not take you to your end goal. That’s why you need to have a clear sense of direction before you embark on this journey. Tune in right now because we’re here to help you do just that. Even if you’re not sure yet where you want to be, we can help you navigate your subconscious. Just have your list of values ready because they are the key to unlocking your subconscious motivations. In This Episode You Will Learn Mark’s biggest takeaways from last episode 2:00 What an “away motivation” looks like when it comes to your values 8:33 The main differences between “towards motivations” and “away motivations” 11:00 How to be specific with your motivations so your subconscious can move you towards them 15:52 Words that are associated with “away motivations” 27:40 The importance of intrinsic motivation vs. external motivation 29:32 Our favorite example of towards motivation vs. away motivation 32:20 Some Questions We Discuss  Why do you need to answer these questions as honestly as you can? 1:30 What is most important to you when it comes to your #1 value? 5:55 Why do we need a sense of direction as we navigate our motivation system? 13:40 What is most important to Mark when it comes to his sustainability value? 17:50 What is most important about the progress value? 23:00 Why do our values and motivations change overtime? 28:32 What’s in store for our next episode? 36:55

Welcome to the third part of our five-part series: Unlocking the User Manual for Your Brain. In our last two episodes we discussed the motivations and directives driving the subconscious mind. Today we’re taking a closer look at the personal value system these directives create for us. Today’s episode in particular is very near and dear to us because values motivate everything we do. At Trade Pro Academy, our top value is Empathy. We call it “we care” because it’s the genuine emotion our team is going for when we work together. Right now, we’re working together to help you cultivate the winning mindset you need to become a successful trader because we care about your success story.  Your values are important to your success story. They are instilled in you at birth and are fully formed by the time we turn 7. All of our internal programming is based on this personal value systems, and these values continue to guide our subconscious mind as it processes and interprets our reality. So when you’re trying to make a change to your behavior or your trade strategy, you really need to tap into your personal value system. You can tap into your personal value system right now when you listen to this episode. We created a quick 20 minute exercise in this podcast that can help you uncover and connect with your own personal values as they relate to your career. If you’re listening while driving, safety first. Please wait until you’re at home or in a quiet, personal space where you can connect with your subconscious and get in deep with your values.  On today’s episode you’ll find that everyone’s values are different. Not one person’s values are better than another’s, but eliciting our own personal value systems is going to be a different experience for everyone listening. Mark is brave enough to use his own value system today, and you might find that some of his values don’t make sense to you. For example, sustainability is one of Mark’s top 3 values. Your definition of sustainability could be different because that word is being filtered through your own subconscious mind. Remember what we said about the subconscious taking everything personally? Think about what these words mean to you when you’re assessing your value system, not somebody else. And be sure to write them down because we’ll be using them in our next episode. This meaning and alignment is important, because when your actions aren’t aligned with your top values, then you’re not going to be happy with your life. A sense of unfulfillment will be nagging at you, and it won’t disappear until you realign yourself with your values. How can you make that change? How can you apply these changes to your trade strategy? Listen to this podcast to find out because we’re going over a pyramid that can help you change your values and, ultimately, your way of thinking. As you do this exercise with us today you’ll learn that changing your environment is the easiest step to take, but it’s also unlikely to make a lasting change. It’s not until you start getting your hands dirty and changing your value system that you’ll start to notice major positive changes in your life. With your values aligned, it will then be easier to tap into your identity and sense of purpose. Tune in now to start eliciting your values and making a change, and stay tuned for more in our upcoming episodes of Mind Over Markets.  In This Episode You Will Learn A brand new definition for the word “values” 1:13 Times in our lives where other value systems play an important role 4:50 The 6 main categories of personal values 12:21  A simple step-by-step process to uncover your personal values 15:10 The 5 levels of personal change and development 28:09 Why it’s important to find a mentor if you want to change your value system 36:10 Questions to ask yourself to uncover your personal value system 43:35 Some Questions We Discuss How old are we when we develop our personal value systems? 2:25 Where do our personal value systems come from? 7:25 Why did money end up being the least important value to Mark? 21:42 What happens when you aren’t aligned your top 3 values? 25:20 Why do we want you to only use “I am” words? 34:46 What is muscle testing and how can it help us connect with our subconscious mind? 37:50

Welcome back to the second episode of our mini-series Unlocking the User Manual for Your Brain! If you missed our first episode, head on back to our website and listen in to learn how you can tap into your subconscious mind and start what we call “living at cause”. We are summarizing a bit of our first episode today, but today’s episode is really going to get into the meat and potatoes of the subconscious mind. When was the last time you went on vacation? Do you remember what it was like to pack up your things and head to the airport? What would happen if the flight attendants took you to the pilot’s chair instead of your assigned seat? Would you be able to fly the plane?  You might not be able to fly the plane right away, but we bet you’d take some time to find your resources, seek some education, and learn how to become a pilot. Trading isn’t much different. You’re already on your way. You’re learning your way around the markets, and now - listening to us - you’re going to learn you way around your subconscious mind. And your subconscious mind is going to completely change the way you trade. In order for your subconscious mind to successfully influence your trading strategies, you first have to understand how your unconscious operates. That’s why we put the prime directives of our subconscious minds into this neat little list for you: The 20 Prime Directives of your Subconscious Mind The subconscious preserves the body by activating the fight-or-flight response. The subconscious runs the body with its blueprint of the body in perfect health. The subconscious stores memories and information. The subconscious is the domain of emotion. The subconscious organizes all memories. The subconscious represses memories with unresolved emotions. The subconscious also represents memories for resolution The subconscious communicates through symbols. The subconscious takes everything personally. The subconscious always chooses the path of least resistance. The subconscious does not process negatives. The subconscious can keep memories repressed if they are especially harmful. The subconscious is the home where morality is both learned and stored. The subconscious needs clear orders to follow. The subconscious controls and maintains our perceptions of reality. The subconscious absorbs, interprets, and transmits all energy. The subconscious maintains instincts and generates habits The subconscious needs repetition to create habits. The subconscious is programmed to seek more and continue learning. The subconscious functions best as a whole, integrated unit. Which of these will have the biggest impact on your trading success? That really depends on you and the unique way your subconscious organizes information. Understanding these directives is the first step toward tapping into your subconscious, and we’ll be unpacking which directives give the most influence over our trade techniques to help get you started. Which directives are most important to us? Well, Mark shares his experiences with his directives, especially #9, #11, and #17. Each directive influences us differently, but understanding how both Mark and myself utilize these directives can give you a sense of how much power you are actually capable of. For example, just because the subconscious takes everything personally doesn’t mean you’re sensitive. This just means you have the ability to make huge personal changes in the way you think, especially when it comes to trading. The habits, behaviors, and emotions you have toward day trading are all motivated by your subconscious. We take a closer look at #17 in today’s episode to help you understand the habits around your trade strategies and how you can change them. Ultimately, it all comes down to learning. Even if you’ve been trading for years, it’s never too late to learn something new and start creating new habits. Our advice is to take a systematic approach to learning and start generating positive habits right from the beginning.  We want to help you develop the right habits for both your personal life and your career, so if you’re ready to unlock your subconscious mind, hit play right now. In This Episode You Will Learn: A quick summary of what your subconscious brain can do 0:43 The 20 Prime Directives of Your Subconscious Mind 5:10 Techniques to tap into your subconscious mind and visualize your success 11:30 What we mean by directive #11: “the subconscious doesn’t process negatives” 17:40 The two most important words in the English language 25:11 How to generate habits that actually benefit you and your goals 32:25 Our favorite analogy for risk management 43:00 Some Questions We Discuss: What do you do when you learn something new? 2:22 What is the #1 goal of our subconscious mind? 8:11 Why does our subconscious mind take everything personally? 14:20 Why are our thoughts (and directive #14) more powerful than our words? 23:01 How does directive #17 apply directly to trading? 27:20 How can we integrate the different parts of our experiences to help our subconscious work as a whole? 37:50 Resources: Connect with us online: Trade Pro Academy Our favorite quote from Henry Ford: “Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.”

Welcome to the first ever episode of our brand new Mind Over Markets podcast! We’re two trade pros with Trade Pro Academy, your host George Papazov and co-host Mark Borszcz, and what we’re here to do is bring psychology back to the market. What percentage of success do you think psychology represents in trading? Because it’s 100% for us. The market is more based in psychology than you think, and our podcast will help you narrow in on this science to cultivate a bulletproof mindset. Because you have to come into trading with a winning mindset. There isn’t time for negative thinking or self-doubt. Who wants to be bogged down with those kinds of thoughts anyway? Getting you into a positive and successful trader mindset is our ultimate goal.  We both gave up the comfort and security of our full-time jobs to be professional day traders, but that decision didn’t come easily. It took a lot of mental preparation. Embarking on that journey was very intimidating, but if you’re ready to take that leap, then tune in right now. In the first few episodes of Mind Over Markets, we’re adapting personal development psychology for the trading sphere so you can see how it works. The first episode of our 5-part series Unlocking the User Manual of Your Brain starts RIGHT NOW with a look straight into your subconscious mind. The subconscious mind is responsible for 99% of your decision making. That’s right. Nearly all of your decisions are made unconsciously, and nearly all of your logical and conscious thoughts are influenced by what’s swimming around in your subconscious. This means that trading isn’t as logical as you think it is. Your logical mind isn’t going to tell you which stocks to buy and which to sell, but your subconscious mind can lead you to the right decision if you know how to listen. On today’s episode we’re sharing ways you can listen to these subconscious motivations. It’s what we call “Living At Cause” and it’s really empowering stuff. Ultimately, Living At Cause means switching over to an opportunity mindset, and we’re discussing ways you can do this starting right away. Change your psychology today so you can start making better market decisions tomorrow. Think about it - a new perspective can breed new strategies and new confidence that can change your current trajectory. So tune in now and ask yourself, where can trading psychology take me today? In This Episode You Will Learn: About your host George Papazov and his experience currency and options trading 0:47 How much psychology can influence your trading success 10:00 Why it takes 5 hours to experience 1 second of reality 16:28 How to Live At Cause (with a little experiment to go along with it) 21:21 The biggest changes Mark saw in his life when he started Living At Cause 24:35 A new way to look at your career, your happiness, and how you’re the cause of it all 31:57 Some Questions We Discuss: How did our co-host Mark get involved in trading and the Trade Pro Academy? 3:33 How did George and Mark meet and decide to start this podcast? 7:11 What is the structure of this podcast going to look like? 13:13 How does our brain actually work and what’s going on in our subconscious? 19:50 Why is it so important to Live at Cause instead of Living At Effect? 29:38