A Forex Trading Mindset Lesson: Fixing Trading Mistakes & Better Trading

I wanted to write a brief trading mindset lesson for today as I’ve been ‘out of pocket‘ for days now. I recently caught a nasty flu virus that has taken the piss out of me.
Fever, sneezing 100x per day, congestion, phlegm, cold shakes, trouble breathing, you name it, I’ve had it for the last several days. Luckily my girlfriend has been awesome in taking care of me, so a big shout out to her (if she actually reads this :-o).
Speaking of which, my girlfriend actually inspired this short trading mindset lesson.
The other day, the fever really set in. To me, this is a bad situation and experience. Who thinks getting a fever is a good thing?
However my girlfriend said something which got me thinking about trading. She said, “Oh, the fever is a good thing. It means your immunity is really kicking in to fight off the virus.”

And that got my mind thinking about my process of making money trading, and those who struggle to make money trading (perhaps you are one of them?).
If you are struggling to make money trading, you’re probably experiencing ‘symptoms’.
These could be:

• Fear of missing out
• Revenge trading
• Having your emotions getting the best of you
• Overtrading
• Not following your trading plan
• Not using a proper risk management system

and more…

Have you experienced any of these trading mistakes or symptoms?

Most likely you have, and I did just like you do now.
There is a reason you experience these trading symptoms.
Your brain right now has a 99% chance it isn’t wired to make money trading. This has to do with our brains evovled and development over time.

Right now, you have many components and neural structures in your brain. Some of them are new, such as the pre-frontal cortex, which allows you to make analytical decisions (i.e. reading the price action context in the chart).
Some of these structures on the other hand are very old, like millions of years old. One of them is the amygdala, and it is one of the most frequent actors to cause you to trade poorly.

Why? Because for most of our human existence, we experienced life threatening situations as a daily occurrence.

Think about this fact:

1 in every 8 lads died from protecting our families and resources 10,000 years ago.
In the 20th century, that number is 1 in 100 (I’ve written another extensive article on this subject which you can find here).

Why does this matter to you as a forex trader?

Because of this experience, parts of our brain (such as the amygdala) are heavily wired as if we’re dying at a ratio of 1 in 8. This wiring causes us to experience things today, even though it’s not reflective of our current reality.
So you today right now in front of the charts are trading with old parts that aren’t accurate, nor wired to make money trading.
Your amygdala has several functions, such as:

• Having a primary role in the process of memories
• Decision making
• Emotional responses (more negative than positive)
• Along with affecting your reward systems

Now think about the above 4 things for a moment.
Let’s say you have an emotional response to trading, such as opening a trade, and the market instantly goes against you. What’s the first thing you’ll likely experience? Doubt, fear, worried about a loss, etc.?

Do you struggle with these emotions while trading?

That’s your old amygdala and wiring affecting your trading performance now.
In fact, your amygdala can get so easily triggered, that every pip the market moves against you is experienced way more intensely than every pip it goes for you.
Have you experienced this before? If so, you’re experiencing the ‘symptoms’ of your old neurological wiring.
Now circling back to being sick and having symptoms, when you experience FOMO, revenge trading, start over-trading, get worried about a profitable trade starting to go against you, etc…you’re experiencing the ‘symptoms’ of your brains wiring, which by and large, isn’t currently wired to make money trading.

When my girlfriend told me the fever is a good thing, my initial reaction was:
“What? Why the heck is feeling like I’m burning alive a good thing?”

But this was simply my immune system kicking in and trying to fight off the virus.
And that is very much how your trading symptoms are. You see, you and your brain want to make money trading. You want to experience less negative emotions, you want to avoid over-trading, you want to be able to trade without being worried of missing out.
You experiencing these things is your brains way of telling you ‘something is wrong, I think this is a bad situation’ but in actuality, it’s not.
You and your brain want to evolve, fix your trading mistakes, and make money trading.
But you can’t until you start to change how your brain is wired.

The good thing is, you can wire your brain to make money trading, but currently, you’re experiencing these ‘symptoms’, and you’ll need to make adjustments to get better.
If you want to learn how to make money trading and rewire your brain for trading success, then check out my advanced price action course where we teach you how to fix your trading mistakes and make money trading.
And if you’re really hard core about changing your brain and wiring it for success in trading (and life), then check out my advanced traders mindset course, where the entire focus is on changing the way you think, trade and perform so you no longer over-trade, you no longer experience FOMO, you no longer revenge trade, and no longer get derailed by your negative emotions in trading.

I hope you enjoyed this brief article on the trading mindset and how to fix your trading mistakes.
Also a big shout out to my apprentice ‘Sascha‘ who helped me finish this while being under the weather.
Make sure to comment, along with sharing it with others as sharing is caring so that others don’t have to make the same mistakes you and I have in trading.
Time to wire your brain to make money trading.