Recent content by Rande Howell

“I know how to trade. I have a plan and if I followed it, I would be doing well indeed. I know what to do; its just that I can’t do what I’m supposed to do when the money is real. I do exactly what I know better than to do. I tilt, something takes over my mind, and I throw away my plan...

The gap between your desire to trade successfully and actually trading successfully is directly related to your willingness to embrace change - particularly, your understanding of winning and losing. Without knowing it, traders stand in their own way in the journey called trading. Though they...

"Know Thyself” - Socrates It doesn’t make any sense. You know better. Yet that trade goes against you (and maybe you’ve lost a couple already) and a twinge of discomfort surfaces. It’s like your “spidey-senses” begin to tingle. Then urgency sneaks up behind you and throws your discipline out...

Part 1 – The Survival Based Biases that Are Robbing Your Potential After a considerable amount of time searching, traders come to the realization that the real trading edge is the mind you bring into the moment of performance under pressure. Until your mind is right, no amount of theoretical...

It was a tough trade to manage. It bounced around in its range, went against him, flitted with his stop a couple of times, then went sideways on him for a while. Unnerving. Though stressed Tom maintained his composure just enough to stay in the trade. Finally, it broke into the black. That...

You got it – with all that training and knowledge gained, you are poised to achieve your trading dreams. You know this stuff and you work hard. You are ready to win and grow wealth. Confidently you put money on the line. Then, WHAM, when the money is real, you hit the brick wall again, again...

Getting Blindsided by Implicit Emotional Brain Beliefs Trading success seems so simple in principle, then the reality of trading blindsides traders. Without having a clue about what they are getting themselves into, traders walk into an emotional minefield for which they are completely...

I hate to lose. It’s just such a bad feeling when I lose. Everything else in my life I can pretty much force my way and prevail – but trading has my number. And I know that losing is part of trading, but that doesn’t make it any easier to take a loss. It’s one thing to tell yourself that...

“I see the potential, but I keep hitting an invisible wall. My trading mind is in good shape one minute and then, out of nowhere, a switch goes off. I don’t see it coming. That’s where I keep falling apart – I even see it happening right in front of my eyes. It’s like I’m a spectator and I am...

Risking capital under pressure can be like a time bomb ticking away in your head. One moment everything is under control and then (in the blink of an eye) the thought or threat of losing capital pulses through you – creating an emotional avalanche that covers up rational thinking. It may be at...

Finding the Blind Spot Sabotaging Your Potential You know it’s possible. You feel it inside you. Every day you see the potential in the markets just waiting to be tapped. And you know you can do it. But even with your best effort, you consistently face the realization that achieving your...

“Man is not a rational animal; he is a rationalizing animal.” Robert A. Heinlein Jeff had been here before. After working real hard, he had finally gotten funded, traded well for a while, and then it all fell...

The moment that real capital is put at risk in trading, everything changes. Trading goes from an intellectual exercise where loss is abstract and not personal to a visceral experience where potential loss unhinges the rational mind and primitive emotional responses take charge of the trading...

Just to clarify, the above post is not from me. Rande Howell

Technically, the amygdala is an ancient part of the emotional brain that governs responses to threat -- usually fear responses. It also, interestingly enough, is involved in letting down our guards so that pro attachment kinds of behavior can occur. The amygdala (fear response) is governed by...