Free Rande Howell webinar - The Fatal Flaw in Risk Management that Causes You to Crash Your Trading Mindset

The Fatal Flaw in Risk Management that Causes You to Crash Your Trading Mindset Hello Trader,                What is the secret to building a successful trading mindset? In the beginning of the trading journey, it seems like it is about getting the 10,000 hours in, and (somehow) you will magically evolve into a consistently profitable trader. Then after a number of years of up and down trading chasing the holy grail – you discover the secret is you.  You discover that you (to become successful) are going to have to truly master the mind that you bring to trading. This is the narrow path that few find. Self-Mastery of the trading mind is only possible for those who have the self-honesty and motivation to do the heavy emotional lifting required to reshape a brain rooted in short-term survival and controlling outcome to a mind that is comfortable with controlling the one thing that they can control – the mind they bring to the moment of performance.  What’s the Problem The first thing that you have to come to grips with is that the brain you brought to trading will not produce the mind required for success in trading. They are opposing forces. The brain you brought to trading was forged by evolution to control outcome (it was a matter of life and death, not theoretical risk management). Your brain also has a built-in deeply primitive bias to avoid losing at all costs because losing meant death – something our caveman ancestors really wanted to avoid. And yet, in the highly cognitive risk management mindset, losses are portrayed simply as part of the business of trading – the idea is to keep them small so you do not do any damage to your account.  Risk management occurs in part of the brain called the cerebral cortex (what I call the thinking brain) – it does the thinking for which human beings are famous. It also produces the detached theoretical risk management concepts that traders are supposed to employ so that they conserve capital when trades do not work out as planned. And in a rational world where survival emotions can be tamped down, risk management is executed with impartiality. The idea is that you can manage the risk without emotional involvement to losses. Actually, the same applies to wins also – just in a different direction. More about that in a few minutes.   The problem with all this theoretical risk management coming out of your Thinking Brain is that it does not take into account what goes on beneath the Thinking Brain is the Emotional Brain. First, it is really easy for a trader (in the application of risk management principals) to ignore the Emotional Brain (this is the brain that we share with other social mammalians) – until it can’t. The Emotional Brain is built for short-term survival by controlling its environment so that it avoids danger. And if attacked, it will fight back so that it will not lose. Losing to it means, at the core of its survival instincts, death.  That activates the emotional survival instincts of the Emotional Brain. And thinking is overwhelmed. That includes the risk management principles of the Thinking Brain. As a trader, you experience this when the trade goes against you. You experience this when you take a loss and want to get it back. And you experience this emotional hijacking of the Thinking Brain rational analysis of risk management every time you experience fear of entry after taking a series of losses. The list is endless. Why does the emotional brain (Caveman Brain) suddenly wake up and blow off the impartiality of the Thinking Brain’s concept of risk management? The Invisible Wall Between the Thinking Brain and the Emotional Brain The problem is that the two brains do not communicate well with one another. Because it has language and thinking, the Thinking Brain does not even know that the Emotional Brain is even around until critical moments erupt and force the Emotional Brain into action. Until that moment though, reason appears to dominate decision making. And trading would be simple if this were the case. But as we all know, this is not the case – though many traders are invested in this perception of their trading world. Up until this moment, Risk Management is about risk and reward. What I want you to notice is that risk does not have much of an emotional charge. Risk Management is a management concept about controlling capital risks when taking on a promising future (risk/reward).  It is something traders do to evaluate a trade’s potential. (How much reasonable reward can I expect based on the amount of capital risk I am putting into play?) This comes right out of a textbook. And while that capital is not yet at risk, you have defined parameters that define the risk/reward relationship. It’s logical. Add that to a methodology that has an edge, and trading is simple – until the Emotional Brain gets involved. Why? The Emotional Brain (your friendly Caveman Brain) does not see risk/reward. That requires thinking and language that does not happen in the Emotional Brain. Instead, it sees the world through threat and opportunity. Compare those for a moment. Risk/Reward vs. Threat/Opportunity. First, notice that “Threat” is a highly emotionally charged word, much more so that “Risk”. Risk is something that you evaluate dispassionately. Threat, on the other hand, is something that you react to. Rational thinking and logic are not present in the presence of threat. The responses to threat are linked to fight/flight. Reason is nowhere to be found, nor is reason-based Risk Management. This is the set-up of an emotional hijacking. After all, the Emotional Brain is a rapid response organ.  It evaluates a threat as an imminent biological threat to existence in the moment. If you have ever revenge-traded, you have met this principle up close and personal. The same goes with the opportunity side of “threat/opportunity”. When Caveman looked at big game that was going to be taken down by very simple weapons, he had to get excited about the opportunity to get past the fear taking on such an animal. But dinner was not going to happen at the grocery store. It had to be hunted down and killed at great risk to life and limb. This is what gets the alpha trader in so much trouble. He gets excited and abandons his trading mind. Consequently, he jumps into trades he has no business in and then gets trapped in a losing trade – which only activates his perception of threat.  Seeing What Your Caveman Sees One of the real problems that traders have to master is that the Caveman Brain does not see money or capital. It does not exist for him. He does not see that you are winning or (especially) losing money. He sees losing as a threat to his life. Big difference. You are not keeping your losses small. You are fighting for your life as a threat to the environment (and they had many) is trying to take your life away.  Most never see this drama play out. They have not learned about their Emotional Brain and its automatic responses to threat and opportunity.  This is a secret traders keep from themselves. Until you master the way the Emotional Brain responds to winning (opportunity and celebration) and losing (fighting a threat to your life), you miss the real test of trading. All thinking is emotional state dependent. So, mastering your Emotional Nature is key to developing a successful trading psychology. I explore how to shape a brain and a mind for trading in other areas of my work. First, I want you to understand the problem that you must solve. It is a narrow path that few find. But it is visible for the ones who have the eyes to see. Come and learn more. Trading is about emotional self-mastery. And you are going to have to bring your inner Caveman along for the journey. Come and Learn. Watch my [video]( [register and attend our free webinar]( go to our [website]( and enjoy all the learning materials there. Sign up for our [Courses](. Make a move in the right direction. Take action, now. [[Facebook] ]( [[LinkedIn] ]( Rande Howell Traders State of Mind www.tradersstateofmind.com Free Rande Howell webinar in June 2023 Title - The Fatal Flaw in Risk Management that Causes You to Crash Your Trading Mindset Speaker: Rande Howell Date/Time: [Thursday, June 8, 4:30-5:30pm EDT]( IMPORTANT! The time shown is in U.S. Eastern Daylight Saving Time! Description:   We like to think that we are rational beings executing a trading plan. The problem is that all thinking is emotional state dependent. And the reactive Emotional Brain stays in the background until a critical moment occurs. Then it reacts, sweeping the Thinking Brain’s risk management plan into the abyss. That’s because the two brains see the world very differently. Where the Thinking Brain sees risk/reward, the Emotional Brain sees threat/opportunity. And the threat is a hair-trigger that the Thinking Brain does not know about.  Until you bridge this gap, the Emotional Brain will continue to hijack the Thinking Brain when it feels threatened by loss or enamored by opportunity. Come learn about bridging the gap. Register for this webinar.   Please [click here]( to register for this free webinar. IMPORTANT! The time shown is in U.S. Eastern Daylight Saving Time. [New free Video - ]( The Fatal Flaw in Risk Management that Causes you to Crash Your Trading Mindset Your beliefs about winning and losing are costing you success in trading. How can that be? You want to win to make money, thereby proving yourself – but you have no control over outcome. And you hate losing – yet a successful trader wins by becoming an expert at losing. Because your current beliefs about winning and losing in trading determine what mind you bring to the performance of trading, you will continue falling into inconsistency while trading under pressure. How do you learn to re-think winning and losing so that you can create success in trading? Watch this video to find out. Please [click here]( (and scroll down a bit) to view the video. Developing Traders State of Mind Group Course - Fall, 2023 The emotional brain is built to seek safety in a dangerous world. The world that it was created for has long since disappeared. It developed a hair-trigger to the fight/flight response because that is what was needed for survival. Now, it has been taken out of the jungle (where risk meant danger) and is being asked to act civilized in a world of probability - where risk is not lethal. Without re-training and re-programming the emotional limbic system, this is not going to happen. It is built to react to danger quickly. It was never built to ponder your rules when it is experiencing vulnerability, discomfort, and fear. It was programmed to act from your survival instinct.  Until this is done, your emotional brain will continue to hijack your thinking brain when you feel the discomfort of uncertainty and risk. This is your silent partner. The question is: Are you going to try to continue to pretend it's not part of your trading mind? Or, are you ready to re-program it for the modern world of trading and probability. Fortunately, this can be done. The Developing Traders State of Mind Group Course Teaches You How to Master Reactive Emotions The Group Course has been called a wake-up call by many traders. Most simply have no idea how the brain and mind work to produce performance in the clutch with risk on. You learn here. It's more than a wake-up call - it a door that opens you to a whole new world. You learn how the emotional brain (so focused on survival) needs to be handled to become an effective working partner with the thinking brain. This course is eye-opening. I had no idea how to fix the problems I had with my trading until this course. Learning how to manage emotions is only the start. You learn how to create a mind built to manage uncertainty. Bottom line is that I know longer sabotage myself and have become profitable. I wish I had taken the group course a long time ago. It's a difference maker. SD From the start you learn how to calm survival emotions down before they become big and hijack your trading mind. That's just the first step. The major benefit is that you learn how to create a mind built for trading, rather than survival in the past. This is what has to happen for success in trading. You have been using a brain/mind created for circumstances that no longer exist. What is needed is a brain/mind built for probability management. Where you learn to become comfortable with the discomfort of uncertainty rather than triggering to your survival instinct. This is what every trader, to be successful, has to learn. All those who register now will be enrolled in the Fall 2023 Group Course, which has its 1st Group Meeting on August 31. Give yourself lots of time to study, and get started now! The survival Instinct is not going to just go away. It is your partner. Do you want to learn to work with it so that it helps you to become the trader you can be? [Please Click here to register ]( the Group Course. [Please Click here to view a video about the Group Course or for more information.]( The DTSM Group Course teaches the same basic skills that are taught in my individual course, but is only $1195. This can be spread out as five payments of $239/each over a 10-week time period. It's a whole lot of training for a reasonable cost. SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING PAYMENT - PayPal CANNOT be used as a payment method for this Group Course since PayPal does not allow for rebilling. If you have any questions regarding this, please contact Delores at delores@mytradersstateofmind.com Mindful Trading: Mastering Your Emotions and the Inner Game Author: J. Rande Howell, MEd., LPC If you know how to trade when not in the pressure of trading, but you have not been able to trade live from a calm, detached, and disciplined state of mind, this book will open your eyes. Mindful Trading actually shows you HOW to develop a peak performance state of mind specifically for trading. This book gets in the head of a trader. You will meet a number of real life traders who have overcome self doubt, fear, and impulsiveness. You will see how they overcame self-limiting beliefs and began trading from an empowered state of mind. You will discover your core beliefs that actually trade your system and methodology. And without change at this fundamental level, old self-limiting patterns of thought and belief re-assert themselves shortly after your brain pushes off any "tricks and tips" you learned from self-help seminars. It is this change at the organization of meaning and biology that makes this book so different. A number of disciplines are folded into a unified process that really gets at long term change. Those disciplines include neuro-biology, emotional intelligence, ontological reconstruction of the self, attachment theory and the meaning of the self, and Jungian archetypes. In Mindful Trading, imbedded in self-limiting beliefs, you are carried through a change process that transforms traders mired in mediocrity to a re-organization of the mind for peak performance trading. Mindful Trading is available both as an [Audio book]( a [paper book]( and a [downloadable e-book](. [Read an excerpt from Mindful Trading]( free and you get to look inside a trader's mind) And consider the companion study tool: the  [Mindful Trading Companion]( [e-Workbook!]( Explore a Trader's State of Mind Coaching Relationship with Rande Howell This is a personalized course for the trader who is ready to move beyond being stuck in self limiting beliefs. If you have recognized that it is you that stands in the way of your becoming a more successful trader, then this challenge can become an opportunity for re-invention of yourself as a trader, rather than something to avoid. It's like a door opening to an entirely new world. Great athletes recognize that the mental aspect of their game requires a performance coach for them to reach their potential. Trading is the same. Self-limiting beliefs have to be rooted out and changed - and a peak performance mindset has to be developed. It's all part of the training. Having a methodology that gives you an edge is not enough. You have to develop your mind so that it gives you the psychological edge to use your methodology and platform so that the uncertainty found in trading favors you. This is trading beyond fear. It is trading from a disciplined, impartial, patient, and courageous state of mind. Without emotional regulation training, this can take years (if ever) to achieve on your own. Teasing apart uncertainty from fear is simply something that the brain will not do on its own. The psychology to this has to be developed...or you stay stuck in the same old self-fulfilling prophesies of mediocrity. Do you want to move beyond fear and trade from a calm, detached, and disciplined state of mind?  If you are seriously considering registering for the Individual Course, then [click here to check out a free, no obligation consult with Rande Howell.]( get to see how this powerful technology of the mind can move your trading to the next level. To make this free consult productive for you, I recommend that you first attend one of my free webinars. This will lay down a lot of groundwork so that when you speak with me -- you'll be hitting on all cylinders. Also, reading my book - Mindful Trading - is advised.   [Website]( Book]( & Interviews]( Videos]( rande@mytradersstateofmind.com | [www.tradersstateofmind.com]( [By joining you get to keep connected to this powerful training process for the development of the potential you have as a trader. And if you decide differently, you can always un-subscribe. If you're a student of trading, this newsletter is a powerful tool for your development.]( Empowered Horizons | 1824 Prescott Ct., Iron Station, NC 28080 [Unsubscribe {EMAIL}]( [Update Profile]( | [Constant Contact Data Notice]( Sent by rande@mytradersstateofmind.com powered by [Trusted Email from Constant Contact - Try it FREE today.]( [Try email marketing for free today!](