
You know the pattern:
✅ Week 1 — You’re locked in. Patient. Picking clean setups. You finish green and think, “Finally, I’m leveling up.”
❌ Week 2 — You’re trigger-happy. Chasing moves. Breaking rules you swore you wouldn’t. By Friday, you’re back where you started, or worse.
Sound familiar?
You’re not alone. It’s one of the most common — and most soul-crushing — cycles in trading.
But here’s the thing: it’s not random.
It’s a pattern. Which means it can be broken.
Here’s how:
1. Stop Over-Celebrating Good Weeks
A good week doesn’t mean you’ve “made it.”
It means you followed your process — for a few days.
👉 Reframe the win:
- Celebrate execution, not just outcomes.
- Stay humble. Stay dangerous.
- Remember: Consistency is a season, not a sunny afternoon.
Mantra: “One week doesn’t define me. Neither does one bad one.”
2. Cap Your Weekly Losses (No Exceptions)
When you’re emotional, the urge to “win it back” gets toxic fast.
You need a hard weekly stop, like a circuit breaker.
Example:
- Daily max loss = 2R
- Weekly max loss = 5R
- Hit it? Shut it down. No “just one more” trades. No exceptions.
Protect your capital and your confidence.
(Fun fact: professional firms enforce this rule for a reason.)
3. Audit Your Energy, Not Just Your Charts
Trading isn’t just technical. It’s physical and mental too.
Warning signs you’re slipping:
- Poor sleep
- Skipped workouts
- No morning routine
- Doomscrolling before trading
When the pilot’s tired, it doesn’t matter how good the flight plan is — the plane’s in trouble.
Fix it:
Treat your body and mind like your trading account depends on them. (It does.)
4. Build a “Cold State” Checklist
In the heat of the moment, your brain gets hijacked by emotion.
That’s why you need a Cold State Checklist: a list of rules you commit to before things get wild.
Example:
- ✅ Trade only during set session hours
- ✅ Align trades with higher-timeframe bias
- ✅ Cut risk to 0.5R if on a losing streak
- ✅ Journal every session
No negotiation. No “gut feel” overrides.
Cold State You makes the rules. Emotional You just follows them.
5. Fall in Love With Boring
Consistency isn’t flashy.
It’s not fireworks and motivational montages.
Real consistency is boring:
- Same prep
- Same setups
- Same risk
- Same execution
Boring is beautiful.
Boring compounds.
If your trading feels “too exciting,” that’s a warning sign — not a badge of honor.
Final Thoughts
Breaking the “Good Week, Bad Week” cycle isn’t about mastering the market.
It’s about mastering yourself.
If you can do that?
You won’t just survive in this game — you’ll thrive, while everyone else keeps riding emotional rollercoasters into oblivion.
Stay dangerous.
Stay disciplined.
Stay boring.
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