The single most important mindset shift you can make as a trader: stop thinking in money and start thinking in percent returns. A €500 loss means nothing if your account is €100,000—that's 50 basis points. But if you're staring at "€500" on screen, your brain panics. Percent returns are what matter most. They're how you measure performance, compare strategies, and stay rational. Train yourself to think this way and half your psychology problems disappear.
IT'S MONOPOLY MONEY
This sounds extreme, but it's the truth: you need to completely dissociate from putting any value on the numbers on your screen. The moment you start thinking "that's a month's rent" or "that could be a holiday" — you've already lost. Your decision-making is now emotional, not rational.
The best traders treat their trading account like Monopoly money. It's real, but they see it as not real. The numbers on screen are just a score in a game — a game with rules, probabilities, and outcomes. You wouldn't panic selling Mayfair because the dice didn't go your way. So don't panic close a position because the P&L flickered red for an hour.
This doesn't mean being reckless. It means removing the emotional weight from every tick. You've done your analysis, you've sized correctly, you've set your levels. Now let the trade work. The money will take care of itself if your process is right.
If you can't look at a losing position without feeling sick, you're either sized too big or trading with money you can't afford to lose. Fix that first. No amount of psychology advice will help if the stakes genuinely threaten your livelihood.
Some people are just built for trading, and some aren't. A major issue for most is that the money means too much emotionally.
It will be tough at first, but you need to train yourself to view everything in percentages, basis points, or account equity—not raw money amounts.
THE ACCOUNT SIZE SECRET
Unless you are trading full-time, one of the simplest ways to actually make more money from trading is to trade with more money. Focus on earning as much as you can in your career or business so that:
- Losses and drawdowns don't affect you psychologically — the money at risk is a smaller part of your overall wealth
- You have more capital to deploy — so the same percentage gains produce much higher absolute profits
Trading psychology often improves dramatically with account size. A 5% gain on €5,000 is €250—nice, but not life-changing. The same 5% on €100,000 is €5,000, which feels very different and makes it easier to stay calm and disciplined.
KEY PSYCHOLOGICAL RULES
THE POWER OF HIGH-CONVICTION SETUPS
One of the most effective ways to ease the mental side of trading is to only take high-conviction setups where you fully understand the reasoning.
With Grade A assets, the algorithmic signal lines up with strong momentum and favourable macro conditions (all laid out clearly in the research tab). This gives you real clarity on why the trade is on, so you can:
- Commit confidently
- Size appropriately
- Avoid hard stops when it makes sense
- Let winners run without constant worry or second-guessing
The emotional load drops significantly when you're trading ideas you genuinely believe in and are happy to own long-term.
KNOW YOUR LIMITS
Trading is as much a mental game as a technical one. If the emotional side consistently hurts your results, either scale down size until you're comfortable or consider that trading might not be for you—and that's perfectly fine. There are many ways to build wealth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Think in percentages — not raw money amounts
- Bigger account = better psychology — focus on earning more to trade more
- Every trade is just one of 1,000 — no single trade should break you
- Greed kills more than fear — take profits when your system says to
- High-conviction setups reduce emotional load — trade what you understand and believe in
- Trading isn't for everyone — and that's okay