Andrew Menaker PhD

Big moves (& volatility) light up the nervous system. That rush gets read as opportunity.

It isn’t necessarily edge. But it is arousal.

Big move or no move, the job hasn’t changed.
Manage risk.
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No such thing as normal....you already knew that.

One of my favorite market related books:

"The (mis)behaviour of markets : a fractal view of risk, ruin, and reward"
~ Benoit Mandelbrot

Agree.
Forced liquidation drains fear and leverage out of the market at the same time. Positions move from people who have to sell to people who can wait.

Doesn’t call the bottom. But the market that’s left is usually a healthier one, albeit with volatility.

THE TRUTH YOU DON'T WANT TO HEAR

“Win or lose, everyone gets what they want from the markets.” ~ Ed Seykota > Original Market Wizard

Read that again. It’s not poetic. It’s psychological.
It’s brutal. it's the uncomfortable truth.

Most traders say they’re here to make money. But if money were truly the primary driver… you wouldn’t keep violating your plan in the same predictable ways.

So what’s really happening?

Money is the conscious goal. But beneath that are unconscious drivers that are often stronger.

Some traders want certainty more than profits. So they overtrade to escape the discomfort of waiting.

Some want to feel smart. So they argue with price instead of cutting losses.

Some want excitement. So they chase volatility and call it “opportunity.”

Some want to avoid the pain of future regret. So they FOMO into trades that weren’t theirs to take.

Some want to confirm a hidden belief: “I’m not quite good enough.” So they 'sabotage' good systems at the worst possible moment.

And the market will gladly accommodate. Because the market is the ultimate projector screen. It doesn’t respond to what you say you want. It responds to what your nervous system is organized around.

If your system is wired for:

• Avoiding regret
• Proving yourself
• Seeking validation
• Replaying old shame
• Chasing dopamine

You will unconsciously trade in ways that produce those outcomes. Even if it costs you money.

Especially if it costs you money.

This is why more strategy rarely fixes repeated mistakes.

And why willpower collapses under pressure.

And why 'accountability' doesn't work so well.

Trading is a psychological amplifier. It exposes:

– Your tolerance for uncertainty
– Your relationship with authority
– Your attachment to being right
– Your self-worth
– Your identity around success

You don’t get what you deserve from the markets. You get what you’re organized to experience.

That’s why some traders repeatedly:

• Exit early
• Add to losers
• Skip A+ setups
• Give back big months
• Recreate the same P&L pattern year after year It’s not lack of intelligence.

It’s unconscious reinforcement. The ego says:

“I want consistent profitability.”

The nervous system says:

“I want what’s familiar.”

And the familiar wins… until you make it conscious.

Real growth begins when you ask:

👉 What emotional payoff am I getting from this?
👉 What identity am I protecting?
👉 What discomfort am I avoiding?
👉 If I were consistently profitable, what would that force me to confront?

That’s the deeper work.

And it's where 1:1 coaching is the most effective.

Because when you shift what you actually want at the unconscious level…

Your behavior changes.

And when behavior changes consistently…

Results follow.

I've worked 1:1 with some of Ed Seykota Trading Tribe members.

Instead of simply analyzing trades, Ed had his traders analyze their feelings in real-time.

He insisted it was the best way to uncover previously unconscious emotions - which drives poor trading behavior.

The market isn’t punishing you. It’s revealing you.

So the real question is:

What are you actually coming to the markets to get?

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Two traders. Same day. Same big move.

One closed green. The other was green by mid-morning and closed red.

I want to talk about both, because what sank the second trader showed up for the first one too. It just didn’t get to run the account.

The first is a client of mine. He took his setups as planned, managed risk exactly the way he’d decided before the open, and booked a solid day about three hours into the RTH session.

Then later in the day he pulled up the chart after the close.

You probably know the feeling. The move kept going for hours after he was out. Looking at it at 4:00 pm, it seemed obvious.

He messaged me:
“I left so much on the table.”

That reaction is normal. Nearly every trader has it. But the end-of-day chart is misleading in a very specific way.

It shows you the entire path at once, which is information nobody had 1 hour into the day. Hindsight makes the move look inevitable.

We talked. When we slowed it down, what came up wasn’t really about the trade. It was quieter and much more familiar:

"I should have done more. I’m still not quite good enough."

“Not enough” is one of the most common undercurrents I see in high performers.

It’s usually only partly conscious. It also helped get many of them where they are, which is exactly why it’s hard to spot.

In daily life it passes for ambition. On a trading screen it shows up as a P&L that never feels like the right number.

My client felt it. He named it. He didn’t act on it.

He’s learning to catch it as it arrives rather than three trades later, and that’s something I focus on in coaching, helping build the skill, it starts with insight, and strengthens with repetition.

The second trader started the day in the same place. Followed the plan. Took the first setups. Was up nicely about 2 hours into the RTH session.

Then the market kept running without them.

Something in them couldn’t sit with that. Being up didn’t register as enough.

Every new leg felt like proof they were missing out, and that sensation lives in the body. The chest tightens and the time horizon collapses to the next few minutes.

So they started trading outside the plan. Chasing extensions. Adding size. Taking entries they would never taken earlier.

By the close, the morning’s gains were gone. Plus some.

I don’t think this trader lacked discipline in the way people usually mean it. They followed the plan for two hours.

What happened next was a nervous system event. The feeling of not enough got loud enough that the body went looking for relief, and the fastest relief available was another trade.

Both traders had the same emotion. One treated it as a feeling. The other treated it as information about the market.

This is the Inner Market. You’re never only trading the chart. You’re also trading whatever the chart stirs up in you.

So next time you look at the end-of-day chart and feel that pull, before you touch your plan, ask whether you’re looking at a missed trade or at an old feeling that found a new place to show up.

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