Trading can be quite stressful for the newbie, and it can be just as stressful for an old hand who is notching up their trading experience.
If you’ve ever sat staring at your trading screen with your heart racing, your palms sweaty, and your mind buzzing with “what ifs,” you know that staying calm when trading can feel impossible.
The irony is that the more the market heats up, the more you need to cool down. Calm is not a “nice to have” for traders; it’s an edge. It’s the difference between clicking in panic and executing with precision.
In this post, I’m going to show you a practical, physical routine you can do in just three minutes before every trading session to:
- Reset your mind,
- Reduce impulsive decisions,
- Build courage to take trades when your plan says “yes.”
And yes, I’ll give you the full pre-trade script you can follow word for word. The real key here is to untrain your brain of fear, panic, overwhelm, procrastination or anything that’s getting in the way of being a trading professional like Louise Bedford and Chris Tate from The Trading Game.
Why Staying Calm Matters in Trading
The market is designed to test your emotions. Fear makes you close trades too early. Greed makes you hold too long. Impulse makes you break your rules.
When your nervous system is on high alert, your brain shifts into fight-or-flight mode. This is great if you’re running from a tiger, but terrible if you’re deciding whether to enter EUR/USD on a pullback.
Here’s what happens when you don’t manage your state:
- You overtrade to “make back” a loss.
- You skip valid trades because of hesitation.
- You second-guess your plan and miss the big moves.
Calmness is not passive. It’s active self-control. It’s how you protect your account from your own impulses.
The Trader’s Two-Part State Training
We’re going to use two complementary practices:
- The Calm & Considered State Anchor – to bring you into the optimal mental and physical condition before you trade.
- The Courage Conditioning Drill – to train your body to act decisively under pressure.
Part 1: The Calm & Considered State Anchor
Purpose: Create a repeatable trigger in your body that instantly brings you back to a focused, relaxed trading mindset.
Here’s how to do it:
- Sit tall in your chair, feet flat, shoulders relaxed, hands resting on your thighs.
- Breathe in a 4-4-4-4 rhythm: Inhale for 4 seconds → hold for 4 → exhale for 4 → hold for 4. Repeat 4 times.
- While breathing, press your thumb and middle finger together lightly. This is your calm trigger.
- Think back to your best trading moment when you felt confident, clear, and certain. Relive it vividly:
- What did you see?
- What did you hear?
- How did your body feel?
- What do you think you might have said to yourself in that moment?
- Hold that image and feeling for 20–30 seconds while keeping your fingers pressed together.
- Before every trade, repeat 1 cycle of breathing and press the thumb and middle finger together to trigger the calm state.
Why this works: This is an NLP anchoring technique. You’re linking a physical gesture to a mental state so you can call it up instantly when you need it most.
Part 2: The Trader’s Courage Conditioning Drill
Even calm traders sometimes freeze when it’s time to act. This drill builds the muscle memory of courage so you can pull the trigger when your plan says “yes.”
The Drill:
- At the end of your normal shower, turn the water to cold.
- Count down from 5 to 0 — and at 0, step fully under the cold water.
- Stay calm and breathe slowly for 30 seconds.
- As you breathe, say out loud: “I act decisively and stay calm under pressure.”
Do this daily. Yeh, I know, it sounds bloody terrible. I get it. I hate the cold. I should have said that more accurately, “I HATE the cold.” But I know the value of conditioning. While 30 seconds will disappear in (um …) 30 seconds, powerfully conditioning your body lasts a lifetime.
Why it works: Cold water shocks your nervous system, just like an unexpected market move. By training yourself to stay calm in that stress response, you teach your body to react with control instead of panic.
The Complete 3-Minute Pre-Trade Ritual
Here’s how to put it all together before you place your first trade:
Step 1 – Physical Reset (30 seconds)
- Close your eyes.
- Breathe in for 4… hold for 4… out for 4… hold for 4. Repeat 3 more times.
- With each exhale, feel your shoulders drop and jaw loosen.
Step 2 – Anchor Calm (45 seconds)
- Press your thumb and middle finger together.
- Recall your best, most confident trading moment.
- Imagine the charts, the sounds, the feeling of certainty.
- Whisper: “I trade from clarity, not from emotion.”
Step 3 – Mental Rehearsal (1 minute)
- Visualise taking a perfect trade:
- Spot the setup.
- Check your rules.
- Place the trade with no hesitation.
- Accept the outcome because the process was correct.
- Feel the steadiness in your breathing and the precision in your actions.
Step 4 – Courage Cue (45 seconds)
- Picture the next trading decision today.
- See yourself leaning in, eyes calm, ready.
- Say: “Act decisively. Stay calm.”
- Feel your spine straighten, breath steady, and resolve settle in.
Step 5 – Open Eyes & Begin
- Open your eyes.
- Trigger your thumb and middle finger anchor once more.
- Start trading in the state you just created.
When This Becomes Second Nature
At first, you’ll consciously go through every step. But within a few weeks, just doing the thumb and middle finger anchor will trigger the same calm, clear and courageous state.
This is where it gets powerful. You’ve trained your nervous system to default to discipline under market stress.
The Bigger Picture
The market doesn’t care if you’re anxious, overexcited, or doubting yourself. It rewards traders who:
- Follow their plan,
- Stay consistent,
- Act decisively without emotional interference.
This pre-trade routine isn’t just about feeling better; it’s about making better decisions and protecting your capital.
When you anchor calm and build courage every day, you stop being your own worst enemy in the market.
Action Step:
Do this ritual before every trading session for 21 days. Keep a short note in your trading journal each day on how you felt before and after. You’ll notice the difference, not just in your emotional state, but in your trading results.
Final Word:
You can’t control the market, but you can control the trader you bring to it. By practising calm, clarity, and courage, you give yourself the mental edge that most traders never even realise they need. If you want an extra champion in your corner, consider using me as your coach. Book a chat with me to explain how I can help you or get direct access to my diary to book a time.
