I have been trading for my own account since 2006. At first, I started doing it on a part-time basis and by mid-2009 it had transitioned into a full-time endeavor. By “full-time”, I mean that my main source of income derives from this activity.

A rough start…

At first, I made all the mistakes in the book, and like most, I eventually blew up. This inability to engineer consistency (in my behavior and so my trading performance) made me realize the importance of trading psychology.

And it makes sense: if trading was all math and logic, our best rocket scientists would be millionaires trading the market — but we know it’s not the case. So the key to being predictably profitable over time is something else. It’s something that most people struggle with: the inability to maintain a balanced mind, especially in the midst of uncertainty and vicissitudes.

A Paradigm Shift

So after 5 years of losing (and after nearly decimating a pretty significant trading account), I was left with a broken mindset. Long story short, I was granted an incredible opportunity to spend some time on a meditation retreat.

For the first time in my life, I collided with my own mind — I began observing it, it’s nature and tendencies, and the discoveries I made were insightful, to say the least. But above all, I had come to understand the profound implications of a simple and seemingly mundane exercise like meditation.

Meditation is advertised as an exercise that helps us relax and lead less stressful lives. This is great. But I can attest (based on my own experiences) that it is much (Much) more than that! If practiced the right way, patiently and ardently, day after day, it is a radical tool that will transform one’s life. It’ll help eradicate deep mental complexes that skew our vision of ourselves and the world (and the markets) and create misery for us.

Profitable… at last!

I don’t make any trading errors anymore. I just don’t. My experience of trading isn’t characterized by crippling emotions and thoughts anymore — it’s fluid, effortless, and profitable! That aside, I run a blog that is growing in popularity.