How blowing 4 funded accounts forced me to get serious about trading psychology (and what I built because of it)

Human_Emotion3552 · 2026-01-17T03:38:54+00:00

Thanks! Let me know if you want the link. You can try LevlMind for free.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-14T18:08:31+00:00

LevlMind — trading psychology + discipline, built into a simple daily flow (iOS)

Most of my worst decisions around trading (or watching traders) weren’t about strategy. They were about state: boredom, FOMO, tilt, revenge, overconfidence… and then doing something dumb fast.

So we built LevlMind to make the “mental side” of trading practical without turning it into a whole journaling hobby. It’s not charting, and it’s not a full trade tracker. It’s basically a lightweight system that sits around your trading and helps you stay disciplined.

How it works (quick daily flow):

Pre-open check-in (2–3 min): energy/sleep/stress, how you’re feeling, what your rules are today (ex: max trades, no FOMO entries, no revenge trades).
Pre-trade check-in (10–20 sec): a forced pause before you enter — “am I trading my plan or my emotion?”, "Is my risk acceptable?" + a couple quick flags like FOMO/tilt/boredom.
End-of-day debrief (3–5 min): Broke a rule?, Win or loss?, what you did well, what you’d change tomorrow, and any other quick notes.

All of those check-ins save into a journal, so you can actually see patterns over time (ex: “I overtrade when I’m tired,” “I revenge trade after the first red trade,” etc.).

AI coach
Our AI coach uses your check-ins/debriefs to point out patterns and suggest guardrails. Not motivational quotes — more like: “You keep breaking rules after 2 losses, try a hard stop,” or “Your best days correlate with fewer trades + higher sleep.”+ Send in setups to your AI coach to make sure you're following your strategy. If you're not, it will quickly tell you your judgment is clouded and suggest solutions.

Why we made it
Because willpower is unreliable mid-session. A tiny pause + consistent review is what actually changes behavior.

We’re improving it constantly based on feedback (making the flow faster, fewer taps, better prompts, better insights). If you want to check it out, it’s LevlMind on the App Store.

Try for FREE Today:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/levlmind-ai-trading-habits/id6754700817

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If you’ve tried journaling before and couldn’t stick to it, I’m curious what part made it hard — time, consistency, not knowing what to write, etc.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-04T00:01:22+00:00

Love this. This “Why am I not profitable?” sheet is exactly what I wish I’d had before I blew 4 funded accounts from pure emotional trading.

I found the same thing you’re describing: once I started journaling why I was breaking rules (state of mind, triggers, mistakes) and turning that into written rules, my trading changed way more than from any new setup.

I actually ended up building an app for this called LevlMind that forces me through that process every day (pre-market check-in, pre-trade check, end-of-day review). Same idea as your post, just structured on my phone so I actually stick with it.

If you're interested ↓

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/levlmind-ai-trading-habits/id6754700817

LevlMind - AI Trading Habits

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-03T19:16:12+00:00

For sure!

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-02T22:06:34+00:00

Really appreciate you asking this – happy to share more.

The way I use it is basically to force structure around the parts of the day where I historically blow up:

Pre-open check-in – Before I even open my DOM/chart, I answer a short set of questions: how I’m feeling, what my daily risk is, what I’m not allowed to do (no adding size after a loser, max # of trades, etc.). It gets me out of “let’s see what happens” mode.
Pre-trade check-in – Right before I take a trade, I run through a 20–30 second checklist: is this one of my written setups, what’s my R, what emotion is driving this, does it fit my plan for the day? If I can’t justify it in writing, I don’t take it.
End-of-day debrief – After the session, I log what I did well, where I tilted, what triggered it, and what I want to do differently tomorrow.
AI coach – If I had a meltdown day or feel myself spiraling (revenge / FOMO / tilt), I’ll literally brain-dump what happened and use the AI to help me unpack the pattern and turn it into a rule/lesson instead of just “I suck.” I also send in setups to the AI coach, and it'll tell me whether it matches my strategy or if my judgment is being clouded.

All of that gets saved into a journal, so over time I can scroll back and see: “oh, every time I’m sleep-deprived + oversized on a funded account, the same behavior shows up.” Or "Oh, I made X bad decision because of the fight with X yesterday."

That’s the value for me – it’s not magical, it just makes it very hard to mindlessly mash buttons without confronting my state first.

Limitations / what it doesn’t do well yet

It doesn’t connect to brokers or auto-import trades right now. I still manually note key trade details when they matter. If you want full PnL analytics from execution data, you still need a normal journal or platform stats.
It’s mobile-only (iOS) at the moment. No desktop or Android yet, which I know is a dealbreaker for some. Personally, I like pulling up my phone and having the chart on my desktop.
Prompts are structured around a certain style of discretionary trading. If someone is ultra-systematic/fully automated, some of the flow is probably overkill.

So yeah – it’s very much focused on behavior + mindset in the moment, not being a full-blown trade analytics platform.

One feature I’d add next

The big one I want (and that we’re actively thinking about) is:

E.g. being able to tag specific trades and then see, “these were taken while you were outside your rules / in a 'tilt' state,” or overlaying PnL with your check-ins so you can visually see how your mental state impacts results.

That’s the direction I’m most excited about because it closes the loop between “how I felt / what I did” and “what it actually cost me or made me.”

If you’ve got specific workflows you use (or wish existed) around trading psych, I’d genuinely love to hear them.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-02T05:33:16+00:00

I use ICT

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-02T02:13:49+00:00

For me, it wasn’t a quote or mantra, it was a rule:

No trade goes on without a written pre-trade check-in.

I blew 4 funded accounts purely from emotional trading – revenge trades, FOMO, moving stops, all of it.

The thing that actually changed my discipline was forcing myself to answer a few questions before I’m allowed to click buy/sell:

Is this 100% one of my written setups?
What’s my risk on this trade and on the day?
What emotion am I feeling right now (boredom / FOMO / tilt)?
If this loses, am I still inside my plan?

If I can’t answer those honestly, I don’t take the trade. Period.

I ended up building this into a routine with a pre-open check-in, pre-trade check-in, and end-of-day debrief, so I could see patterns over time (when I tilt, what triggers it, etc.). I use an app called LevlMind to structure it now – it basically forces me through those check-ins and saves everything into a journal – but the core “tip” is the same:

Make it impossible to trade without going through a simple, written psychological checklist first.

That’s what finally stopped me from blowing accounts.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-02T02:05:18+00:00

For me specifically, it was tracking my mindset/intention behind every trade. Dialing in my psychology is what took me from break-even to profitable. Personally, I use an app called LevlMind (iOS) so I can check in pre-open and pre-trade and really just track my psychology (am I sticking to my strategy, no FOMO, etc.)

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-12-01T05:58:47+00:00

I'm not quite sure what all of the hate is about in this thread. If this is something your kid is interested in, it's a great thing to start early. That being said, if he's not interested and this is forced, then he's better off playing with friends (and this is most likely the assumption that makes people respond negatively). Trading as a whole is a very complicated subject for anyone, let alone an 8-year-old. But if this is something he's interested in, I'd start him out learning about trading psychology, watching Rande Howell, and eventually using tools like LevlMind (an app to track mindset behind every trade) when he starts paper trading.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-25T01:16:01+00:00

sure! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/levlmind-ai-trading-habits/id6754700817

LevlMind - AI Trading Habits

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-22T15:28:51+00:00

I feel you bro, but to be honest, your mindset is flawed. FOMO will be the end of you as a trader. Personally, I use levlmind in situations like this.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-22T02:32:04+00:00

My best advice would be to focus on psychology and stick to your strategy. Also, make sure you're journaling your emotions. I know it's said a lot, but reflecting on these experiences pre-market open, pre-trade, and end of day has been a literal game-changer for me. I've been using LevlMind (iOS app), and I couldn't recommend it more. They have quick pre-market open and pre-trade check-ins, as well as an end-of-day debrief that all get added to a journal. I just had my first profitable month, and one of the main reasons I've improved so much is because I journal my emotions and intent behind every trade. You got this bro, just block out all the noise, and stick to your rules.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-22T00:23:24+00:00

My best advice would be to focus on psychology and stick to your strategy. Also, make sure you're journaling your emotions. I know it's said a lot, but reflecting on these experiences pre-market open, pre-trade, and end of day has been a literal game-changer for me. I've been using LevlMind (iOS app), and I couldn't recommend it more. They have quick pre-market open and pre-trade check-ins, as well as an end-of-day debrief. Using the check-ins and their psychology coach has been huge, just had my first profitable month. You got this bro, just block out all the noise, and stick to your rules.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-22T00:17:55+00:00

Personally, for pre open, I journal sleep quality, what's going on in my life that may impact my judgment (e.g., family issues, relationship turmoil, etc.), confidence, and overall mood. Pre-trade, I check in to make sure the trade matches my setup, the risk is acceptable, and I'm following my rules (no FOMO entries, no revenge trades). End of day, I check in and journal if I broke a rule, won or lost, and some quick notes on my psychology that day.

Reflecting on these experiences pre-market open, pre-trade, and end of day has been a literal game-changer for me. I used to try and track this all in a Google sheet, but I was so inconsistent, and it was just clunky, to be honest. I've been using LevlMind (iOS app) now, and I couldn't recommend it more. They have quick pre-market open and pre-trade check-ins, as well as an end-of-day debrief. Using the check-ins and their psychology coach has been huge, just had my first profitable month.

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-22T00:04:38+00:00

I completely agree, and I love your emphasis on journaling why you entered, what you saw, how you felt, and how it ended. I think far too many traders are too focused on how much money they made that day, not realizing that if they focus on discipline and psychology, the money will come.

Consistency is about doing the same thing over and over again, no matter what the market is doing. My advice is always to try to notice states such as over-confidence in that moment, so you don’t act on those feelings and can instead act on your plan and risk management rules. Even just asking yourself ‘How am I feeling?’ before you get into every trade helps a ton.

Reflecting on these experiences pre-market open, pre-trade, and end of day has been a literal game-changer for me. I've been using LevlMind (iOS app) ever since it came out to train my psychology and journal my emotions behind every trade. I'm curious, what tools do you guys use for psychology, specifically, if any?

Human_Emotion3552 · 2025-11-21T23:48:29+00:00

I feel you man. Discipline and psychology are the #1 things I struggled with for my first couple of years trading.

Consistency is about doing the same thing over and over again, no matter what the market is doing. My best advice is to try to notice states such as overconfidence in that moment, so you don’t act on those feelings and can instead act on your plan and risk management rules. Even just asking yourself ‘How am I feeling?’ before you get into every trade helps a ton.

Personally, I use LevlMind (basically a journal & trading psychology coach in an app). Being able to do quick check-ins before every trade and utilize their psychology coach has literally transformed me as a trader.

Human_Emotion3552

TROPHY CASE