The MES Trader's Psychology Checklist
The exact pre-market, intra-session, and post-market routine built into Pendulum Trader.
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Most trading psychology content is theory. This is not. Every item in this checklist is derived from the behavioral patterns Pendulum Trader detects in real trader data — the small procedural habits that separate funded accounts that survive from funded accounts that blow up in a single 45-minute window.
Read it once. Then bookmark the page on your phone and run it before, during, and after every session. The first week it will feel like overhead. By the second week the items will start running automatically in your head, and by the third you will notice which ones you skip — and those skips will be the most valuable information you get all month.
Pre-Market (90 seconds)
Before you open the chart. Before you scan setups. Before the first tick prints. This is the window that decides the rest of your day.
Check my nervous system state (ventral / alert / activated / frozen)
One word. Be honest. If you can name it, you can regulate it.
Rate my activation level 1–10
Below 3 = under-aroused, sit this one out. Above 7 = over-aroused, run a regulation exercise before the open.
Physiological sigh: two inhales through the nose, long exhale through the mouth, repeat 3 times
The single most efficient way to drop your sympathetic activation in under 60 seconds. Clinically validated.
Write today's single rule in one sentence
Example: "I trade only A+ setups off the 5-min open and I stop after the first loss."
Name my max daily loss number out loud
Not your "soft" number. Your hard one. Say it to yourself before you touch the mouse.
Identify which shadow trader is most likely to show up today
Revenge Seeker after yesterday's loss? Overconfident Gambler after three green days? Name it so you can watch for it.
Pre-Trade (10 seconds)
Before every single entry. The 10-second pause between seeing the setup and clicking the button. This is where tilt happens or gets prevented.
Does this match my single rule from pre-market?
If the answer has any qualifier ("kind of", "basically", "close enough"), pass.
What am I feeling right now? Name it.
Fear, frustration, FOMO, boredom, excitement, greed, anger. If you can't name it, you're on tilt.
Am I taking this trade because the setup is there, or because I need to trade?
These two answers produce completely different P&L over 100 trades.
Is my stop loss where my plan says it should be — and am I going to actually honor it?
Ask yourself both questions. The second one is the one most traders skip.
Am I sizing this trade to my plan, or to my emotion?
Doubling size to "make it back" is the single costliest decision in retail futures.
Post-Trade (30 seconds)
The moment the trade closes. Before you look for the next setup. This is where the lesson lives and where the next trade's psychology is set.
Did I follow my plan — process grade A through F?
Grade the process, not the outcome. An A trade can lose money. A D trade can make money. Your edge is in the A trades.
If I lost: did I break a rule, or did the market just move?
These are different failures. Rule breaks get logged. Market moves get accepted.
Run a 10-second body scan: jaw, shoulders, breath, stomach
Tension in any of the four is an early warning sign. Release it before the next trade.
Check my tilt score: what happened, what did I feel, did I intervene?
Unintervened incidents compound. Intervened incidents teach.
If I took two or more losses in a row: MANDATORY 5-minute pause
No re-entry, no scan, no chart, no news. Walk away from the screen. Breathe. Re-enter the market in a different physiological state than the one you were in when you lost.
Post-Market (2 minutes)
After the close. Not tomorrow morning. Tonight. The lesson is warmest when the session is still in your body.
What was the best process moment of today?
Not the best trade. The best decision — the one where you caught yourself before the mistake.
What was the worst process moment of today?
Same — decision, not trade. What did you do that you know you should not do?
What pattern did I notice in my own behavior today?
One sentence. No editing.
What is my single experiment for tomorrow?
Not a new strategy. A new procedural rule. Example: "Tomorrow, after any loss, I put my hands on my lap for 30 seconds before I look at the chart again."
Rate my overall process score for the day 1–10
Track this number over weeks. It is the most honest measurement of your trading improvement.
Warning Signs — Stop Trading Immediately
If ANY of these are true, close your platform. No exceptions. The trade that will ruin your week is always taken in one of these states.
I am trading to make up for a previous loss
Revenge trading. The single most expensive psychological pattern in futures.
I just moved a stop loss to avoid taking a planned loss
You are no longer following a system. You are now trading hope against certainty.
I have increased my size without a planned reason
Sizing changes require a documented reason. "I feel good" is not a reason.
I am checking my P&L every 30 seconds
Attention on the dollar amount instead of the chart is a nervous system signal, not a strategy decision.
I have caught myself thinking "just one more trade to get back to even"
The most common sentence spoken by traders before they blow up a funded account.
My body is showing stress signs: tight jaw, shallow breath, hot chest, sweating palms
Your body knows before your brain does. Listen to the body first.
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