Podcast
Traders Mastermind
Hosted by Traders Mastermind · EN
Sharpen your edge with the Traders Mastermind podcast—proudly sponsored by Pepperstone.
We dive deep into the mindset, discipline, and strategy needed to excel in the high-performance world of short-term trading.
Join 13,000+ traders who subscribe to the Traders Mastermind Daily Email—designed to help you build discipline, momentum, and consistency in under 3 minutes a day.
32episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Be Your Own Boss: The Carrot and Stick Method for Trading Discipline
Yesterday00:08:35Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone When you trade for yourself, you wear every hat... CEO, risk manager, senior trader, junior trader. Nobody's holding you accountable, and that's exactly the problem. In this episode, Mark Holstead unpacks why most traders stay stuck in the same cycle: feel bad about a mistake, promise to do better, repeat. The missing piece? Real consequences. Here's how to engineer them, using trade hesitation as the worked example. It won't fix everything, but if you've done all the right groundwork and still can't shift a bad habit, this is probably the piece you're missing.
Transcribe →Why Closed-Minded Traders Get Left Behind
1w ago00:10:05Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone No big claim in this one. Just a thought on why staying open-minded might be one of the most underrated attributes a trader can have... and what being open-minded actually means in practice. A clickbait short came through my feed the other day. Guy ranting about how a specific strategy was total nonsense, how "this is how the funds do it." Except a bit of digging turns up four or five firms running exactly the strategy he says doesn't work. Twelve-year track records. All public. So this episode is about the alternative. You look at a strategy and you land on one of three things: you like it and you'll test it later, you take something from it, or it's not for you. And then it ends there. No energy spent telling everyone else it's rubbish. I cover: Why open-minded doesn't mean chasing shiny objectsTaking the process, not the strategy (a hedge fund's stress-testing approach I nicked)Expressing the same trade idea a different wayMoon phase strategies and why I don't care if they workBuilding your own playbook from borrowed parts Most hedge funds don't beat the market. Most traders don't make money. That's just how it works. The best take the spoils.
Transcribe →I Flew 20 Hours To Learn 3 Strategies I Couldn't Trade
2w ago00:16:53Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone Early 2000s. I flew from the UK to Las Vegas to sit in on a new trader intake at a prop firm. Three strategies, all working, all making the firm serious money. I went home and couldn't trade a single one of them. Not because they were bad. Because they were never going to fit me… I didn't have the capital, the stomach for size, or the appetite for spreadsheets. Took me a long time to work out the difference between "this doesn't work" and "this doesn't work for me." In this episode, I break down all three strategies (NYSE opening print fair value, ECN liquidity rebates, and pairs trading), why each one failed in my hands, and the filter I now run every new strategy through before I waste any time on it. Relevant timing, given we're currently tearing down 12 popular strategies in the Pepperstone webinar series. Some will be for you. Most won't. That's the whole point.
Transcribe →Two Traders, Same Start… One Blew Up, One's Still Winning
3w ago00:08:25Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone Two traders. Same meetup, same market, same year. One bragged about every win… until the week he vanished, fifty grand down on borrowed money. The other never bragged, and ten years on, he's still trading and thriving. Mark unpacks the one thing that separated them: process over ego, long-term over the quick win.
Transcribe →Two Steps Back, Five Steps Forward: The Trader's Guide to Strategic Retreat
4w ago00:09:43Tap to summarizeMost traders are wired to push… bigger size, more strategies, faster progress. But the most successful people in any field share a trait we rarely talk about: they're not afraid to take a step back if it sets up a bigger step forward. If you've been grinding month after month with nothing to show for it, this one's worth a listen. Thanks to Pepperstone for sponsoring this episode.
Transcribe →The High-Water Mark Trick
Jun 2600:08:14Tap to summarizeWe all know the high-water mark... fund managers use it for their equity curve highs. Hit a million, lose some, climb back above the old peak before you get paid. But what if you applied that same thinking somewhere else entirely? In this episode, I dig into using high-water marks beyond your account balance. Longest trade held.Most days sticking to your rules.Fewest red days.The longest journaling streak. None of these moves your PNL on their own... but together they support it, and more importantly, they reframe what progress actually looks like. Because here's the problem. Especially in those early years, you pour in the effort and the equity curve shows you nothing. It's a recipe for despondency. So you measure something else. You chase a personal best in the things you know matter, and you start to believe bigger things are possible. Could be the unlock you need. Thanks to Pepperstone for sponsoring the episode
Transcribe →Why Creativity Might Be the Trading Edge You're Missing
Jun 1800:08:11Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone Most traders obsess over strategy, mindset, and discipline… but what about creativity? In this episode, Mark explores an idea sparked by a post from "StockBee" (an X trader credited in the new Market Wizards book with helping at least one wizard make hundreds of millions): that progress in trading often comes from thinking creatively, not just logically. Mark unpacks his diagnose-then-prescribe framework for solving trading problems, identifying the biggest domino holding you back, then finding a fix, and shows how adding a "creativity lens" can unlock solutions you'd never reach through pure logic. He shares real examples, from using a cheap desk timer to slow down impulsive decisions to creative ways of improving your risk-to-reward ratio through smarter entries. If you're more creatively wired than rule-driven, this reframe might be the unlock you've been looking for.
Transcribe →The New Market Wizards Book. One Thing Before You Read It
Jun 1200:12:23Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone The new Market Wizards book — The Next Generation by Jack Schwager and George Coyle — is out, and before you dive in, there's one thing worth keeping in mind. In this episode, Mark looks back at the series that inspired a generation of traders, from the 1989 original through to today, and shares why these books are gold for any developing trader… as long as you read them the right way. Capital at risk. This content is for educational purposes only and is not investment advice or a recommendation to trade.
Transcribe →Day Trading or Swing Trading? New Thoughts
Jun 500:15:21Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone If you're a developing trader, should you focus on day trading or swing trading? It's the question everyone asks early on... and my thinking on it has shifted over the years. In this one, I go through the definitions, the usual pros and cons, and then the bit most people skip: the psychological cost. Fast decisions, fast damage. Why beginners fall apart day trading and what that actually does to your account. I get into the asymmetry problem too. Why it's so hard to find a true asymmetric trade intraday in normal conditions, and how holding for a few days changes the maths. Then my honest take on what I'd do if I was starting again now. It's not clear-cut. But on balance I land somewhere.
Transcribe →Would You Get Hired By a Hedge Fund?
May 2900:12:47Tap to summarizeSponsored by Pepperstone Would you get hired by a hedge fund? The traits funds screen for before they let anyone near a book are the same ones that keep a retail account alive. No billions or trading desk required... it's behaviour, discipline and self-awareness. We go through what they look for at hiring, what they demand once you're managing a book, and the honest question underneath it all: would you hire yourself?
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