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Mandi Pour Rafsendjani is a trader and performance coach known for turning messy market emotions into clear, repeatable execution. In this interview, she digs into the real blockers behind blown prop accounts, why rule-following doesn’t erase your identity, and how to build discipline that survives bad days, bad weeks, and changing regimes. You’ll hear Mandi unpack drawdown limits, the pain of taking losses, and the mindset traps—rebellion, guilt, shiny-object hopping—that quietly wreck otherwise solid setups.
In this piece, you’ll learn how Mandi operationalizes mindset into strategy: reframing pain so cutting a loser feels like progress, scaling risk to respect a 5% firm cap without shrinking edge, and stress-testing a system so you can hold winners without second-guessing. We’ll cover her practical drills for loss-tolerance, routines that keep you from system-hopping mid-drawdown, and money-mindset upgrades that let you grow from $1K decisions to $1M decisions with the same process discipline.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani Playbook & Strategy: How She Actually Trades
Core Philosophy: Process > Prediction
This is the backbone of how Mandi operates: clean rules, honest self-observation, and a commitment to execute the plan you already know. She blends active trading with coaching, focusing on decision quality and disciplined implementation rather than hero calls.
- Define your trading edge in one sentence; if you can’t, you don’t have one—no trade until it’s written.
- For every setup, pre-commit to entry, stop, target, max add-ons, and invalidation; no edits once live.
- Treat “follow the plan” as a skill: track it like a stat (Execution %), aim for ≥90% adherence each week.
- When you break a rule, flatten immediately and log the trigger (emotion, context) within five minutes.
- Weekly, rate each rule 1–5 for clarity; anything ≤3 Gets rewritten before Monday.
Account Risk & Drawdown Control
Risk is framed to survive bad days and keep you functional tomorrow. You cap pain before it spikes emotion: strict per-trade risk, hard daily stop, and staged size that grows with consistency—not hope.
- Per-trade risk: 0.25–0.50% of equity for day trading; never above 1% on any single idea.
- Daily loss limit: 1–1.5× average daily win or 2% of equity—hit it and stop trading for the day.
- Weekly drawdown circuit-breaker: if down 4–6R on the week, switch to sim until two green sessions.
- No martingale, no moving stops wider after entry; if volatility spikes, reduce size, don’t widen risk.
- Predefine max open risk: total concurrent positions ≤ 1.5% of equity.
Pre-Trade Readiness Routine (Mindset First)
You don’t earn the right to trade until you’re stable enough to execute. Mandi uses short, repeatable priming to align the state with the plan so the mouse click happens on time, not late.
- 10-minute reset: breath cadence (4-4-6), posture check, and one sentence: “My job is execution.”
- Quick scan: sleep quality, stressors, time pressure; if any ≥7/10, reduce size by 50% or stand down.
- Visualize the day’s A+ setup and the worst outcome; rehearse your exact response to both.
- Write a two-line intention: “If X then I do Y. If the rule breaks, I flatten and log.”
- No trade until heart rate and breathing normalize; if not, the first 30 minutes are observation only.
Market Focus & Time Windows (DAX/FX Day Trading)
Mandi’s active trading centers on liquid, volatile instruments (e.g., DAX index and major FX) with defined session windows. Tight timing reduces noise, and repeatable structures drive execution.
- Primary windows: 8:00–11:00 CET for DAX; major FX during London/NY overlap—outside that, size halves.
- Work the first pullback after a session push: structure on 15-minute, trigger on 1–5 minutes.
- Never chase the first impulsive candle; wait for a pause and clear invalidation behind a swing.
- Use ATR-based stops (e.g., 0.8–1.2× 14-period ATR on the trigger timeframe).
- Partial at +1R, move stop to break-even only after structure confirms (e.g., HL/LH on trigger chart).
Entry & Execution Rules (Mechanical First, Feel Second)
Your “feel” is useful only after the mechanical criteria light up. Mandi’s approach forces sequence: read → plan → confirm → execute—then let the statistics play out.
- Pre-trade checklist: trend context, level confluence, volatility state, risk size, news risk—all must be green.
- Only take trades that align with higher-timeframe bias; counter-trend requires half size and quick targets.
- Two tries per setup max; if both fail, that pattern is “off” for the session.
- Hard stop in the book at entry; no mental stops.
- Use bracket orders to remove hesitation; if you can’t bracket it, you don’t understand it.
Managing Losers Without Drama
Losses are information, not identity. Mandi reframes pain so cutting a loser feels like progress, keeping you available for the next A+ trade.
- When price tags stop, do not touch; immediately log which assumption failed.
- If slippage exceeds plan due to volatility, automatically cut size on the next trade by 50%.
- Three consecutive losses: pause for 15 minutes; review the checklist for missing context.
- If you “save” a loser by moving the stop, label the day a process fails, stop trading, and journal why.
Letting Winners Breathe (While Protecting Equity)
Winners need room, but equity needs safety. Mandi uses predefined scale-outs and time rules to avoid the “grab it” reflex.
- First scale at +1R to pay risk; second scale only at structure (prior swing/imbalance close).
- No trailing until market confirms continuation (new HH/LL on trigger timeframe).
- Time stop: if trade goes nowhere for two ATRs of time, cut it in half and reassess.
- Don’t convert a day trade into a swing unless the higher timeframe closed in your favor and risk is ≤0.5%.
State Management During the Session
Your edge degrades when your state degrades. Keep tabs on physiology and cognition; protect execution quality above all.
- Micro-resets every hour: stand, breathe, re-center intention; re-score focus (1–10).
- If focus <6, reduce complexity: trade one market, one pattern, one size.
- Ban multi-tasking (social feeds, chats) during active windows; the environment is part of the risk.
- Keep water on desk and sugar off desk; aim for stable energy, not spikes.
Journaling That Actually Changes Behavior
Mandi’s journaling isn’t about paragraphs—it’s about patterns. Track the few metrics that drive results and convert them into rule updates.
- Log three numbers per trade: R result, Execution % (0/1), Emotion tag (1–2 words).
- End-of-day: pull the top two emotion tags and write one counter-measure per tag for tomorrow.
- End-of-week: identify one rule to tighten and one to drop; implement Monday, test for two weeks.
- Keep a “Win Photo Album”: screenshots of clean A+ trades to prime your brain before the open.
Growth & Size: Earn the Right to Scale
Size grows with consistency, not after a single home run. Mandi ties size increases to process metrics, so confidence is deserved, not forced.
- Rule to scale: two consecutive green weeks with ≥85% plan adherence; then increase risk by 10–20%.
- Any week below 80% adherence: freeze size next week regardless of P&L.
- New market or new setup: start at 25–50% of normal risk for ten trades before evaluation.
- Quarterly review: drop your lowest-expectancy setup and replace it with a refined variant.
Money Mindset & Identity Upgrades
Performance collapses when your money stories collide with your rules. Mandi addresses identity and beliefs, so a bigger size doesn’t trigger sabotage.
- Convert “I must be right” to “I must be consistent”; write it on your screens until it’s automatic.
- Separate self-worth from P&L: celebrate rule-following days even if red; debrief, then close the platform.
- Set tiered income expectations (Survive / Professional / Stretch) and assign behaviors to each tier.
- Practice generosity away from markets (time, compliments) to loosen scarcity reflexes during trades.
Playbook Maintenance & Evolution
Edges decay; playbooks shouldn’t. Mandi treats the playbook as a living product: iterate, test, and prune with intention.
- Keep the playbook under 10 pages: if it bloats, you’re hiding indecision in words.
- Sunrise test each quarter: re-backtest the top setups on the last 3–6 months of data before keeping them.
- Archive retired rules with the reason they failed; avoid resurrecting without fresh evidence.
- Schedule a monthly “red team” session: try to break your own rules and patch the holes.
Size Risk to Survive: Fixed R, Daily Cap, Circuit Breakers
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani keeps it simple: every trade risks a fixed “R” so one loser can’t torch the day. She sets a hard daily cap that ends the session before emotions start trading for her. When the week goes cold, she flips the circuit breaker—cut size, slow down, even step to sim—so she lives to fight the next session. That structure turns uncertainty into math, and math into composure.
Her playbook scales only with proof, not hope: two steady weeks before any size bump, and any rule-break means flatten first, analyze second. If volatility spikes, she shrinks exposure instead of widening stops, preserving expectancy when markets get jumpy. Losers are logged, not litigated; the insight is harvested and the risk stays contained. That’s how Mandi Pour Rafsendjani treats risk: not as a dare, but as the guardrail that makes consistency possible.
Trade the Mechanics, Not Predictions: Rules First, Feel Second
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani builds entries from checklists, not hunches, so the market has to prove the setup before she clicks. She reads the structure first, defines the stop and target second, and only then considers whether the trade even deserves her risk. If any pre-trade box stays blank—trend alignment, level, volatility state—she skips without drama. Her view is simple: when rules lead, emotions trail behind.
Once in, Mandi Pour Rafsendjani lets the system speak by following predefined sequences—no chasing, no widening, no “I’ll just give it a little room.” If price invalidates the idea, the position is gone; if it confirms, she lets time and structure do the heavy lifting. “Feel” is allowed only after the mechanical criteria are satisfied and only to tighten risk, never to justify staying wrong. The edge isn’t clairvoyance; it’s executing the same small advantage flawlessly, trade after trade.
Let Volatility Set Size: ATR Stops, Session Windows, No Chasing
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani sizes positions to the market, not her mood. When ATR expands, she cuts size and widens stops to keep risk per trade constant; when ATR contracts, she tightens stops and allows a touch more size. She anchors entries to session windows—London open, NY overlap—so liquidity helps fill and slippage stays sane. If the first candle rips, she refuses to chase; she waits for the pullback that puts the stop behind structure, not hope.
Once in, Mandi Pour Rafsendjani lets the volatility math do the heavy lifting. She won’t move a stop just because the tape feels jumpy; the ATR-defined invalidation either holds or the trade is done. If a move stalls beyond her time allowance for the current volatility regime, she reduces or exits and looks for a cleaner rotation. The point is simple: by letting volatility set size and timing, you keep expectancy intact while everyone else trades their heartbeat.
Diversify by Setup, Timeframe, and Duration to Smooth Equity
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani treats diversification like shock absorbers for your P&L. She splits her book by setup type (breakout, pullback, mean-revert), so a rough day for one motif doesn’t wreck the entire session. Timeframe diversification keeps her from forcing trades when the lower timeframes are choppy; if the 1–5 minute is messy, she’ll wait for the 15-minute structure or step back to daily context. Duration matters too—she pairs quick intraday rotations with occasional multi-day holds so the equity curve isn’t hostage to one tempo.
Risk is allocated per bucket, not per whim, and Mandi Pour Rafsendjani trims exposure when buckets correlate unexpectedly. If DAX momentum and EUR risk-on both light up, she reduces size so she isn’t secretly doubling the same theme. Each bucket has its own rules, stats, and cap; if a bucket underperforms for three weeks running, it goes on probation until refreshed with tighter criteria. The outcome is a steadier curve: fewer emotional whipsaws, more confidence to execute the next clean signal.
Define Risk, Define Exit: Protect Winners Without Smothering Them
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani starts every trade by fixing the pain point first—where she’s objectively wrong—and only then imagines the best-case path. The stop is placed behind structure, not behind fear, and the target is tethered to what the market has proven it can deliver. Once the price is moving, she protects winners with preplanned partials rather than reflexive full exits. The aim is simple: keep the asymmetry alive without strangling it.
If momentum confirms, Mandi Pour Rafsendjani trails behind a fresh swing structure, never on a random round number. She bans “hope holds”: if the thesis breaks, the trade is over—even if it was green seconds ago. When a move stalls beyond her time allowance, she trims to reduce regret and lets the remainder work only if context still aligns. By defining risk and exit in advance, she turns every position into a controlled experiment instead of a negotiation with nerves.
In the end, Mandi Pour Rafsendjani’s core message is brutally practical: discipline isn’t the market’s demand—it’s your insurance policy. She shows how traders sabotage themselves by rebelling against rules because those rules feel like someone else’s authority; the fix is reframing discipline as freedom, not restriction, and tying it to professional standards like firm-style drawdown limits around 5%. When you know the cap, predefine per-trade risk, and accept that the stop is the cost of doing business, you trade cleaner and last longer.
She also tackles the money side head-on: size stretches your psychology, so train it deliberately. Mandi recommends desensitizing to bigger numbers in simulation—trade a much larger account on SIM to normalize seeing “many zeros” flash on the screen—then upgrade your environment by observing traders who already operate at that scale. That exposure reduces shock, helps you process slippage and fill challenges at a larger size, and makes scaling feel like a routine progression rather than a leap off a cliff.
Finally, her lens on behavior is the throughline: notice the exact moment you resist your own exits, name the trigger, and replace impulse with a prepared response. The market often becomes a stand-in for old authority dynamics; once you see that pattern, you can choose process over protest and execute the plan you wrote when you were calm. That’s the real edge Mandi is teaching—mechanics anchored by self-awareness—so your strategy survives volatility, prop-firm pressure, and the everyday noise of trading life.
