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This interview features Mandi Pour Rafsendjani—trading psychologist, coach, and active DAX day-trader—digging into the real constraints and levers that move results. From matching your trading style to your personality to building a structure that frees you to execute, Mandi explains why quick, focused decision-making suits her scalping approach and how mindset work translates into better trades.
In this piece, you’ll learn her three-pillar framework—trading mindset, behavioral-finance thinking, and performance metrics—plus how to journal with intent, reframe self-talk, and use emotions as signals rather than enemies. You’ll also see how Mandi applies personality profiling to decide between day trading and swing trading, why process beats outcome for consistency, and how to tighten risk with stats-driven reviews so you trade calmer and sharper.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani Playbook & Strategy: How She Actually Trades
Core Framework: align style, rules, and mindset
This is the operating system behind every decision. The aim is to trade methods that fit your personality, backed by rules you can execute under pressure. Here’s how to lock that in and keep it consistent.
- Define your trading identity in one line (e.g., “intraday momentum scalper on index futures, flat by session close”); print it above your screens.
- Set three guardrails you never break: max daily loss, max position size, hard stop on tilt (platform lockout).
- Keep your playbook to 1–2 primary setups only until you have 100+ trades of stats on each.
- Link each rule to a reason (e.g., “max daily loss prevents revenge trading”); reasons make rules sticky.
- Review rules weekly; retire or refine any rule that you “excuse” more than twice.
Markets, Sessions, and Timeframes
Pick markets and hours that match your attention span and energy. Mandi favors tight feedback loops and clean structure—your job is to choose instruments that let you think clearly and act quickly.
- Trade one primary instrument (e.g., DAX, ES, NQ) during a single session, so you can show up every day.
- Use a three-timeframe stack: structure (60m/15m), execution (5m/1m), and tape/footprint (optional) for entry timing.
- Stop trading when volatility drops below your minimum ATR or when spread/slippage exceeds your threshold.
- Be flat into major scheduled events unless your setup explicitly requires event risk.
- If you’re emotionally activated by overnight risk, mandate “flat by close” as a non-negotiable.
Playbook Setups (A-grade only)
Keep it brutally simple: one trend-continuation and one mean-reversion structure you can spot in seconds. Your goal is repetition, not variety.
- Trend-continuation: trade pullbacks to a rising 20/50 EMA confluence after a clean impulse, with higher-high/higher-low structure intact.
- Mean-reversion: fade parabolic extensions into daily/weekly levels only when momentum shows exhaustion (divergence + failed follow-through).
- Each setup has a checklist of 5–7 binary items; all must be “yes” before entry.
- Tag setups A/B/C; only A-setups are allowed live until win-rate and R multiples meet targets.
- Predefine “invalidations” (structure breaks, failed retests) and exit immediately on breach.
Risk & Position Sizing
Capital survives when position size respects volatility and your psychological bandwidth. Sizing is the pressure dial—keep it where you stay calm and precise.
- Risk a fixed fraction per trade (e.g., 0.25–0.5% of account) with volatility-adjusted stops (ATR-based or structure-based).
- Daily loss cap = 1–1.5× your average green day; hit it and you shut down trading tools.
- Hard stop lives where your setup is wrong, not where P&L “feels” uncomfortable; never move it wider.
- Scale only on realized consistency: 3 consecutive profitable months at stable drawdowns before a 20–30% size increase.
- If you widen stops due to volatility, cut size to keep risk per trade constant.
Entry & Execution Precision
Entries should be mechanical once the setup is valid. You’re aiming for repeatability: same places, same reasons, same triggers.
- Use limit entries at your pre-marked decision zones; if the price leaves without you, let it go.
- Require a trigger (break/retest, micro HL/LH, or footprint absorption) to avoid “anticipation fills.”
- Enter once; add only if a new, independent signal appears and risk stays capped.
- If slippage exceeds your plan by >30%, pass on the next signal until conditions normalize.
- Missed trade? Log the reason and move on—no chasing allowed.
Trade Management & Exits
Your exit plan is part of the entry. Decide targets, trail logic, and “get out now” triggers before you click.
- Predefine two targets: T1 at structure (prior swing/VWAP) and T2 as a multiple of risk (e.g., 2–3R).
- Move stop to breakeven only after a clear structure shift (e.g., HL after T1 fill), not just because you’re green.
- Trail behind structure (swing lows/highs or a baseline EMA) rather than “P&L feelings.”
- Time-based exit: if price stalls for N bars at your level without progress, reduce or flatten.
- For mean-reversion, partial out aggressively; for trend plays, let a runner work.
Psychological Edges in-the-moment
Mandi’s edge is practical psychology: manage state first, then manage trades. The goal is emotional clarity on command.
- Pre-trade “state check”: rate arousal (0–10) and focus (0–10); if arousal >7 or focus <6, you don’t trade yet.
- Use a 60-second breathing box (4-4-4-4) before the first order; repeat after any loss to reset.
- Write a one-line intention for the session (“Follow checklists; protect downside; A-setups only”).
- If you feel an urge to “get it back,” trigger the tilt rule: platform lock for 20 minutes or end day.
- Replace self-criticism with a neutral cue (“Back to process”); shame loops destroy execution.
Pre-Market Prep & Level Mapping
Preparation reduces hesitation. Build the map, then drive it.
- Mark overnight high/low, prior day H/L, weekly H/L, VWAP, and any key HTF levels you’ll trade against.
- Note the day type you expect (trend, rotational, balanced) and which setup fits that context.
- Define your “no-trade zones” (mid-range chop, pre-news drift) to conserve bullets.
- Choose one primary scenario and one alternative; pre-write the triggers for each.
- Set alerts at decision levels to avoid screen-glue and fatigue.
Journaling, Review, and Feedback Loops
Journaling is not a diary—it’s a data engine. You’re hunting repeatable edges and removing repeatable mistakes.
- Log only actionable fields: setup tag, checklist pass/fail count, R planned vs. R realized, state scores, rule breaks.
- Add two screenshots per trade (entry context and exit context) with annotations about decision points.
- Weekly review: export stats by setup; keep only those with win-rate and expectancy that beat costs and stress.
- Create a “mistake ledger” (top three errors of the week) and a “one fix” plan for next week.
- Color-code A/B/C setups in your journal; new ideas start as “C” in sim until proven.
Performance Metrics That Matter
Track the few numbers that actually move the needle. Less vanity, more clarity.
- Expectancy per setup (avg R) and payoff ratio beat raw win-rate for judging edge quality.
- Time in trade and MFE/MAE help refine exits and stop placement.
- Rule-adherence score (% of trades fully compliant) must stay >90% before scaling size.
- Distribution of outcomes: you want consistent small losses, occasional larger wins; kill patterns of large losses immediately.
- Session quality score (prep done, breaks taken, tilt avoided) predicts next week better than yesterday’s P&L.
Risk Events & “What If” Protocols
Bad things happen; you’re ready anyway. Pre-decide how you’ll respond so surprises don’t wreck you.
- Platform or data issues: flatten, log it, and stand down for the session.
- News shock: if spread/vol spikes beyond threshold, cancel all resting orders and reassess volatility filters.
- After three consecutive losses or two rule breaks in a session, enforce a 24-hour reset.
- If you breach the monthly drawdown limit, drop to sim for five sessions and rebuild with half size.
- Quarterly “fire drill”: simulate worst-case slippage and widen-stop scenarios; confirm your plan survives.
Daily Routine & Energy Management
Consistency rides on rhythm. Guard your decision-making energy like capital.
- Fixed start: arrive 45–60 minutes before session to prep levels and scenarios; fixed stop: power down at session end.
- Schedule two micro-breaks (5–7 minutes) per hour; use timers or alerts.
- Standardize nutrition/caffeine to avoid mid-session spikes and crashes.
- End-of-day: 15 minutes to tag trades, save screenshots, and grade rule adherence—then step away.
- Protect weekends or off-days from charts to keep the mind fresh for Monday.
Communication With Yourself (Self-Talk Scripts)
Language drives the state. Script it in advance so it’s there when you need it.
- Pre-entry script: “Checklist green, risk defined, accept the loss, execute clean.”
- Post-loss script: “Loss booked, edge intact, next trade independent.”
- After a win: “Good process—same plan, same size, no heat-check.”
- During chop: “No edge here; conserve bullets.”
- End of day: “Score the process, not the P&L; improvements noted.”
Size risk by volatility, not gut; adjust stops and size together.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani hammers this home: your position size should flex with the market’s current volatility, not your confidence level. When ATR or range expands, stops must breathe, and size must shrink to keep risk per trade constant. When volatility contracts, stops can tighten and size can nudge up without increasing dollar risk. This keeps your emotional load stable and prevents random P&L swings from hijacking decisions.
Start by anchoring risk per trade as a fixed percent, then place stops at the level that proves the setup wrong—never at a round number you “like.” If that structural stop is twice as wide today, cut the contracts or shares in half to keep dollars at risk unchanged. Pre-calc sizes for a few volatility buckets so you’re not doing math mid-candle. Log realized MAE/MFE each week and refine the buckets, so your sizing adapts as fast as the tape.
Trade mechanics over predictions; follow checklists, triggers, and invalidation rules.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani stresses that consistent traders execute mechanics, not forecasts. She builds a simple pre-trade checklist to confirm context, level, and risk before anything else. If one item is missing, she passes because an almost setup is a non-setup. Triggers convert idea to action—think retest and hold, micro higher low, or clear rejection wick. Without the trigger, she waits, because discipline beats being early.
Invalidation rules protect capital and clarify the moment the thesis breaks. Mandi marks the exact structure that proves her wrong, and she exits immediately without re-arguing the trade. After exiting, she logs whether the checklist was fully green or if she jumped a step, then resets for the next signal. The focus stays on repeatable steps and timestamps, so results come from the process, not lucky calls.
Diversify by setup, timeframe, and session — not just tickers.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani points out that owning ten symbols isn’t diversification if they all move together or you trade them the same way. Real diversification comes from mixing a trend-continuation setup with a mean-reversion play, running a higher-timeframe context with a lower-timeframe execution, and splitting focus across different market sessions. She uses distinct playbook tags so one setup can be paused without shutting down the whole business. This lowers the correlation of mistakes and smooths the equity curve when one edge cools off.
Mandi also diversifies by trade duration and frequency, so energy and risk aren’t clustered in a single hour. If London open is your A-time, she suggests a smaller, slower U.S. session plan instead of forcing the same aggression all day. She tracks results by setup, timeframe, and session to prune the dead branches and double down where expectancy lives. The goal isn’t more trades; it’s multiple independent ways to express edge so you’re never hostage to one pattern or one clock.
Define risk upfront; cap daily loss and enforce platform lockouts.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani is clear: risk isn’t a feeling you negotiate mid-trade—it’s a number you decide before entry. She defines the structural stop where the setup is invalid, converts that distance into position size, and fixes the dollar risk per trade. A daily loss cap protects the week by shutting down the day; she treats it as a circuit breaker, not a suggestion. This pre-commitment keeps decisions clean when emotions spike.
Mandi also uses platform lockouts to remove temptation after a bad stretch. If she hits the daily cap or breaks two rules, trading tools are disabled and she moves to review, breathing, and reset—not “one more try.” A monthly drawdown line triggers a reduced size or simulation until rule-adherence recovers. By automating these brakes, she lets discipline run the account when her biology wants to chase.
Review performance weekly; prune losers, scale winners, protect psychological capital.
Mandi Pour Rafsendjani treats her review like a business meeting with data, not feelings. She breaks results down by setup tag, timeframe, and session to see where expectancy actually lives. Losers that drain capital or attention are paused, rewritten, or moved to sim; winners with a stable edge get incremental size increases. She grades rule-adherence alongside P&L, so process quality leads, not luck. One clear fix carries into the next week—no kitchen-sink overhauls.
Mandi also audits the emotional cost of her trades, because psychological capital is finite. If an approach makes money but leaves her frazzled, she reduces frequency or tightens criteria to protect focus. She archives annotated screenshots to study decision points and stalls, then updates playbook checklists with what to do sooner next time. The outcome is a tighter machine: fewer leaks, clearer A-setups, and steady scaling that respects both math and mindset.
In the end, Mandi Pour Rafsendjani’s edge isn’t a magic indicator—it’s the way she runs herself and her process. She keeps risk pre-decided, trades only when her setup and trigger align, and treats rules as promises made in a calm state for a future, stressed state. When she’s off balance, she steps back; when she’s aligned, she executes. Her journal isn’t therapy—it’s a scoreboard for behavior and expectancy. Early/late entries, urges, hesitation, broken rules, and genuine A-signals all get tracked, so she can prune what bleeds and double down on what pays.
What stands out is how Mandi turns psychology into mechanics. She scripts checklists, laminates them, and measures adherence like a pro; she sets daily loss caps and platform lockouts so discipline is automatic, not heroic. She matches strategy to personality—session, timeframe, and tempo that fit her attention and energy—then diversifies by setup and duration rather than just adding more tickers. The review loop is ruthless but simple: keep the setups whose stats and stress profile work; pause or rework the rest. That’s the real “secret sauce”: a small, clean playbook, sized by real risk, executed by rules, and continuously tightened by honest feedback.
If you take one thing from Mandi Pour Rafsendjani, make it this: trade a process you can repeat on a bad day. Decide risk before entry, wait for the trigger, accept the loss, and record the truth afterward. Build a routine that protects your state, not just your P&L. Over time, that combination—mindset you can manage, mechanics you can follow, and metrics you’re willing to face—turns scattered effort into a durable edge.
