In Pursuit: Dopamine and Trading
I had one of those months—the kind where years seem to happen in just a few days. Exhilarating. Then it all went flat. Same setups, same craft, but my internal bar had jumped. I wasn’t chasing money anymore—I was chasing a feeling. That’s when I started digging into what was actually happening in the brain. I realized that the nagging urge to do it again—to push harder, work more, get back to that peak P&L—could all be traced back to one neuromodulator: dopamine.
Why big wins warp your compass
On Instagram I once wrote (in an attempt to sound philosophical to all the college girls looking at my profile): “Happiness = Reality ÷ Expectations.” A simple line, but it carries weight. As long as your basics are covered—and barring real suffering—happiness is less about what you have and more about what you expected. That’s dopamine in action.
The brain doesn’t grade days by dollars or outcomes; it grades them by surprise—what scientists call reward-prediction error. Exceed expectations, and you feel great. Meet them, and you feel nothing. Fall short, and it hurts. One monster month silently raises the bar, so what once felt “good” starts to feel “meh.” Add in markets that mimic casinos—variable wins, near-misses, flashing green and red cues—and the loop gets dangerous. It’s easy to overspeed, oversize, and overtrade, whether you’re on a high (“house-money mode”) or digging out of a hole (“get-even mode”).
After a few months of consistent P&L, I’m now feeling the inevitable crash. The problem with dopamine is simple: it’s a great system for drive, but it’s never satisfied. So now I’m searching for ways to work with biology instead of against it—for the sake of both performance and longevity in the game.
The fix: put a process coach in the cockpit
The goal isn’t fewer goals. It’s about changing who’s in the cockpit midday—not dopamine, but a quiet set of rules that nudge, slow, or block you when you drift. Think of it like a tiny program running in the background, enforcing guardrails. Lightweight, fast, and boring by design. My best trading always happens when I follow my rules, accept their outcomes, and stay calm throughout.
Mike Tyson said, “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” For me, the punch comes once I’m actually trading—plans vanish, and my impulses take the wheel. That’s why I’m exploring live cues and nudges: subtle guides that keep my hand steady, even in the flow, protecting me from the mistakes that crash-land in the middle of the day.
Redesign the scoreboard
When it comes to longer term viewpoints, the fastest way to stop living on the P&L roller coaster is to judge yourself against expectations, not dollars. When I objectively look at 2025 and my expectations for the year, I couldn’t imagine being where I am on the year. It has surpassed all of my expecations and its important for me to remember that, feel good about it, and avoid consistently raising the bar. I can strive higher without riding that dopamine rollercoaster of constantly wanting more and more. Consistent execution is what gets rewarded in the market - it doesn’t give a shit about what you think or feel.
The payoff
This isn’t about killing ambition. It’s about rewiring what your brain gets rewarded for—clean setups, right size, right tempo—so you can keep compounding without frying your circuits. The days feel steadier. The over-reactions shrink. And funnily enough, the P&L tends to follow.