The mental edge in trading is the mission of Evan Marks, former hedge fund portfolio manager and founder of M1 Performance Group

With over 25 years of experience managing institutional capital, Evan now coaches elite performers from professional athletes to high stakes traders on mastering decision making under pressure. Drawing from neuroscience and modern psychoanalysis, he helps clients rewire habits, regulate emotions, and build cognitive resilience in the most volatile environments. After a career defining panic attack at age 46, Evan sold his fund, returned to study, and committed his life to helping others navigate the psychological demands of high performance careers.

Today, Evan’s work lives at the intersection of peak performance and emotional intelligence. His frameworks such as aggressive patience and momentum beats motivation help top traders shift from impulsive reactions to intentional behavior. Whether he is coaching a NASCAR pit crew or a billion dollar portfolio manager, Evan brings science backed tools, practical insight, and a deep belief that long term success starts with the mind. For him, trading is not just about strategy. It is about stamina, self awareness, and staying sharp every single day.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode

In this episode, Evan Marks and Two Blokes Trading explore why traders are performance athletes and how mastering your internal game is essential for long term success. Evan explains why emotions are data, not distractions, and how ignoring them leads to reactive decisions, burnout, and self sabotage.

You will learn how to implement techniques like mental space creation, emotional labeling, and conscious habit building that are used by elite athletes and fund managers. Evan breaks down the concept of aggressive patience, a state of calm readiness, and explains how building momentum through daily practices outperforms motivation over time. This episode provides powerful insights for traders who want to build consistency, clarity, and resilience in their approach to the markets.

About Evan Marks – Guest

Evan Marks is the founder of M1 Performance Group and a former hedge fund portfolio manager with more than 25 years of experience in institutional trading. After stepping away from Wall Street, Evan shifted his focus to coaching high performers across finance, sports, and business on the psychology of decision making under pressure.

His coaching integrates neuroscience, behavioural training, and psychoanalytic methods to help clients develop mental clarity, emotional regulation, and consistent performance. Today, Evan is known for teaching concepts like aggressive patience and momentum through repetition, making him a trusted voice in trading psychology and performance development.

This episode is sponsored by our partnered broker Forex.com. For more information or to setup an account click the link below.

https://stonexmarketingpartnerships.ck-cdn.com/tn/serve/geoGroup/?rgid=4&bta=40159

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This episode is brought to you in partnership with Forex.com, a leading provider of online trading services.

Remember, trading Forex and CFDs carries risk and isn’t suitable for everyone.

I thought I had a heart attack when I was 46. Everything was going well on paper, everything looked great, but the stress was starting to build and build and build.

The minute we take the mental side for granted as opposed to taking advantage of it, we’re finished.

Hello and welcome back to another episode of Two Blokes Trading.

Today we’re joined by Evan Marks, a former hedge fund portfolio manager who spent more than 25 years in the markets before founding M1 Performance Group.

Evan now coaches elite performers — from professional athletes to traders and CEOs — using neuroscience and modern psychoanalysis to help them make better decisions under pressure.

If you’re able to acknowledge emotions, create mental space, and choose conscious behaviour, we start to experience things differently in the brain. Hard habits are hard to break for a reason.

I’ve got a trading plan. I’ve got my own strategy. I stick to that. Emotions don’t really come into play for me that much. When I approach the markets, if I lose, I lose. Losing is part of winning because then you think you’ve got it.

Evan: And Jonathan, you know it and I know it. I did it a long time. It’s never static. It’s a constant practice like anything else. You have to live it.

If you’re doing this just as a hobby, sitting at your desk hitting keys, good luck. Actually, come sit at my table. I’ll trade against you.

This would be a perfect scenario for my people: aggressive patience. Aggressive patience is like a jaguar in the brush.

He’s here to show us why traders are performance athletes, how to use emotions as data instead of noise, and why aggressive patience could be the most powerful edge in today’s volatile markets.

Jonathan: Evan, thanks for joining us on our podcast today. It’s a real pleasure to have you on.

Evan: Thanks for having me, Jonathan. I really appreciate it.

Jonathan: It’s going to be really cool. I’m interested in your background. You were a hedge fund portfolio manager for what, 25 years?

Evan: Yes, and I’ve been doing performance coaching for seven years since.

Jonathan: Tell me a bit about portfolio management and what the day-to-day was like.

Evan: It’s interesting. I was a lacrosse player. I went to a university in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. I didn’t know it was an incubator for Wall Street.

I also had an identical twin who went with me. We were like a package deal.

He got recruited by Steve Cohen — everyone knows him, Point72, he owns the Mets now. We had no idea what Wall Street was.

I was heading into consulting, he was joining a hedge fund. He said, “Ed, it’s the most competitive thing out there and these guys are making money. We’ve got to do this.”

So I walked away from consulting and started my career making $18,000 a year at Speer Leeds and Kellogg. I caught the bug immediately.

I did that for almost 25 years. I managed money and spent most of my career at two firms. I retired at 46.

My first coaching gig was with Jimmy Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports, one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, and his pit crew teams. That’s where I cut my teeth.

It’s been a wild ride since then.

Jonathan: I can imagine. So what made you pivot from 25 years in the industry to performance coaching?

Evan: The pivot wasn’t direct. I thought I had a heart attack when I was 46.

Everything looked great on paper, but the stress was building. I’d just moved to the suburbs with my wife and two daughters. I’d already had reconstructive surgeries and a new shoulder.

One day I was in my car talking to my assistant when my head started to heat up and my chest tightened. I thought I was having a heart attack.

I got home and walked up my driveway like I’d had 25 martinis. I told my wife something was wrong. She said, “You haven’t eaten in seven days because you’re fasting again.”

I said, “That’s not it.”

At the hospital, I found out it wasn’t a heart attack. It was a massive panic attack.

On paper, everything looked fine, but chronic stress had taken over. The neurologist told me, “The gray matter in your brain has been significantly impaired. You have to make a decision.” I was 46.

Jonathan: That’s what drawdown does to you, huh?

Evan: Exactly.

Evan: Monetary success was there, but it’s not linear. Anyone who trades knows this. It’s not a straight line up and to the right. There are pullbacks and it creates stress.

I was very fortunate that a coach of mine asked me — she didn’t even know what happened — if I would come join her. That was my choice: continue down this route where it might not end well for me physically and mentally, or pivot.

At 46, I sold my partnership, went back to school, and became a mental performance coach. Ironically, that’s what I’d always wanted to do. I wanted to be a coach and a teacher, but I took a right instead of a left. Now I finally get to do it.

Jonathan: That’s awesome.

Evan: It’s the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done.

Jonathan: You mentioned earlier you were an athlete. Did that shape your mindset for trading success later?

Evan: Definitely. I played college lacrosse for a year and a half before blowing out my knees twice. I lost my identity as a student-athlete and didn’t realize the impact for 15 years.

Back then psychology told us to throw emotions out the window, that they were weakness. I kept going and it caught up with me.

Now we know trading is a performance sport. If we’re not aware of what’s happening internally, it will catch up to us and show up in ways that aren’t helpful.

A few years before the panic attack, I had a coach talking about emotions and clinical theory — Freud meets neuroscience. I couldn’t connect at first, but it made sense.

Old coaches used to say, “Put emotions aside, work harder.” I did, but it wasn’t working. Modern neuroscience shows emotions are data. The real weakness isn’t feeling; it’s making unconscious decisions.

When you can acknowledge emotions, create mental space, and choose conscious behavior, you make better decisions. Neurologically, you form new networks — that’s why habits are hard to break.

In my 25 years on Wall Street nobody talked about this. There’s untapped potential when people learn it. The real weakness isn’t feeling; it’s reacting unconsciously.

Jonathan: That’s the mental side of trading. We have many guests with psychology backgrounds who share that thesis.

As a trader myself, I’m very objective. I stick to my plan, emotions don’t come in much. If I lose, I lose. I’ve got a stop-loss. Losing is part of winning.

How do you train people to use those feelings as data instead of subduing them?

Evan: We can’t control emotions, only behavior. If you suppress emotions, they surface later. The key is acknowledgment.

Label what you feel — frustrated, angry, revengeful — and the intensity drops. Once emotions get on the field, it’s over.

For someone like you who’s objective, that’s rare. It takes mental conditioning. People don’t want to feel, but they feel anyway. So let go of the rope.

You’re allowed to be frustrated or angry. When you create space, you can say, “Okay, that happened. What do I want to accomplish now?”

That’s reset and recovery. Repetition improves the game. When you react, you act from the past and stay in a loop. Creating space lets you choose behavior consciously.

If I down-regulate emotions and see the external stimulus clearly, I’m always in a better spot. You’ll still lose sometimes, but you’ll lose the right way.

If we’re going to lose, lose money correctly.

Jonathan: Were these principles part of your portfolio-management days or things you’ve learned later?

Evan: I wish I’d had them earlier. What we were taught were band-aids. Unconscious behavior has roots — upbringing, early programming.

As adults we have to recognize what no longer serves us and change it. We’re in the behavioral-change business that produces results.

If you don’t practice mental performance, you become invisible in the moment — unconscious and reactive. Coaches help clients become visible — aware — in the moment. Through consciousness you can adjust; unconsciousness, you can’t.

Jonathan: How can traders learn to spot emotions in the heat of the moment?

Evan: Many things happen outside the arena — relationships, family — that train us. Great traders can literally feel their heart rate. Before emotion arises, there’s an intrinsic reaction.

When you slow down and feel what’s happening, you can acknowledge, create space, and choose behavior.

At M1 we say, slow down to speed up. Slowing down isn’t about gas; it’s about intentionality.

The better your mental foundation, the more leverage you have. It’s mindfulness and awareness. You have to live it, see it, feel it.

Jonathan: Like family — I’ve got four kids. I’m a better dad now than with my first because I learned. Trading’s the same; you have to feel and live it to understand it.

Jonathan: Do you coach new traders as well as experienced ones?

Evan: Mostly experienced. We’re launching the M1 Trading Performance Academy, a six-week program teaching the foundations of mental performance — what the top professionals use.

Everyone wants to make money, but they forget longevity and consistency. The worst thing is making money immediately because then you think you’ve got it.

Jonathan: Absolutely.

Evan: You never do. It’s constant practice. Once you learn the mental fundamentals, you can sit at any table.

Only 4 percent of traders make money because they project desires and unfilled needs onto the market. Trading is the greatest self-development tool in the world. Within five minutes you feel every emotion imaginable.

There has to be a way to down-regulate, find footing, and make decisions — that’s practice.

There are two types of traders: risk-on and risk-off. Both can succeed, but you must know your background — were you raised cautious or as a risk-taker? Both create issues.

We meet clients where they are and learn their circuitry. Performance equals potential minus interference. The more interference you remove, the higher your performance.

Jonathan: We all have different interferences.

Evan: Exactly.

Jonathan: You talk about aggressive patience. How do you find the balance between patience and paralysis?

Evan: Patience sounds passive. Aggressive patience is like a jaguar in the brush — slowing the heart, waiting, ready to strike.

My clients prime mentally. They sleep well, exercise, avoid alcohol during the week. We use breath work and visualization to reach a relaxed-concentration state — all systems ready.

That’s aggressive patience.

It feels powerful but flexible, relaxed concentration, systems ready to go. That’s where great performance happens.

Rest and recovery matter too. Mistakes happen. The goal is quick reset and recovery — get off the second exit, not the fifth, and return to optimal focus.

Jonathan: In trading you must wait for setups and not chase moves. Mindset keeps you objective.

Evan: Exactly. You need process scorecards — track not just trades but state of mind.

You can’t control market uncertainty, only your behavior. Strong mental practice lets you stay calm while others lose control.

Plans create structure, not certainty. Flexibility within that structure is key. Ask: Why am I trading this? What do I want to accomplish?

Verbalizing thoughts helps; it moves them from the unconscious to conscious mind. Teams that talk aloud perform better because they process feelings in real time.

The more conscious you are of why you’re executing or not executing, the less doubt creeps in.

Jonathan: You often say momentum beats motivation. Why?

Evan: Motivation is fleeting. Momentum is evidence-based. Stack good days, weeks, months. You won’t need motivation because you’ve built trust in your process.

Set short-term goals. Each morning ask, What am I trying to accomplish today?

Motivation sparks action, but momentum sustains it. Trading should be boring — repetitive excellence. After six months of consistent action, you look back amazed at your progress.

Even on bad days, momentum builds trust. You know you can still perform. Motivation fades; momentum endures.

You can read 900 self-help books and do nothing. That’s why motivation alone depletes confidence. Rely on evidence and repetition.

Give yourself credit daily. When you slow down a trade or execute your plan, acknowledge it. Small wins reinforce neural pathways.

Combine sleep, exercise, and emotional awareness — that’s professional conditioning.

Jonathan: Traders have different goals — side income or full-time living. How does mindset change between part-time and full-time?

Evan: Expectations. If you’re not fully prepared, you’re gambling. Prep is everything. If you’re in the hope game, you’re finished.

Part-time or full-time, the mindset must be professional. Otherwise, don’t step into the arena.

Jonathan: You’re right. Unless you put in the effort, there’s no point starting. Even if you don’t go full-time, you’ll gain financial literacy and discipline — things schools don’t teach.

Evan: Completely agree.

Jonathan: Big thanks to Forex.com for supporting the show. You can link your account directly to TradingView and use their analytics tools.

Evan: Absolutely. That kind of integration and feedback is invaluable for growth.

People who ignore the mental side are fooling themselves. You might get lucky once, but luck runs out. Some chase meme coins and think they’re geniuses. Be careful.

At high levels, money stops being the motivator. My job is to ensure clients keep a solid foundation. Even top fund managers must keep sharpening their mental timing.

If you take the mental side for granted instead of taking advantage of it, you’re finished.

Each trade leaves residue from the last. Saying trades are independent is false. The question is: how do you minimize residue, reset, and recover quickly?

Jonathan: Exactly. It’s about regaining your edge after drawdowns.

Evan: Right — create conscious space, not cautious space. Cautious is defensive; conscious is intentional.

As a coach I listen to what clients don’t say. Their language reveals when they’re stuck. Together we rebuild focus and momentum.

Jonathan: Totally. Everyone goes through that cycle.

Evan: Exactly. Awareness breaks it.

Jonathan: How different is coaching traders with small accounts versus large ones?

Evan: It must be gradual. If you go from a $10k to $100k account, you don’t know what losing $10k feels like. Increase size 20-30 percent at a time.

When you’re doing well, recommit. Overconfidence erodes practice. As you scale, ask how you’ll feel losing five times your usual amount.

That awareness prevents blowing up the foundation you’ve built.

We’ll get there faster by being methodical. Awareness during both winning and losing streaks keeps us from entering chase-up mode — that destructive cycle every trader knows.

Jonathan: Moving into your coaching, you work with CEOs, athletes, and traders. Do you see similarities between these top performers?

Evan: Absolutely. The most successful people I coach are coachable.

They’re emotionally intelligent, open-minded, willing to learn, and extremely committed to the process. The top NASCAR drivers, business leaders, and hedge fund managers all share that trait.

My one-on-one clients can call, text, or email me anytime. The best ones do — they reach out for quick five-minute check-ins to stay aligned. These are people you’d never think need help, but they use coaching constantly.

They’re mentally resilient, emotionally aware, and consistent.

Jonathan: That’s powerful.

Jonathan: Traders often think they’ve got it figured out. I’ve been trading a long time, but I still feel like I’m learning every day.

If I take a two-week break, it feels like I’m starting over again.

Evan: Exactly. Anyone who thinks they’re done learning is finished.

Evan: Nick Saban, the legendary football coach, calls it the “capability gap.” If you think this is the best you’ll ever get, good luck.

There’s always room to evolve your game. But it takes deliberate practice.

You can’t shortcut mastery.

Jonathan: I imagine your coaching follows a strict daily sequence — like a process traders can emulate.

Evan: Exactly. You need structure to improve odds of success. It’s all about you vs. you.

You control your preparation, your reactions, your breath, your mindset. Even with a bad beat or surprise news, what matters is how you recover and reset.

If the best in the world practice this, why wouldn’t you?

Jonathan: Do you see common mistakes across industries?

Evan: Fear of judgment, fear of rejection, fear of failure. Nobody is fearless.

The difference is what choice you make in the face of fear. It doesn’t matter if you manage five billion or five thousand. We’re all human and emotional.

You can’t make a decision without an emotion.

The biggest surprise to people is how much mental work elite traders do. They’re in great shape, they sleep well, they manage stress. None of it happens by chance.

If you don’t want to do the work, stay in the middle lane. My clients are in the fast lane.

Jonathan: It’s true — you either win, stay average, or lose. It depends on what you’re willing to change.

Evan: Exactly. If you say you’re happy where you are, fine — but don’t call me.

If you know there’s more in the tank and you’re not focused properly, that’s when coaching helps.

Growth comes from confronting perceived weaknesses, not avoiding them.

I’ve seen people tell themselves false stories — “I’m just not patient,” or “I’m not good at speaking.”

These narratives limit you. Reframe them. Maybe you just haven’t learned what patience feels like.

Awareness of emotions changes everything.

For me, nervousness used to be something I ran from. Now it’s my signal that something matters.

When I feel it, I slow down and focus. That’s practice — making the unconscious conscious until it becomes second nature.

Jonathan: Do you have any standout success stories?

Evan: Not single “aha” moments, but transformations.

After months of work, things start connecting. Clients begin feeling what we discussed intellectually. That’s when change sticks.

We all know what to do — sleep well, exercise, eat right — but the unconscious patterns sabotage us. Once clients experience self-awareness, progress compounds like interest.

Behavior compounds just like money. You build evidence through repetition.

Each client’s background differs — upbringing, culture, habits — but the journey is the same: becoming a student of yourself.

Freedom is realizing your choices come from the present, not the past or future anxiety.

Jonathan: The brain really is the most powerful muscle.

Evan: Exactly. It’s always predicting the future based on the past.

When we consciously build new behaviors, we give the brain new data to predict from. That’s how habits form and change at a neurological level.

Jonathan: It’s fascinating. Living in the present is something people miss entirely today. Social media trains short attention spans and constant stimulation.

Evan: Absolutely. The next generation will face a huge challenge adapting to real life. Coaching will have to evolve with them.

The antidote is simple habits — take a walk without your phone. That’s a mental workout.

I take a walk every morning with no podcast, no distractions. It down-regulates my nervous system and resets dopamine levels.

We can all do small practices like that if we actually want to improve.

Jonathan: How do you see AI changing trader psychology? Will it help or hurt?

Evan: I think it helps. The speed of information is incredible. What took analysts five hours now takes 30 minutes. That gives us more time for better decisions.

But AI won’t change your breathing or emotions. It won’t remove impulsivity. That’s still human work.

News and data are now equalized for everyone. The edge isn’t information anymore — it’s mental.

Charts are the same for everyone. The differentiator is how you think, manage emotion, and act consciously.

Jonathan: I’ve worked on AI tools for traders myself. They’re great for summarizing data and helping traders make informed decisions, not to replace judgment.

Evan: Exactly. AI can improve efficiency but can’t replicate intuition. Behind every algorithm is a human being with emotions and bias.

There’s even fear around AI itself. A psychologist I admire says procrastination is fear of a future feeling.

We procrastinate on adapting because of uncertainty, not laziness. That’s where growth lies.

Focus on what you can control today. That’s stoicism — not emotionless, but intentional.

Each day, set a vision but work on what’s right in front of you. Learn, structure your day, and manage your focus.

If you try to juggle too much, you’ll achieve nothing.

Time management matters. I wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day, something I learned as a trader. Those early hours are my mental reset.

People think multitasking works, but you can’t multi-focus. Energy is finite — use it wisely.

In trading, there’s a “utility of the seat.” When you sit down, maximize that time.

Evan: When you apply this, I can’t promise you’ll make millions, but I can guarantee your experience will change. You’ll build confidence and consistency.

I’m not one of those gurus promising huge profits. What I teach changes how you see the game.

Jonathan: This has been incredible. Even for me, these conversations bring forgotten lessons back to the surface.

Evan: That’s the point — awareness and practice. We all share the same human emotions no matter where we are.

Accepting challenges doesn’t mean excusing them. It means being aware and improving.

Jonathan: So what’s next for M1 Performance?

Evan: We’re launching the M1 Mental Performance Trading Academy in December, along with a newsletter and possibly a TEDx talk and book.

We post regular content at m1performance.com, and anyone can book a discovery call there.

We’re also big on evening routines. Good nights create good mornings.

Jonathan: Brilliant. It’s been a real pleasure. I’ve enjoyed every minute. We’ll definitely have you on again.

Evan: I’d love that. Maybe I’ll see you in Dublin one day. Thanks so much for having me.

Jonathan: Thanks, Evan. Pleasure as always.