Key Points:
- Monday mornings trigger a unique “Survival Response” as the brain attempts to predict future outcomes to dodge the discomfort of weekend uncertainty.
- “Entitlement” and “Deprivation” schemas often activate during morning gap-ups, creating a frantic urgency to “get your share” before the opportunity vanishes.
- True execution mastery begins by grounding in the body to distinguish between objective market data and the “recalled data” of past Monday blowouts.
The market opening on a Monday is more than a technical event; it is a neurobiological ambush. After a weekend away from the screens, your brain is starved for “certainty” and “control”. This hunger often activates the Entitlement Schema, the belief that you deserve a green day to start the week, or the Deprivation Schema, where you feel like you’ve been “missing out” and must catch every tick of the morning gap-up. These schemas drive the STRAY of chasing entries, forcing you into the market before your setup has even materialized.
In this high-arousal state, your nervous system is trapped in “Predictive Mode,” recycling memories of past failures and projecting them onto the current ticker. This is Fusion in action: you are no longer reading price action; you are trading your own imagination. To maintain vertical integration, you must disrupt this loop by returning to the direct experience of your own body.
“Mindfulness isn’t about being calm; it’s about increasing the accuracy of the data you get from yourself so you can trade the reality of the market.” – Sean Sawyer
By anchoring to the breath or the sensation of your feet on the floor, you create a “metacognitive gap” between the market’s volatility and your behavioral response. You move from the “Trenches” of urgency to the “Watchtower” of observation. This allows you to witness the “Entitlement” urge without surrendering your capital to it.
SES Framework Connections:
DETECT: Notice “Monday Morning Urgency”—accelerated breathing or a tight jaw—as a signal that your system is shifting into the Yellow Zone.
DIRECT: Anchor to your identity as a “Professional Operator” rather than an “Opportunity Seeker” before the opening bell.
DEFUSE: Label the thought “I have to catch this move” as “The Deprivation Narrative” rather than an objective market requirement.
OBSERVE: Move to the Watchtower to see your morning predictions as mere thoughts, allowing you to remain flexible as the real data prints.
INTEGRATE: Accept the Monday open for what it is—a single data point—without attaching your entire identity or weekly goal to the first 30 minutes.
Actionable Strategies:
- The “Gap-Up” Body Scan: Spend 60 seconds before the open scanning for tension in your hands and abdomen. If you are “leaning in” toward the screen, physically lean back to break the survival posture.
- Schema Check-In: Ask yourself: “Am I trading this entry because it fits my criteria, or because my Entitlement schema says I need a win?”.
- Visual Perspective Drill: Imagine yourself observing your desk from 50 feet above. From that height, notice the “urgency” thought as a small, transient event that doesn’t control your hand.
- The “Willingness” Pre-Flight: State out loud: “I am willing to be responsible with my capital and accept if there is no trade for me in the first hour”.