Home › Market News › Evolving as a Trader: Lessons from Lance Breitstein and Michael Patak
A new trader builds skill, finds success, and then suddenly gains access to a larger pool of capital. Within months, the account is gone with hundreds of thousands of dollars wiped out.
Stories like this are everywhere, and they highlight a simple truth: early success without guardrails often leads to disaster. Without guardrails or feedback, early success breeds overconfidence. Traders grow fast, press size, and when the market finally lands a punch, there’s nothing in place to catch the fall.
That’s why powerhouse trader Lance Breitstein returned to TopstepTV to sit down with Topstep founder and CEO Michael Patak. In their first interview, Lance, once a skeptic of funded programs, admitted that structure and rules can protect traders from blowing up. This time, the two went deeper into the real process of evolving as a trader: why guardrails and “shoulder taps” matter, how to scale with purpose, and why patience (not early wins) is the true edge.
A strong trading mindset separates the pros who last from the ones who burn out early. It’s not just about setups or strategy. It’s about mastering your emotions when the market turns against you. Fear, greed, and overconfidence can wreck even a solid plan if you let them take the wheel. That’s where trading psychology comes in. The best traders know their triggers, use structure and journaling to stay accountable, and rely on data (not emotion) to guide decisions. They build discipline through small, consistent wins and view every setback as feedback. Over time, that emotional control becomes their real edge. The patience and resilience to keep progressing, no matter what the market throws their way.
Michael shared his own early struggles: losing three $30K accounts before finally landing at a prop firm that forced him to prove discipline. Their rule? Trade one lot with a $300 daily loss limit.
That structure, and the occasional “shoulder tap” from a risk manager, kept him from spiraling.
In the trading world, a shoulder tap isn’t punishment. It’s mentorship. It’s someone stepping in to say: “Slow down. Today’s not your day. Take a break before you churn your account.”
For many retail traders, no one ever taps them on the shoulder. They trade until their account hits zero. Guardrails and feedback create space to learn without blowing up your account. Topstep builds those guardrails in because limits and check-ins aren’t obstacles. They’re what keep you in the game long enough to grow.
So how do traders evolve from six figures to seven? Lance outlined a method he calls the barbell approach:
In other words, stack small wins, build your runway, and then press size when the rare pitch comes down the middle.
This approach forces discipline. You’re not swinging for the fences every day. You’re building consistency that allows you to survive long enough to capitalize on big moments.
The hardest part of scaling isn’t technical. It’s psychological.
When you see $1,000 on the screen and think, “That’s half my rent,” you’ll never grow. The shift comes when you have a cushion (financially and mentally) and can treat P&L like points in a computer game.
For Lance, it took 18 months to reach consistent profitability and two full years to hit his first $100K year. Even then, it wasn’t glamorous. 60+ hour weeks, Sundays in the office, and plenty of setbacks along the way.
That’s why patience is the throughline for every successful trader he’s mentored. “It’s not about getting rich quick. It’s about staying in the game long enough for consistency to compound,” Lance said.
Evolving as a trader means studying yourself as carefully as you study charts.
Lance told the story of a trainee who thought he was profitable on IPOs. The data revealed a different truth: +$50K on hot IPOs, −$30K on cold ones. By cutting out the losers, his results skyrocketed.
That’s the future: data-driven evolution.
Imagine AI flagging your tilt patterns in real time, or a platform surfacing the exact setups where you win most consistently. Topstep is investing in this vision, giving traders feedback loops that accelerate growth and reinforce discipline.
Evolution isn’t a solo act. Michael and Lance both stressed the importance of community:
No trader evolves in isolation. Shoulder taps, mentorship, and shared experiences make all the difference.
The biggest misconception about trading is that success comes fast. The truth is the opposite: for most, it’s get-poor-quick or evolve slowly, build a skill set, and eventually succeed.
That evolution requires:
As Lance put it: “With the right why, any consistent six-figure trader can grow. The question is whether they’ll keep pushing, adapting, and evolving.”
That’s the mission of Topstep: to turn people who trade into better traders, with healthier habits, through learning by doing.
Get funded. Stay funded. Keep evolving.
Want to hear the full conversation?
Watch the full interview between Lance and MP here.
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Start My Trading CombineTrading psychology is the mindset and emotional control behind every trading decision. Strengthening it helps traders stay disciplined, manage risk, and make clear choices when the pressure’s on.
A healthy trading mindset promotes patience, consistency, and focus on long-term growth rather than short-term wins. Traders with a strong mindset can adapt to challenges, avoid emotional trading, and stay committed to improvement.
Effective trading rules include setting daily loss limits, defining position sizes, using stop losses, and sticking to pre-set entry and exit plans. These guardrails create structure and prevent impulsive decisions that can lead to blowing up accounts.
By tracking trades and analyzing performance data, traders can identify profitable setups, eliminate weak strategies, and adjust their trading approach. Over time, data-driven insights can strengthen consistency and reduce emotional bias.
A supportive trading community provides mentorship, accountability, and feedback. Connecting with other traders can sharpen your strategy, strengthen your mindset, and keep you motivated through the ups and downs of trading.
