After Minutes of Madness: A Desk’s Debrief
(Iran War: Part II) Decisions, distortions, and what March 9 required of the trader
Dear Practitioners,
This is Part II of the 2026 Iran War Dispatches, directly sourced from AXIA’s trading floors and the experiences of their traders.
You’ve already read the story of that day in Part I: Minute’s Madness, which in itself carries a host of tactical lessons and career imperatives. Here, the aim is different. This is a reassessment—of the day, and the stories inside it—through the interviews and conversations Asymmetrist had with these traders between 14–16 March, including what did not surface explicitly in Part I. All of this was captured in real time, not reconstructed months later with the comfort of hindsight.
When asked what would take a fast growing trader to the next level, The Warrior answered:
“That ingredient is a crucial one. It’s genuinely career-changing. It comes down to the ability to shift your risk profile and deliberately placing yourself in an extremely uncomfortable position in that moment.”
On Monday 9 March, these traders found themselves in precisely that position—uncomfortable, exposed, and required to act—leading to career milestones across the curve, some of which were surpassed again not long after.
Good trading and good reading to you all,
Bogdan
