Mastering the psychology of risk since 2004.
Evan Marks is the founder of M1 Performance Group and one of the most trusted voices in mental performance coaching for high-stakes financial professionals.
After 25 years managing institutional capital at the hedge fund level, Evan now applies the same discipline, precision, and psychological rigor he developed on the trading floor to coaching traders, investors, executives, and athletes who perform where the pressure is highest.
Evan's authority begins where most coaches' ends: on the desk. His 25-year career in hedge fund portfolio management and institutional trading at the highest levels of Wall Street produced firsthand knowledge of how pressure distorts judgment, compounds behavioral bias, and erodes performance over time.
Evan is a University of Pennsylvania graduate and former Division I lacrosse player, a dual background that shaped his understanding of competitive performance long before he entered the markets.
Evan works with hedge funds, asset managers, day traders, CEOs, and founders across the United States. His athletic work includes mental performance coaching with Jimmie Johnson and the NASCAR organization.
The M1 process integrates neuroscience and modern psychoanalytic principles to resolve the mental barriers that separate consistent performers from elite ones. Evan's frameworks, including aggressive patience and momentum beats motivation, give clients structured, repeatable tools for decision-making under pressure.
This process is built around three moves: stabilize the mind, identify the pattern, and execute the decision. By training clients to slow the internal noise, decode the emotional drivers beneath behavior, and return to a repeatable decision framework, M1 turns mental clarity into a measurable performance advantage.
Stabilize
the mind
Identify
the pattern
Execute
the decision
Evan has appeared on 50+ podcasts covering trading psychology, performance science, and behavioral finance.
He delivered a keynote at TEDx ThirdWard in Houston, Texas, in January 2026, sharing his insights on the intersection of human psychology and high-stakes performance.
Evan’s forthcoming book, The Quiet Edge, is scheduled for publication in 2027. It serves as the definitive guide to mastering the mental architecture required for elite performance.
