Mindfulness, the dual-hormone hypothesis, and performance in financial traders

Steroid hormones such as testosterone are theorized to predict financial trading success. However, studies have reported inconsistent associations between hormones and financial trading performance and have largely overlooked interactions between multiple hormone systems and psychological factors that may influence hormones during trading. One such psychological state, mindfulness, is posited to influence hormone levels and improve trading performance. However, the hormonal pathway between mindfulness and financial trading performance remains untested. To address this gap, we examined the extent to which a brief mindfulness intervention influenced changes in testosterone and cortisol levels, and how these hormonal changes jointly predicted performance in a financial trading task in financial traders. Relative to a control group, traders who underwent the mindfulness intervention exhibited a reduction in cortisol levels and an elevation in testosterone levels. This dual-hormone profile – decreased cortisol and increased testosterone – was linked to better trading performance: elevated testosterone levels predicted higher earnings among traders whose cortisol levels decreased but not among traders whose cortisol levels increased. These findings offer initial insights into mindfulness-induced hormonal changes among traders, with downstream benefits for financial performance. We propose recommendations for further research on the endocrine pathways underlying mindfulness' influence on financial performance.