About
Marcos Bulcao, PhD
Philosopher, psychoanalyst, and trader. One conviction runs through all of it: the problem is never the trader — it's the structure of their decisions.
Head of Trading Psychology
IOTAF, Montreal
Trader · Author · Educator
Marcos Bulcao is a philosopher and psychoanalyst whose work sits at the intersection of behavioural science, decision theory, and trading psychology. He has traded for twenty-five years and holds a Master's in Trading from IOTAF, Canada.
He holds a PhD in Philosophy of Science from the University of São Paulo and pursued postdoctoral research in psychoanalysis in France and at Birkbeck, University of London. He has taught at universities and institutions in Brazil, Canada, France, England, and the United States, and is the author of six published books in philosophy and psychoanalysis. His most recent work — Trading Without Ego: From Vague to Strategic Discipline — is the book behind the SmartLog method.
He has worked on trading psychology since 2020. None of the method was worked out at a desk: it was built and tested with active traders — in bootcamps, in one-on-one sessions, and now in the free weekly workshop he leads as Head of Trading Psychology at IOTAF in Montreal. Week after week, real traders facing real decisions, keeping only what held.
His work rests on a single conviction: traders don't fail because of bad character or weak willpower. They fail because the structure of their decisions is left vulnerable to uncertainty. Fix the structure, and the behaviour follows.
Credentials
Background & qualifications.
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Markets
Twenty-five years tradingActive in the markets since the early 2000s
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PhD
Philosophy of ScienceUniversity of São Paulo (USP), Brazil
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Post-doc
PsychoanalysisFrance & Birkbeck, University of London
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Master
Master in Trading — IOTAFInstitute of Trading and Finance, Canada
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Faculty
International teaching experienceCanada, Brazil, France, England, United States
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Author
6 published booksPhilosophy, Psychoanalysis & Trading Psychology — multiple languages
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Since 2020
Trading psychology — research & practiceDeveloped and tested with active traders in bootcamps and one-on-one work
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Current
Head of Trading Psychology — IOTAF MontrealWeekly free workshop for active traders
Why this work
Uncertainty is the real subject.
Trading sits at an unusual intersection: one of the most emotionally demanding and most data-rich activities a person can take on. The data is there to learn from — but most traders never reach it, not because it's missing, but because they have no structure that makes it readable.
Marcos's work isn't trading coaching in the usual sense. It's the application of rigorous frameworks — from philosophy of science, psychoanalysis, and behavioural research — to one specific problem: how a person decides under uncertainty, and why the urge to deviate is a signal rather than a flaw.
SmartLog is the practical form of that work: the book that lays out the method, and the tool that turns vague experience into questions the numbers can finally answer.
Work with Marcos.
When you want someone in the room — a single diagnostic session, or a six-session programme to build the whole system with you.
See how →