Maybe I Just Need to Try Harder

After a while, most of us come to the same conclusion.

Maybe I just haven’t figured it out yet.

That doesn’t sound unreasonable.

In fact, it sounds like exactly the kind of thing a hardworking person would think.

If something isn’t working, you learn more.

Practice more.

Put in more time.

Eventually, it starts making sense.

That’s how school works.

That’s how sports work.

That’s how most careers work.

Why should trading be any different?

So you do what you’ve always done when life gets difficult.

You throw yourself into it.

Wake up a little earlier.

Stay up a little later.

Buy another book.

Watch another video.

Listen to another podcast on the drive to work.

You hear one trader swear price action is the answer.

Another says volume.

Someone else says options flow.

Another says market profile.

Then gamma.

Then ICT.

Then order flow.

Then somebody tells you all of that is noise.

You start taking notes.

Highlighting books.

Saving screenshots.

Filling notebooks with things that felt important at the time.

Changing indicators.

Changing timeframes.

Changing strategies.

Every new idea comes with a little burst of hope.

Maybe this is what I’ve been missing.

For a while, that hope feels good.

Until it doesn’t.

Because every answer seems to bring two new questions with it.

The more you learn, the less certain you feel.

That part doesn’t make much sense.

You know more today than you did six months ago.

You can explain things to someone brand new.

But when it’s time to click the button, you hesitate.

How can you know more and trust yourself less?

Here’s what I think was actually happening.

It wasn’t another strategy we were searching for.

It was certainty.

Uncertainty is uncomfortable.

It always has been.

So we go looking for something to make it go away.

The market is very good at convincing you the answer is just around the corner.

One more strategy.

One more course.

One more indicator.

One more mentor.

Not because you’re lazy.

Not because you’re foolish.

Just because you’re human.

And you don’t sit comfortably with not knowing.

Trading gives us an endless number of places to look.

Most of us don’t realize that’s what we’re doing.

At least not at the time.

Looking back, it gets a little easier to see.

And once you see it something else quietly starts to happen.

You start wondering whether everyone else has already found what you’re still looking for.

_{Disclosure: Struggling Trader exists to share lessons, observations, and experiences from the markets. I’m here to help people think about trading, not tell them what to buy or sell. Every trader’s situation is different, and all financial decisions are ultimately your own responsibility. Markets carry risk, including the risk of losing money, so always do your own research before investing or trading.}