Trading Truths

When I talk about logical truths, I’m referring to ways of thinking about trading that are rarely discussed openly, yet are clearly understood by those who are consistently successful.

If you’re new to trading, it’s natural to have big dreams, imagining the wealth you’ll build, the freedom from a 9–5, and a life where you answer to no one. You might picture yourself traveling, trading from anywhere, and living on your own terms.

But those who are truly profitable know a different side of the story. They understand the level of discipline, the countless hours of work, and the sleepless nights required to reach that point. Success in trading isn’t built on dreams alone, it’s built on sustained effort and reality.

Truth #1: Trading Is Nothing Like You Expect

I want to start with this because it’s one of the most eye-opening realities you’ll face when you begin this journey. If you’re lucky, you’ll understand it early—before it costs you a significant amount of money.

The truth is, trading is not for the faint-hearted. It demands long hours of studying, learning, and spending time alone behind a screen. It’s a craft that requires genuine passion and deep commitment to master.

And here’s the part most people don’t expect—once you start becoming profitable, it can actually feel… boring.

Yes, it sounds like the perfect lifestyle: the freedom to work from anywhere, flexible hours, and access to the market almost 24/5. But in reality, succeeding in trading requires a certain mindset, discipline, and personality that not everyone is built for.

Bottom line: If you are not ready to work harder then you ever have right now. Then stop trading cause all you will do is lose all your money. Go buy a motorcycle it is way more fun. This life is not for you. Trust me.

Truth #2

“Get your mind right” I firmly believe that trading is 80% psychological and 20% technical. The mental side of trading is hard. Learning to read a chart is easy. I don’t care how strong you think you are mentally; trading will challenge every ounce of will power and confidence you have. Trading will make you feel on top of the world one moment and ready to shoot yourself the next.

You must have full control of your emotions. You must have the ability to let losses happen and not ever think twice about it. Even if you have 10 losses in a row. The second you start worrying about your wins and losses the market has won and has you in her trap.

There are very few people that have this ability naturally. But most of us cannot do this without some sort of training. I say training cause just like the technical side of trading, the mental side must be developed. I would recommend meditation. Meditation will help teach you how to stay in control of the moment. Meditation is hard. Try sitting sometime for a minute and try not to have a thought enter your mind. If you have not trained in this, I bet you cannot go a minute. Meditation gives you a mechanism to over come bad thoughts like FOMO, losses, wins in a row, etc. It helps you purge your mind so you can focus on the task at hand.

I used to think you had to be like a machine. Trade without emotion! This is not possible. Everyone has these emotions. You cannot stop it. But you can control how it affects you. That is where meditation comes in. It gives you one of the best tools in your toolbox. The ability to have, accept and control your emotions. I have studied allot of successful businesspeople, athletes and traders. One thing they all have in common, they use their minds differently then most people. From Jack Nicklaus visualizing his next golf shot to me setting at my desk. A strong mind is a must.

You might not be into meditation or even have thought about it. But it does help with the psychological side tremendously. You will soon be searching for ways to combat the mental barriers that will show up for you. So you might as well get working on that along with your technical training now.

### Truth #3

“Never trade with money you can’t afford to lose.”

This is one of the most important lessons you can learn. You must accept fully that the money you put into trading is at risk. It doesn’t mean you will lose it, but if you’re trading with money tied to essentials like rent or bills, you’re already at a disadvantage.

When fear is involved, your decision-making changes. You hesitate, second-guess entries, cut trades too early, or hold onto losses for too long. All of this comes from attaching too much emotional value to money.

In trading, money should be treated as a tool, no different from your laptop, your platform, or your strategy. Once you remove the emotional weight attached to it, your execution becomes clearer and more objective.

Trading is ultimately a numbers game. The goal is to win more than you lose over time. But when money feels “too important,” you interfere with the process, closing winning trades too early or mismanaging positions out of fear. Many strong setups end up as losses, or small wins, simply because the trader couldn’t stay disciplined.

Bottom line:

If you can’t afford to lose the money, don’t trade with it. When money carries too much emotional value, it becomes almost impossible to trade effectively—or profit consistently.

Nothing is 100% true in trading, I mean there are contradictions here and there. What seems true for some may not be for others.

I agree with what you have stated here. Trading is a game of uncertainty.

But I have words of wisdom from George Soros. he said : I'm not better than any trader, I'm just quicker at admitting my mistakes and moving on to the next opportunity".

Truth #4

“You will never move the market.”

As retail traders, we simply don’t have the power to influence price direction. So what does that mean? It means our job isn’t to move the market—it’s to understand and follow those who do: the institutional players. The goal is to ride the waves they create, not fight them.

Let’s clear something up. Every strategy, course, or thread you study is essentially teaching you an edge. And an edge is just a method that gives you a small insight into what larger players might be doing. Some edges work well and, when applied correctly, can be profitable. But here’s the reality—edges don’t last forever.

Market behavior changes. What works today may stop working tomorrow. For example, if a group of traders consistently reacts at a certain level (say, a Fibonacci level), that behavior can shift over time. When it does, the edge you relied on becomes less effective. The takeaway? Edges evolve—and sometimes disappear.

So instead of blindly trusting an edge, focus on understanding the underlying mechanics of the market—especially how large players execute their trades.

Think about this:

If you were managing millions, you couldn’t just enter or exit the market all at once. Doing so would move price too aggressively and work against you. Instead, you’d need to be strategic—entering and exiting in phases, using liquidity from other market participants.

Remember, every trade requires both a buyer and a seller. Large players depend on retail traders to provide that liquidity. Sometimes, price movements are designed to attract participants in one direction—only for the market to reverse once enough orders are filled.

When you start thinking from this perspective, the market begins to make more sense.

Truth #5

“Understand Momentum” reading momentum goes along with truth #4 above. There are a lot of edges that help you read momentum. Finding a way to tell you when price will continue so you can stay in or when price is slowing so you can get out is huge for your success. There are signs that the big player has all their money in the market, which means they will start taking profit at some point. This is where we see decreasing momentum. I mean the only way they can make money is to close their positions. So, to close a sell position they have to become buyers. Right? There are also signs that the big player still has money to put in the market. This is increasing momentum. Ever heard the saying “The trend is your friend” ugggg. This saying kills me because it is only partially true. “A trend with momentum is your friend” I mean if you jump on at the end of a trend with failing momentum. Is it really going to be your friend? Or is it going to turn against you and stop you out. Leaving you confused as to why it did not work.

Bottom line: If you can understand momentum and you can understand how the big player has to move money, then you have the holy grail to trade. There are very simple ways to read momentum with nothing more than the candles on the chart. No indicators at all. I even make all my candle colors the same color. There is nothing about a candle color that will give you a true edge.

how can we keep a tab on momentum? Are we considering technical indicators? Which indicator do you recommend and why?

Yh, I use indicators most of the time. I use relative Strength Index

Why it’s useful:

1.Shows strength of buying vs selling

2.Helps spot momentum shifts early

But they say indicators are lagging so I always doubt their effectiveness

Well, I don’t really rely fully on them. I trade pure technical analysis.

But you just said you use RSI

I use it but not fully . Let me explain.

For instance, I use the Asian session liquidity but at the same time I know that the first two 4hr candle for each day serves as the Asian session. This morning when I came to the chart the indicator showed that the Asian session hasn’t been swept but when I went to the 4hr chart , I noticed the highest high of the two 4hr that forms the Asian session has been swept. This is why sometimes I don’t fully rely on them cos they lag.

Truth #6

“Stop using indicators, Master the basics” Ok so this sort of goes with the other truths above. If you are struggling with success and you are using indictors to tell you when to trade…..Stop! The truth is indicators can only help if you understand how price action works from the most basic level. If you cannot open a chart and know based on price action where price should go, then indictors are only holding you back. Learn the basics of price action. This goes back to truth #4 and #5. Learn how the big player thinks and learn how to read momentum. Learn how to know if a support and resistance level will hold. Master the basics! Then indicators are more of a confirmation than a signal to buy/sell.