I’m not ā€œback to posting.ā€

I’m not starting a schedule. I’m not making promises. I’m not doing the whole ā€œconsistent contentā€ thing again just to disappear in a week.

If anything, this post is the opposite. This might be my last post. I’m undecided.

I’m writing this more for me than for anyone else. I’ve carried this opinion for years, and every time I think I’m over it, something happens that drags me right back to the same conclusion.

And I’m writing it because I need to say something out loud that I’ve been circling around for a long time: I don’t think I can help people with trading the way I thought I could.

Not because I don’t understand trading. Not because I don’t care. Not because I think I’m above anyone.

But because I’ve seen the same pattern play out over and over and over again, and I’m tired of pretending it’s going to change just because I explain it one more time with different words, or to one more “new” trader.

🧠 Most People Don’t Want Trading Help — They Want Trading Comfort

Most people I’ve talked with over my trading career really don’t want help. Here’s what I mean.

A lot of people say they want help with trading. They’ll message you. They’ll ask questions. They’ll say things like:

  • ā€œCan you look at my chart?ā€
  • ā€œWhat would you do here?ā€
  • ā€œWhat indicator are you using?ā€
  • ā€œWhat’s a good strategy for NQ?ā€
  • ā€œHow do you stay consistent?ā€

But what they actually want isn’t help. It’s comfort.

I’ve had people ask me what I’d do, I tell them, and they ignore it because it doesn’t match what they already wanted. Then they lose and the next message is, ā€œI knew it was going to reverse.ā€ No you didn’t — you just want to feel right after the fact.

They want someone to tell them the loss wasn’t their fault. They want someone to confirm that they’re ā€œclose.ā€ They want someone to validate the idea that the market is the problem — not their behavior.

And I get it. Trading messes with your head. It can make you feel stupid, even when you’re not. It can take a normal day and turn it into a full mental spiral in just minutes.

So people look for comfort. They look for certainty. They look for a person or a tool or a system that makes it feel safer.

But trading doesn’t reward comfort. Trading rewards the boring stuff that nobody wants to do, and punishes the emotional stuff that everyone wants to do.

šŸ” I’ve Tried to Help People for Years… and They Still Don’t Listen

This is the part that really hit me and I’ve been resisting it for far too long.

I’ve tried to help a lot of traders. Not in some shallow ā€œhere’s a tipā€ way — I mean real effort. Talking through trades. Taking time to understand their setups, strategies, and provide real, meaningful feedback. Helping code indicators and strategies. Pointing out the obvious revenge and behavioral patterns. Explaining that their ā€œstrategyā€ is just impulse dressed up with indicators.

And it never changes. You can talk to someone for years and they still won’t actually apply what you told them.

They’ll understand it. They’ll agree with it. They’ll even repeat it back to you. Then they’ll load up the chart the next day and do the exact same thing that keeps hurting them.

Same chasing. Same overtrading. Same ā€œone more.ā€ Same need to get it back immediately. Same refusal to treat this like a skill that takes time — and the same refusal to change the basic behaviors causing the damage.

And I’m not even mad at this situation anymore. I’m just tired.

What makes it worse is I actually want to help. I’ve always had that feeling that if I can explain it the right way, or show it the right way, it’ll click for someone and save them years of pain.

So when they ask, and I give them the answer, and they ignore it… I get frustrated. Not because I need to be right. Because I watched them walk straight into the same wall they said they were trying to avoid.

And I think that’s the part I’m finally accepting: if helping traders keeps turning me into a frustrated version of myself, it might be time to cut that piece out of my life. Not out of bitterness — out of sanity. Let people do what they’re going to do, and let myself move on without carrying the weight of it.

Because at some point, you stop asking ā€œWhy won’t they listen?ā€ and you start realizing the answer is simple: They don’t want the truth — they want a different outcome without changing their behavior.

šŸŽÆ I’m Not the Most Successful Trader… But the Bar Is Low

Let me be clear because people love twisting the kind of statements in this post: I’m not claiming I’m some trading god. I’m not claiming I have everything figured out. I’ve had great runs, and I’ve had ugly stretches. I’ve made mistakes I should’ve outgrown. I’ve felt the exact same frustration that every trader feels.

But here’s the difference: I’m honest about what matters.

And I’ve been doing this long enough to recognize that most traders aren’t losing because they’re missing some secret indicator. They’re losing because they can’t do the basics with discipline.

They don’t have rules, or they don’t follow them. They don’t track results, or they only track wins. They don’t practice, or they call live trading ā€œpractice.ā€ They don’t review, or they review emotionally. They don’t build skill, they chase excitement.

So yeah — I’ve had more success than most people I’ve run across. And that’s not because I’m special. It’s because most people in this space are allergic to the boring work.

šŸŽ” Everyone’s Selling a New Coat of Paint

Another thing that wears me out is the industry itself. It’s the same stuff, repackaged forever:

  • New ā€œsecretā€ indicator
  • New ā€œAIā€ tool
  • New template
  • New ā€œedgeā€
  • New Discord
  • New course
  • New mentor
  • New name for an old concept

And none of it fixes the real problem. Because the real problem isn’t a missing tool. The real problem is the person using the tool. People want the next cool thing because the next cool thing gives them hope again. It gives them the feeling of a fresh start without the discomfort of real change.

It’s like when someone keeps switching gyms instead of lifting. New gym. New shoes. New supplements. New plan.

Same body. Same habits. Same results.

Trading is full of that energy.

🧨 I’ve Given People Winning Setups… and They Still Won’t Use Them

I’m not selling anything here. I’m talking about simple, repeatable stuff I’ve literally handed to people for free.

This is the one that really sealed it for me. I’ve literally given people setups that work.

Not ā€œmaybeā€ setups. Not vague theories. I mean repeatable conditions, clear entries, defined risk, and a process that can be practiced and refined.

And what happens? They don’t use them.

Because it’s not enough money fast enough. Because it’s not exciting. Because it doesn’t give them a rush. Because it feels too slow. Because it doesn’t make them feel like they cracked the code.

They want the setup that can double an account in a week. But they won’t run the setup that can build consistency over months.

They’ll buy account after account to try to make fast money, but they won’t stick with something consistent if it pays slower.

And then they wonder why they’re stuck.

This is the part people hate hearing, but it’s true: Most traders don’t want to win.

They want to win big, fast, and often — and if they can’t have that, they’d rather lose chasing it than win slowly building it.

šŸ‘Øā€šŸ‘©ā€šŸ‘§ Even My Own Family Doesn’t Want to Do the Work

This part is personal, and honestly it’s the part that surprised me the most. I’ve tried teaching my own family to trade.

And you’d think that would be different, right? Because it’s not some random person online. These are people close to me. People I actually want to see succeed. People I’d be proud of if they built something for themselves.

But it’s the same story. They don’t want to put in the work to learn the basics. Not ā€œlearning strategy basics.ā€ I mean basic, basic.

Like learning how to operate NinjaTrader without being lost. How to place orders correctly. How to use chart trader properly. How to set up ATM strategies. How to practice in SIM without treating it like a joke. How to replay and review sessions. How to do even basic troubleshooting without panicking.

And I’m not saying they’re dumb. I’m saying they don’t want the discomfort of being a beginner. They want the benefits of skill without going through the stage where you look clueless while you build it.

And that’s normal human behavior. But it doesn’t work here. Trading doesn’t care if you’re uncomfortable.

The market will happily take money from someone who ā€œkind of understandsā€ what they’re doing.

šŸ¤ The Part I Don’t Regret

I don’t want this to come off like I’m bitter about every part of the ā€œhelping other tradersā€ chapter, because I’m not.

During that time, I met some genuinely great people. I made some good friends. People I still respect. People who were honest about where they were at, and didn’t try to turn trading into a personality contest. People who were willing to hear something they didn’t want to hear, and then actually go apply it.

And even beyond the friendships, trying to help other traders did something I didn’t expect: it made me better.

When you explain trading to someone else, you don’t get to hide behind vague ideas. You either understand what you’re doing, or you don’t. You either have a process, or you’re just narrating your feelings over a chart. You either follow your own rules, or you get exposed the moment someone asks a simple question like, ā€œWhy did you take that trade?ā€

It forced me to tighten things up. It made me reflect on what I was doing right, what I was doing wrong, and what I was still lying to myself about. It made me clean up the way I practiced. It made me stop excusing behavior that was clearly just bad habits wearing a different outfit.

In a weird way, watching other people repeat the same mistakes made my own mistakes easier to spot. Because it’s always obvious from the outside. You see someone chasing. Oversizing. Trading out of boredom. Ignoring levels. Taking random entries because ā€œit looked good.ā€ Refusing to sit on their hands. And it hits you like… yeah, I’ve done that too. And if I’m being honest, I’ll do it again if I don’t stay disciplined.

So I’m not saying that whole phase was a waste. I’m saying the draining part is realizing how few people actually want to change.

But the people I did meet, and the ways it sharpened my own process, mattered. I don’t regret that part at all.

Maybe that’s the trade-off: helping others didn’t turn into what I thought it would… but it still made me better.

šŸ¤·ā€ā™‚ļø Why This Might Be My Last Post

So here’s where I’m at.

I’m tired of repeating the same truths and watching them bounce off people who don’t actually want to change.

I’m tired of watching people drain years and money chasing the exact things that keep them stuck.

I’m tired of the weird culture around trading where everyone wants to sound like they’ve got it figured out, while quietly doing the same destructive stuff behind the scenes.

And I’m tired of wasting my energy trying to pull someone uphill who won’t take a step.

The truth is, I still have this feeling that I can help traders — and part of me genuinely wants to. That’s why it’s been so frustrating. When you care and you put real effort into helping, and people ignore the basics anyway, it starts eating at you. It turns into a cycle: you try, they don’t listen, you get irritated, and you end up carrying stress that isn’t even yours.

So I’ve come to a conclusion I’ve been trying to avoid: it might be time to cut that piece out of my life. Not because I’m bitter, and not because I think I’m above anyone — but because I want to let myself move on. I want to trade, live my life, and stop feeling responsible for other traders.

I’m not making promises about posting again. I’m genuinely torn. I might write again, or I might walk away for good — and I’m being honest when I say I don’t know which one it’ll be.

But if this is the last post, I’m okay with that too.

Because I’ve realized something I should’ve accepted sooner: You can’t help someone who is addicted to shortcuts.

And trading is the biggest shortcut addiction I’ve ever seen. šŸ‘Š