People like to say 90% lose because they are unskilled. That explanation is too clean. The truth feels messier when you’ve actually been inside the market.
Most people don’t lose on their first trade. They lose after a few small wins. That’s when something shifts. You start trusting your feeling more than the price. You stop waiting. You enter early because you don’t want to miss it again. Fear of missing out wears a clever mask. It feels like confidence.
Then comes the hesitation. You’re in profit but you wait, because last time it went higher. This time it doesn’t. You watch green turn pale, then red. You tell yourself it will come back. Sometimes it does. That’s the worst part. It teaches the wrong lesson.
Losses pile up quietly. Not in one big blow, but through small decisions made while tired, bored, or slightly angry. Overtrading feels productive. Doing nothing feels like falling behind. So you trade to feel in control, even when you’re not.
I’ve noticed most damage doesn’t come from bad analysis. It comes from emotion pretending to be logic. Greed when things go right. Revenge when they don’t. And regret sitting in the background, pushing the next decision.
Over time, you start seeing it. The market isn’t cruel. It’s indifferent. It simply reflects who you are when money is involved.
