What really drives a person to the brink is not the wild fluctuations, but that kind of market where "nothing happens".
$BEAT
Prices swing back and forth without much range, but they just won't move. You initially tell yourself to wait, but your hands just won't listen. You open the software, take a glance, then another glance, and your mind begins to whisper: why not try a trade? If you don't act, you might as well not be here.
So you enter the market.
Not long after, you turn back, your stop-loss gets hit;
You just flipped your position and get hit back.
Your account unknowingly shrinks, while you become increasingly dissatisfied.
This kind of market is the most sinister. It doesn't kill you instantly but grinds you down slowly. It erodes your judgment of rhythm and shatters your trust in discipline. In the end, you place orders not because of opportunities, but because "I'm already sitting here; I have to do something."
The real danger has never been missing that wave of opportunities, but forcing yourself to prove that you're still capable when you should be resting. The money you earn often isn't lost in trend reversals, but in meaningless back-and-forth struggles.
When you look back at your trading records, you'll find that the cleanest, most profitable trades were almost always made after "coming to a realization"; while the messiest and most losing trades occurred when your emotions were high and your patience was low.
The market doesn't fear your lack of understanding; it fears that even when you do understand, you still refuse to leave.
Sometimes, staying out of the market isn't missing an opportunity; it's about saving your life.
You think you are waiting for a turnaround, but in reality, the market is waiting for you to make a mistake.