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Most active traders don’t lose money because they’re bad at picking direction.
They lose because they don’t have a system — a written, repeatable process that tells them why they’re in a trade, how much they’re risking, when to add, and when to get out.
Without that foundation, every position becomes a fresh emotional decision, and the wins and losses average out to something painfully close to zero.
I spent the early part of my career on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and later as a market maker at the Chicago Board Options Exchange. The traders who survived weren’t the ones with the best instincts. They were the ones with the tightest process. They were the best at managing money.
