The Trading Success
Illusion Trap

Why a taste of success often leads to more frustration—not consistency.

Good morning,

Peter Brandt recently said this…

And he’s right…
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Whether you’re a ‘young’ or erm ‘not so young’ trader, the reason you got into this business was because you believed you could make it happen.
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Right?
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Else, why would you bother?
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So, by that measure, we can assume most traders are driven, ambitious, and believe they have the character to win.
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​Enter: Unrealistic expectations, stage left.

EXPECTATIONS

Unlike, say, brain surgery or flying a 747… there’s basically zero chance you could do either of those without serious training.
Years of it. Supervised. Structured.

But trading?

There’s this slim chance you could do very well, very quickly.

And that’s where the real danger begins.

Because, unlike flying a plane, where your incompetence is immediately obvious…😁

Trading gives you just enough success to believe you’re different.

A few green days.
A lucky runner.
One home-run setup that worked out perfectly.

You start thinking, “I’ve got this. I’m close.”

But now you’re no longer just learning the craft.
Now you’re carrying expectations.

And they’re a heavy burden to bear:

  • You expect to grow your account every month.
  • You expect to bounce back quickly from drawdowns.
  • You expect to be immune to tilt, fear, hesitation.
  • You expect your potential to show up just because you want it more than most.

Peter’s right… nobody talks about this part.

Not the trades.
The internal pressure.

The voice that says:

“You’ve been doing this too long to still be struggling.”
“You’re better than this.”
“You should be making X by now.”
“People are watching.”

That voice gets louder after a few wins.
It doesn’t go away with screen time.
It grows with progress, and crushes you when the results don’t match your expectations.

The hardest part of trading isn’t strategy.

It’s dealing with the gap between:

🧠 What you think should be happening…
Vs.
📉 What’s actually happening.

Bridging that gap is the real work.

It’s not glamorous.
It’s not sexy.
And nobody’s posting about it.

But it’s the game.

Keep showing up. Drop the self-imposed pressure.

Mastery takes longer than your ego wants it to.