Why Trading Progress Feels So Frustrating
When effort and results stop lining up
One thing I’ve been reminded of lately…
Progress in trading isn’t linear.
I’ve been reading through a lot of 2025 reviews from traders in the community.
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Different styles. Different markets. Different results.
But the same pattern keeps showing up….
PROGRESS IS NOT LINEAR
- People put the work in.
- They do the right things.
- And the results don’t always show up when they expect them to.
It’s the real truth about trading that doesn’t make it to Instagram…
Some traders worked harder in 2025 than they did in 2024…and still made less money.
That doesn’t mean they’re going backwards.
It just means trading doesn’t reward effort in a neat, predictable way.
Sometimes progress shows up as:
- Better decisions under pressure
- Fewer dumb trades
- Dropping something that isn’t working
- Getting clearer about who you are as a trader
And the P&L only catches up later.
That’s frustrating.
But it’s also the deal we all sign up to, whether we realise it or not.
I talked about this properly on the podcast this week.
Why progress feels messy.
Why the equity curve lies until it doesn’t.
And why staying engaged through the flat middle is everything.
You can take a listen here
Worth a listen if you’ve been questioning whether the work you’re putting in is actually paying off.