It might sound backward, but I’ve seen more accounts destroyed by success than failure.

When a new trader pulls off a win, especially early on, they start believing they’ve cracked the code. 

Maybe it was a simple call spread on a stock ripping higher or buying weeklies before an earnings report. 

The setup works once, maybe even twice.

But then comes the kiss of death: “It worked last time.”

Those four words are what turn traders into gamblers.

I saw that firsthand back in the early 2000s. 

One guy on our desk made an absolute killing trading upside calls in biotech stocks. 

He had a two-month stretch where he was up six figures on paper. 

But instead of banking the wins, tightening up, and staying selective … he started pressing. 

He used the same trade, over and over again. 

And guess what? He got crushed. 

The trade stopped working — and he was so in love with his “strategy” that he never even noticed.

Don’t be that guy.

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December 10 & 11 | Noon – 5 p.m. EST

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Test and Retest

Traders love patterns. 

We want to believe the market works like a vending machine — press the same buttons, get the same candy. 

But the market isn’t a machine. 

It’s a living, breathing reflection of supply, demand, fear, greed, and an entire planet’s worth of headlines.

A pattern works … until it doesn’t. 

By the time most traders realize the environment’s changed, they’re already bleeding.

This is where pros don’t marry strategies. We rent them. 

When the market changes, we change fast. 

That’s one reason I test setups constantly. Just because a certain expiration window and strike range worked in January doesn’t mean it’s smart in December. 

Volatility shifts. Order flow changes. 

Macroeconomic narratives flip upside down overnight. 

The only way to stay alive is to adapt faster than the guy next to you.

And that means dropping your ego.

In the Now 

It’s addictive when something works, especially if it made you a bunch of money. 

You want that feeling again. 

But professionals don’t chase validation, we chase probabilities.

That’s why every week I come in with a fresh eye and look at setups like I’ve never seen them before. 

What’s working now? What’s getting punished? Who’s in control — buyers or sellers? 

Is the market rewarding premium buyers or premium sellers?

It’s not about what worked last time.

It’s about what’s working right now.

And the second I feel myself getting comfortable with a strategy, I do the same thing I did on Wall Street: I zoom out, test my assumptions, and double-check whether the edge is still real — or just a left over from a market that doesn’t exist anymore.

You want to make it in this business long-term? 

Forget the wins behind you. Learn from them, sure, but don’t lean on them.

Trade what you see, not what you remember.

Stay Street Smart,
Jeff Zananiri