There was this guy I used to trade with on the desk back in ’06.
Smart as hell. Knew his charts. He had fast hands and good instincts.
But there was one problem: He couldn’t sit still when the market got hot, especially when things felt “too high.”
One morning, the Nasdaq gapped up hard. Tech was ripping, semis were catching fire, and the tape was screaming risk-on.
Everyone could feel it.
But instead of jumping in, this guy leans back in his chair, smirks, and says: “This thing is cooked. I’m shorting the open.”
It wasn’t a terrible idea, if you sized it right and stayed tight.
But he didn’t.
Every green candle, he’d lean heavier. Told himself the move was fake, that the market was due for a flush.
By 11 a.m., he was down six figures.
Now here’s where it gets really bad: He didn’t stop or reset. He doubled down.
He sat there with this twisted logic that the market had to come in.
But the market doesn’t care what any of us think it has to do. It just keeps pressing.
By the close, the guy was wrecked. Didn’t show up the next day and drifted out of the business not long after that.
I don’t bring this up to scare you.
I bring it up because this is exactly the environment where smart traders can get smoked — not because they’re dumb or don’t have a strategy but because they try to get clever when discipline is all that’s needed.
We’re in one of those spots now.
So listen up if you want to build your discipline and stop blowing up.
Guesswork Is Stress Work
Right now, tech is flying and AI names are pumping again. Sentiment is leaning heavy on hopes of rate cuts this week, among other things.
I’m seeing traders — some experienced, some not — doing the same thing my old co-worker did:
- Fighting strength instead of riding it
- Fading clean breakouts
- Calling tops because the market “feels” overdone
That’s not trading. It’s guessing.
There’s a time to be aggressive and a time to sit on your hands.
When the market’s trending and liquidity is clean, the better move is usually to go with the flow, not against it.
But that takes patience. And patience feels weak when everyone else is chasing, fading, or blowing themselves up.
You know what doesn’t feel weak? Being green at the end of the week while everyone else is licking their wounds.
That’s why I keep hammering this lesson:
Discipline matters most when it feels like it matters least.
Anyone can stay patient when setups are obvious.
But the real test is when the market’s running without you … or when you’ve been chopped up for a few days and want to “make it back” in one shot.
That’s when traders start forcing action.
And forcing action is how careers end.
Just Take a Breath
Look, I’ve made money in markets like this.
I’ve also gotten beat up trying to outsmart them.
What works is simple: Trust your plan, size appropriately, cut losers fast, and stop trying to top-tick every rally just because your gut says “it’s too high.”
The market doesn’t pay you for being early. It pays you for being right.
Let the tourists fight the tape. Let them chase and short and argue with price.
You stay sharp. Stay liquid.
And don’t get cute.
Stay street smart,
Jeff Zananiri
P.S. Most traders wait weeks for their setups to hit, but not Danny Phee.
Join him tonight at 7 p.m. ET as he pulls back the curtain on a strategy that has shown the potential for gains in a matter of hours.
*Past performance does not indicate future results
