The final hurdle in trading is human nature; true enlightenment is about giving up attachment.

This phrase marks the transformation in trading from “technique” to “Tao.” Techniques can be learned, rules can be established, but ultimately, success or failure is determined by mastering the weaknesses of human nature. So-called “enlightenment” is essentially about completely letting go of personal obsessions.

1. “The final hurdle in trading is human nature”?

The essence of trading is a “probability game”: every strategy has boundaries of win rate and risk-reward ratio. Profits come from “consistently executing rules,” not from “accurately predicting every fluctuation.” But human instincts are in direct conflict with the core logic of trading:

- Greed makes people unwilling to take profits when they’re ahead, always wanting to “squeeze out the last bit,” ultimately turning unrealized gains into losses;
- Fear makes people unwilling to cut losses when they’re down, always hoping for a rebound before selling, turning small losses into large ones;
- Wishful thinking leads people to ignore rules, such as “this time is special, I don’t need to stop loss,” or “I feel it’s going to rise, so I’ll break the rule and add to my position,” ultimately destroying the consistency of the strategy;
- Vanity and unwillingness to admit defeat make people refuse to acknowledge mistakes, thinking “I can’t be wrong,” or “there must be something wrong with the market,” causing them to stubbornly hold onto the wrong position until they get liquidated.

Trading “techniques” (technical analysis, strategy design, money management) can be learned—even a beginner can master an effective set of rules in a short time. But the process of executing these rules is essentially a battle against human weaknesses: when market fluctuations trigger greed or fear, the real dividing line between winners and losers is whether you can “act according to rules” rather than “act according to emotions.”

Just as many traders experience: during review, it’s clear when you “should have stopped out” or “should have taken profit,” but in live trading, you just can’t do it—this isn’t a technical issue, it’s a failure to overcome human nature. That’s why technique is the foundation, but human nature is the final, inescapable barrier.

2. “True enlightenment is about giving up attachment”?

Here, “giving up attachment” doesn’t mean “giving up trading,” but rather completely letting go of personal obsessions, abandoning the fantasy of “perfect trading,” accepting the uncontrollability of the market, and acknowledging your own limitations.

The process of “enlightenment” in trading is essentially a process of “demystification”:

- Beginners are obsessed with “finding the Holy Grail,” always thinking there’s a strategy that will “always be right”;
- Intermediate traders are obsessed with “predicting the market,” always wanting to use technical analysis to “precisely catch tops and bottoms”;
- True enlightened traders eventually realize: the market is chaotic and unpredictable, and any attempt to “control the market” is an illusion.

Accept the inevitability of losses: every strategy has stop-losses; losses are the cost of trading, not “failure.” Refusing to accept losses is, in essence, refusing to accept the true nature of trading.

Accept the rationality of missing out: the market always has opportunities, but opportunities not covered by your strategy must be “let go.” For example, trend strategies inevitably miss out on ranging markets, and short-term strategies inevitably miss out on big trends. Trying to catch every opportunity will only lead to being punished by the market.

Accept your own limitations: admit that you cannot predict the market, only follow it; admit that you will make mistakes, so you must use rules (stop-loss, position sizing) to restrain yourself.

When a trader truly “lets go” and stops fighting the market, no longer replaces rule execution with personal judgment, they can instead achieve “unity of knowledge and action”:

Able to cut losses without hesitation, hold positions without anxiety, and stay out of the market without restlessness—this is not passive compromise, but an active reconciliation with the laws of the market #我对Gate广场的建议分享