From the Desk of PriceTrader: The Problem With Market Marketers
Trading in public taught me something the industry will not admit.
I have spent the last ten months trading in public, one plan and one trade at a time.
Somewhere along the way I learned something the industry will not say out loud.
The way trading is marketed has almost nothing to do with the way trading is lived.
On the one hand:
There is a polished version built on predictions, clean calls and perfectly shaped narratives.
On the other:
There is the version you face when you are actually in the market, managing risk, waiting for confirmation, taking losses, missing moves and showing up again the next day.
Those two worlds rarely match.
Most people never talk about that gap. I decided ESDaily would be built on it.
In that time I have learned as much about the trading industry as I have about the market itself. I have seen how commentary is delivered, how levels are presented, how predictions are framed and how success is sold.
I have also seen what traders really want when they come to a service like mine.
They want clarity, but they also want truth.
They want to understand the market, but they also want to understand what real execution looks like.
The way trading is presented online often has very little to do with the way trading is lived.
There is a polished version of this business that focuses on being early, being accurate, being predictive.
In that version, almost every level can be shaped into a turning point and almost any reaction can be used to reinforce the appearance of precision.
It creates the impression of mastery, but it leaves out the part that matters most to people who are actually putting money at risk.
Trading is not a sequence of perfect calls.
It is a sequence of decisions.
It is the waiting, the hesitation, the invalidation.
It is the loss you take even when the idea was solid, and the move you planned for but could not execute.
It is the setup that never fully formed so you stayed flat.
The day where discipline was the only thing you traded well.
This is the part that rarely gets shown.
The trading world has a transparency problem.
And most people do not realize it until they have been in the market long enough to feel it.
You follow commentators, analysts, chartists and educators. People who post levels, people who post predictions, people who seem to know where price is going before it gets there. You follow them because you are trying to make sense of a market that moves faster than anyone can think.
But there is a gap you eventually notice.
A gap between what is said and what is done.
A gap between charts and trades.
A gap between calling a level and actually taking the trade.
Most traders never talk about that gap.
I decided ESDaily would be built on it.
For ten months I have watched how this industry operates. I have seen how easy it is to label almost every price as a potential turning point and then highlight the ones that play out. I have seen how easy it is to post a level in the morning and, if price reacts later, frame it as a clean win. I have seen how rarely anyone shows actual execution. The fills, the hesitation, the failed attempts, the days that go nowhere, the part where structure never confirms so they do nothing.
Most people hide the part where they are human.
That’s an major disservice to traders who what to learn.
It’s also the part I chose to make visible.
Traders deserve to know what real trading looks like… Not the highlight reel.
Not the perfect hindsight recap.
Not the carefully shaped version of what someone thinks should have happened.
Real trading is waiting, and patiently executing a plan that reduces risk and maximizes profits.
Real trading is losing even when you followed your rules.
This is why I show my broker fills.
This is why I talk about the trades I missed.
This is why I tell you when I am flat.
This is why I explain the loss instead of brushing past it.
Because for me, transparency is not a marketing angle.
It is the method itself.
It’s the only way I taught myself to get better each day.
I do not get to say I called something unless I actually traded it. I do not get to claim clarity unless I showed the entire sequence.
Plan, entry, management, stop and exit.
Every part of it.
There are plenty of people in this space who provide levels, say “see, the market is doing exactly as it should, level to level.”
Levels alone do not teach you how to trade.
Levels alone do not teach you how to manage risk.
You learn to trade by seeing trading.
Not by listening to predictions.
Over time I realized the industry splits into two paths.
One path focuses on calling levels and describing reactions.
The other path focuses on execution and accountability.
One path creates the impression of authority.
The other creates the opportunity to actually learn.
One approach is built to impress.
The other is built to show the re-enforcement it takes to be successful.
Some people call levels.
I trade them.
Some people celebrate every reaction.
I show the ones I skipped.
Anyone can draw a line and highlight a reaction after the fact.
Anyone can write a clean story that makes them look predictive.
Not everyone can trade.
And very few are willing to show that part.
This is the problem in our market.
This is why so many traders feel confused, discouraged or misled.
They are comparing their reality to a version of trading that does not exist.
If you want levels, they are everywhere.
If you want honesty, that is what I give you.
This is my commitment, my work and this is why ESDaily exists.
And this is why I am writing to you now.
The market has a problem.
I aim to solve the piece of it that I can.
Cheers,
- PriceTrader
Thank you PT. Greatly appreciated.