I didn’t realize until the very end that the most hidden leverage in this game was never on the charts—it was added into my own life.

I thought I was just placing a few orders, but in truth, I had unknowingly mortgaged those steady days, my parents’ hopes, and every tear I shed as collateral. The candlestick charts had twisted my dopamine threshold to a deformed degree, numbing me to all the ordinary warmth in reality. Then the Federal Reserve released a hawkish signal, and the dream shattered. Turning around, I could barely hold onto the care my parents offered. I always thought I was playing against the market makers, but I was just a madman, trading the most genuine human emotions for a pile of illusory bubbles. The moment I shifted the center of my life onto the charts, I had already lost.