It wasn’t until I closed out my positions in the final liquidation that I realized the most hidden leverage in this game had never been on the chart—it was added to my own life.

I thought I was just placing a few orders, but in truth, I had unknowingly pledged those steady days, my parents’ hopes, and the tears I shed as collateral. The candlesticks pushed my dopamine threshold to a twisted level, numbing me to all the ordinary warmth in reality. In the end, the Fed released a hawkish signal, and my dreams shattered into pieces. Turning around, I could barely hold onto the care my parents offered. I always thought I was playing against the market maker, 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 to the charts, I had already lost.