On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, many people are still visiting relatives and friends, with hot dishes on the table and laughter in the air. But I know that many traders' hearts are not entirely in the festivities. You can raise your glass, you can speak your blessings perfectly, but there’s a part of your heart that remains as quiet as night. That place holds the wins and losses of the past year, the unspoken pressures, the moments when you forced yourself to stay calm amid volatility.

Today, I want to share a few words to start the year, to those ordinary people like me, traders, and those who want to break out from the bottom. Today, we won’t talk about market trends, strategies, or what this year will bring. Instead, let’s discuss how difficult it really is for ordinary people to climb out from the bottom, and how hard it is for traders to break free from the market.
Many people have a misconception about “social mobility,” thinking it depends on a single opportunity, a lucky break, or a stroke of luck. But once you step into it, you realize that the most solid foundation at the bottom isn’t poverty, but structure. Structure can trap you in many small ways: you have to bear the costs of life earlier, you lack room for trial and error, you don’t have enough safety nets, your time is fragmented, and your emotions are repeatedly drained by reality. It’s not that you’re not working hard; it’s that the cost of effort is higher, and the tolerance for mistakes after working hard is lower.
The hardest part for ordinary people is that you almost never get a “do-over.”
You may see tomorrow, but your tomorrow involves paying rent, supporting your family, paying off debts, and handling all the necessary responsibilities. You can dream, but you can’t dream forever. You can fail, but you can’t fail for too long. Many people aren’t defeated—they’re exhausted, worn down by life, which gradually erodes all possibilities. It’s not that you lack ambition; you’re just too tired, so tired that even your ambitions become embarrassing to mention.
This is what “堂哥” (Big Cousin) represents. It’s not a specific person, but a background of fate: no support, no connections, no ready-made path—you can only forge your own way. You’re forced to survive by reality, yet you’re unwilling to accept just surviving. You know you’re not qualified to be sentimental; even breaking down, you must restrain yourself because once you fall, no one will lift you up.
But the market is precisely the place that shows the least mercy.
It won’t give you a break just because you come from an ordinary background, nor will it be gentle because you work hard. The moment you step into the market, everyone’s starting line seems the same, but in reality, it’s completely different. Because this game isn’t about intelligence; it’s about consistency. It’s about whether you can maintain discipline over the long term amid uncertainty, whether you can stay composed after repeated setbacks, whether you can avoid self-destruction when unsupervised.
What makes trading difficult? It’s that you face results every day, and these results show no mercy. It’s that you can never use “I’ve tried my best” as an excuse for anything. It’s that you must admit mistakes, endure drawdowns, and hit the brakes when you most want to turn things around. It’s that you have no one to blame but yourself. It’s that you want to become a stronger person, but the market will force you to become more honest first.
Many ordinary people enter trading because they are desperate to change their fate.
They don’t want to be locked into a salary for life, they don’t want to leave their future to the prosperity of a certain industry, and they don’t want to be passive forever in life. They want a sense of control, a possibility of reversal. But the cruel truth is, the market doesn’t reward “desire,” it only rewards “worthiness.”
Desire can ignite you, but it can also burn you.
Someone who desperately wants success will indeed be closer to success because they have stronger motivation. They will learn more fiercely, review more diligently, and endure longer. But desire also has a shadow side: it makes you impatient, prone to acting when you shouldn’t, easy to mistake volatility for a turning point, and to treat trading as a lifeline.
This is the most dangerous part for ordinary people in trading. You’re not testing with spare money; you’re testing with hope.
So, for ordinary people, breaking out of the market is actually much harder than most imagine. Because it’s not just a technical issue; it’s a psychological structure issue. What you need to do isn’t just learn a method, but reshape your entire personality: learn restraint, learn patience, learn not to be driven by emotions, learn to admit mistakes, learn to do the right thing at the right time, learn to stop in time when things go wrong, and prioritize “staying alive” over “making more.”
Trading is a path for the few, and the reason isn’t mysterious. It’s not because most people aren’t smart enough, but because most can’t withstand the long-term mental toll. Most people seek certainty, but trading offers uncertainty; they want instant feedback, but trading provides delayed results; they crave recognition, but often only self-approval is available.
The loneliest part of this path is that you must believe in yourself when no one else does.
You will face continuous rejection, from the market and from those around you. You’ll be doubted in your lows, misunderstood in silence, mocked when hesitant. Even your closest loved ones may not understand what you’re doing, because you know—explanations are useless; only results matter. But results don’t come immediately—they arrive late when you doubt yourself the most, and stay silent when you need encouragement the most.
So, those who truly break out are often not the smartest, but the ones who can repair themselves best.
They fall, but they rebuild themselves. They lose money, but they don’t break their bottom line. They collapse, but they don’t use collapse as an excuse. They face defeat, but they don’t define themselves by it. They stay disciplined on the darkest days, keep rhythm during lonely phases, and hold themselves back when they’re tempted to gamble.
This is the greatest ability of ordinary people: to keep growing even without support.
Writing this on the second day of the Lunar New Year isn’t to be sentimental, but because the meaning of the new year isn’t about festivities—it’s about a restart. Restarting your rhythm, restarting your spirit, restarting your expectations of yourself. You may not have won in the past year, or even lost badly, but that doesn’t mean you’re not capable. It only means you’re still on the road, still training, still paying the price to be “worthy.”
In 2026, don’t rush to prove you can win; first, prove you won’t collapse.
Don’t rush for a breakout; first, aim for stability over the year. Don’t rush for others’ approval; first, be honest with yourself. Don’t rush to beat the market; first, beat yourself from last year. If you can be a little more steady, a little clearer, a little more disciplined, and a little less emotional than last year, you’re already winning.
I’ve seen too many people treat the New Year as a wish list, writing beautiful wishes, only to return to old habits by March. True change never comes from a single statement but from a whole year of consistent effort. Especially for traders. You don’t need grand vows; you need to stick to your bottom line every day. You don’t need to be constantly excited; you need patience over the long term. You don’t need to be right every time; you need to stay in control every time.
If you’re like me—an “ordinary person”—and you have no background, and you’ve made it this far entirely on your own, then be a little tougher on yourself, but also gentler. Be tougher—stop being driven by emotions, don’t waste opportunities impulsively, don’t pin your hopes on luck. Be gentler—allow yourself to slow down, give yourself recovery time, and take good care of yourself in the lows.
Because those who make it to the end of this road are often not the most aggressive, but the ones who can persist long-term.
May every ordinary person in 2026 be able to pull themselves up just a little. May every trader tighten their discipline, extend their patience, and let go of emotions just a little more. May you truly defeat the more anxious, impulsive, and easily overwhelmed version of yourself from last year.
May you continue to sharpen yourself into a sharp sword and a steady shield during the lonely days. May you stop dreaming of miracles and live yourself into a miracle.
The new year begins, and we start anew.
Keep going, to those “comrades” I’ve never met but feel familiar with!
— Xiao Ma: To all traders fighting in the market, Happy Spring Festival.