I haven’t talked about your need for certainty.
You and I both know most of the bad trades we’ve taken haven’t come from lack of knowledge.
It’s just one sentence doing laps in the brain:
“I just want to know what happens next.”
The Biological Reality
Biologically, we humans HATE uncertainty.
Our brains are wired for:
- Comfort
- Patterns
- Predictability
- Knowing what comes next
But the markets are the complete opposite:
- Chaotic
- Nonlinear
- Uncertain
- Constantly shifting
Your nervous system doesn’t understand the difference between:
“I don’t know what price will do” and “I am in danger.”
So it reacts the same way every time:
- Rushes you into early entries
- Forces you to chase breakouts
- Makes you hold losers too long
- Makes you bail on winners too soon
- Pushes you to “do something” even when the best move is nothing
That’s not bad discipline. That’s biology.
A Real Example You’ve Lived Before
It’s better I give you an example, right?
Let’s say…
You mark a level → 6700
You tell yourself:
“If price rejects here with exhaustion, I’ll take the short.”
Price pushes into the level… no exhaustion yet… and you feel that pressure building in your chest.
And what do you do?
A – You are patient and wait.
B – You risk it and jump in early.
Most traders in that situation would have gone with B.
Why?
Because you wanted certainty before the market offered it.
Then exhaustion prints… but you’re already in the wrong spot, with the wrong risk, and the wrong mindset.
You didn’t lose because you were wrong. You lost because your brain couldn’t wait.
So how do you fix certainty addiction?
The truth is… You don’t.
You don’t remove uncertainty. That’s impossible.
You remove the illusion that you were ever supposed to have certainty in the first place.
Here’s how:
Trade conditions, not predictions.
Stop trying to predict. Start waiting for conditions.
You don’t need to know if price will go up or down.
You need to know what HAS to happen before you act:
- Exhaustion has to print
- Absorption has to show
- Pressure has to shift
THEN you enter. Not before.
Be wrong, without panic.
Wrong is part of the job.
It’s how you learn. It’s how you avoid bigger mistakes.
The key? Don’t let emotional reaction drive your decision.
You can feel frustrated. You can feel disappointed.
But those feelings don’t get to control your next move.
Separate “what I want” from “what the market is doing.”
You can want a bounce.
You can want continuation.
You can want a clean, open drive.
But here’s the harsh truth:
The market doesn’t care.
Separate what you want from what the market is actually doing.
That gap? That’s where discipline lives.
A 10-Second Routine to Kill Certainty Impulses
Before you enter any trade from now on, ask yourself:
1. What condition am I waiting for?
(Pressure shift, reclaim, exhaustion, test + fail, etc.)
2. Has the condition actually happened yet?
Yes or no → no grey area.
3. If I wasn’t feeling FOMO, would I still take this?
If the answer is “no,” you’re chasing certainty, not trading.
This single routine has saved more traders than any indicator ever will.
But seeing conditions clearly is another thing.
They remove the uncertainty-driven second-guessing.
The Truth Most Traders Never Accept.
You don’t need certainty to trade well. You need conditions. You need confirmation. You need patience… And you need self-control.
Because the second you stop trying to predict…
You finally start to see the market clearly.