When Trading Feels Unfair: How to Break Free From the "Balance" Trap
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A few months ago, one of my clients shared something profound.
After a string of losses, he felt this urge to “balance things out.” He would start pushing harder and forcing trades all in the name of balancing results.
“If I just put in a little more effort, I’ll get back what I lost. It has to even out.”
Later on we found out this had to do with his need for justice belief. He couldn’t stand unfairness and seeing trades going against him felt like so.
Later on I’ve had crossed paths with other traders feeling the exact same thing so I’ve decided to make this post for anyone who’s ever felt the bitterness of unfairness in trading — and how to free yourself from it.
Why Trading Feels So Unfair
At first glance, it should feel unfair.
You study harder… and you lose.
You journal religiously… and you still lose.
You follow your plan perfectly… and you lose again.
In almost every other area of life — school, sports, career — effort is rewarded. Put in the work, and eventually, you’ll see the results.
But trading isn’t like life.
It’s much more like surfing: you can show up with your board, perfect your stance, master your timing, and still get wiped out by a random wave.
Not because you’re bad. But because nature (like the market) doesn’t negotiate.
It doesn't owe you a wave because you “deserve” it.
The Hidden Cost of Fighting the Market
When you cling to the belief that you must “balance things out,” you fall into a loop:
You lose.
You feel the injustice.
You work harder to force a win.
You overtrade, overthink, over-effort.
You lose more and feel even more wronged.
It's a downward spiral built not on reality… but on expectation.
And expectations — especially the expectation that the market will reward effort fairly — turn natural losses into personal betrayals, feedback into injustice and a neutral market into an enemy.
The market is never unfair. It’s just… unresponsive to effort.
The Real Meaning of Process
My client eventually learned something that shifted everything:
The process is not a guarantee of short-term reward. It’s a long-term relationship with probability.
Easy to know, less easy to simulate subconsciously.
Each individual trade is just a coin flip — and sometimes, even when you flip the coin perfectly, it still lands the wrong way.
But if you respect the process, over hundreds of trades, the edge plays out.
Good process leads to good outcomes, but not every time. A good process only promises a compounding advantage.
The day my client stopped trying to “earn” wins and started simply honoring his process, he was no longer fighting the ocean. He was learning to surf.
A Simple Practice to Free Yourself
Next time you catch yourself thinking:
“I need to win this trade to make up for that loss…”
Pause. Take a breath. And say to yourself:
“I am not here to balance anything.
I am here to execute well — and let the probabilities play out over time.”
One trade is not your worth.
One session is not your destiny.
One outcome is not your validation.
Trading is not about fairness. It’s about flow, detachment, and trust.
In Closing
The market isn’t fair, but it’s honest.
It doesn’t favor you when you try harder. It doesn’t punish you when you relax. It simply reflects probability, chaos, and rhythm, indifferent to your effort.
When you let go of needing it to be fair… You free yourself to play the real game:
A game of skill, patience, trust, and infinite second chances.
You don’t need to balance the scales. You just need to keep showing up.
And that's more than enough.
Peaceful trading,
Sara
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