Good Morning. In 2010, someone bought two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoin. At the time, it was worth about $41. Today, those pizzas would cost over $600 million.

It’s now known as Bitcoin Pizza Day a tasty reminder to maybe hodl your lunch money.

-Jordon Mellor, Shaun A, Patrick Lewis

QUESTION

What’s a trading rule you know you should follow, but still break anyway?

Reply to this email with your answer.

MARKETS

Mixed day today, tech stocks finding a little bounce continuing their bull run into the green for 2025 (it is no longer "Bidens market” according to Trump). Vix resting around 18 is expected, EUR finding some early strength while the USD continues to weaken.

TRADER INSIGHTS

“Trade like a sniper.”
It’s not hype, it’s how pros survive in messy, manipulated markets.

But retail trading culture twisted it. Now, you’re told to show up every day, find something, and trade like a machine or you’re slacking.

Here’s the truth: You don’t need to trade every day.

Let’s walk through how real sniper traders actually operate and why it works.

A study by Barber and Odean found that individual investors who traded more frequently earned significantly lower returns than those who traded less.

This isn't about being lazy, it’s about protecting your win rate. When you limit your entries, you stop wasting mental capital on “maybe” trades. You wouldn’t fire off 10 shots into a dark hallway. Why do it with your money?

Sniper traders don’t trade on looks, they trade on understanding the Power of confluence. That means structure, session timing, and liquidity all need to line up. If one’s missing, they don’t force it.

If it’s not clean, they don’t touch it. Simple.

“If most traders would learn to sit on their hands 50 percent of the time, they would make a lot more money.” 

This trading quote comes from Bill Lipschutz, a man who enjoys almost legendary status amongst aspiring and experienced forex traders.

The lesson we can take away from Lipschutz’s quote is the importance of the art of patience. A very common mistake for beginner traders, eager to make a quick profit, is to overtrade. This, inevitably, always leads to increased losses. 

That’s where the gold is, when you understand the Importance of a Trading Journal.

Looking back, most of those “missed” trades were actually traps. By journaling them, you train your brain to see the difference between FOMO and flow.

It’s how you sharpen your edge without losing money

You don’t get paid for showing up. You get paid for being right.

“Sniper Trading” is ruthless clarity. You’re protecting your capital, your focus, and your firepower, so when the real move comes, you’re sharp, not emotionally drained.

Because here’s the truth:
The market doesn’t care how long you stared at it.
It doesn’t reward effort, it rewards precision.

So next time you feel the urge to trade something just to feel “active,” ask yourself:

Is this a sniper shot? Or am I just spraying and praying?

Your edge deserves better than boredom. -SA

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LEARN

Trading often feels like waiting. Prices move sideways, volume drops, and boredom sets in. Suddenly, a big move happens and catches most off guard. Markets don’t explode from nowhere, they coil up, build tension, and then snap.

Here’s what’s really happening during those sideways grinds.

Before a big move, the market wants to shake out weak hands. Longs get tired and sell. Shorts pile in late and get squeezed. This back-and-forth creates a kind of pressure cooker.

Everyone thinks they’re the “smart money”, but most get trapped. When the move finally comes, it’s violent because everyone’s positioned wrong.

This is classic market psychology, people hate uncertainty, so they jump early or bail too soon.

During consolidation, buyers and sellers stack orders in a tight range. The market makers love this. They fill orders, collect spreads, and keep things flat. But this also means there’s a wall of liquidity waiting to get hit. 

When the breakout comes, these orders become fuel. Research from the field of market microstructure backs this up: Big players wait for liquidity, then hit the gas when the coast looks clear.

Institutions don’t chase every candle. They want confirmation and most of them aren’t this low in the timeframes. A tight range signals indecision, but also safety. Once enough volume builds and the price holds a level, you’ll see the blocks roll in. These aren’t Reddit traders. This is real money waiting for the crowd to pick a side. When they step in, the move gets legs. You’ll see it in the tape, sudden surges, big prints, all at once.

Everyone stares at the same charts. Flags, triangles, ranges, these setups are burned into our brains. When a pattern drags on, traders get conditioned to expect a breakout. Enough people act on it, and the move becomes self-fulfilling. There’s actual research showing that technical setups work because enough traders believe they do. So the longer a range holds, the bigger the crowd waiting to pounce.

This sounds harsh, but it’s true. Markets move in a way that hurts the most people. That means false breakouts, drawn-out ranges, and then sudden reversals. The goal isn’t fairness. It’s to transfer money from the impatient to the patient. Every range is a setup to trap someone. The real move kicks off when most have given up or bet the wrong way.

Markets don’t consolidate by accident. There’s a reason for the chop. It’s about trapping traders, building up energy, and waiting for the right spark. If you’ve stared at endless ranges and wondered why you always miss the move, you’re not alone. The market is designed to test your patience and your discipline. Every sideways grind is a setup. When the move finally comes, it’s fast and unforgiving.

This is the real game. It’s less about fancy indicators, more about understanding how people (and algorithms) think and act. Patience isn’t just a cliché, it’s the edge. The market wants you to get bored, make mistakes, and then watch while the real money steps in. Don’t be the fish. Wait for the break. Catch the wave. That’s how you survive. -JM

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ANSWER

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