During a losing stretch trading gold, I started noticing something about the way I was analyzing price.
I would come into a session with a directional bias, and without really realizing it, I would begin looking for reasons to support it.
If I was bullish, I could find plenty of reasons why price should move higher. But when price started showing signs of weakness, I would question those signals or convince myself I needed more confirmation.
And if I was bearish, I would do the exact opposite.
The frustrating part was that I genuinely believed I was being patient and waiting for confirmation.
But looking back, I wasn’t necessarily waiting for confirmation of what price was doing. I was waiting for confirmation of what I wanted price to do.
That’s a pretty uncomfortable distinction to recognize.
I’ve spent a lot of time learning to read market structure, identify key levels, and understand how price behaves. But none of that knowledge is particularly useful if I’m only willing to acknowledge the information that supports my original idea.
I’m learning that having a bias isn’t the problem. It’s becoming attached to it.
A bias gives me somewhere to begin. It doesn’t have to be where I end up.
So lately, I’ve been trying to approach my charts a little differently.
Instead of only asking what supports my idea, I’m also asking what would invalidate it.
What is price actually showing me?
And am I willing to change my mind when that information changes?
I’m not always good at it. Sometimes I still catch myself looking for that one more reason to hold onto an idea.
But I’m becoming more aware of it.
And for now, that’s part of the work.
I don’t need the market to prove me right. I need to be willing to see when I’m wrong.
