I only realized at the very end, when I closed out my positions, that the most hidden leverage in this game was never on the chart—it was leveraged within my own life.

I thought I was just placing a few orders, but in fact, I had unknowingly pledged as collateral those steady days, my parents' hopes, and the tears I had shed. The candlesticks had warped my dopamine threshold to a pathological level, numbing me to all the mundane warmth of reality. In the end, the Fed released a hawkish signal, and my dreams shattered. Turning around, the care my parents offered almost slipped through my grasp. I always thought I was playing against the market maker, but in truth, I was just a madman, trading the most genuine human emotions for a pile of illusory bubbles. The moment I shifted the center of my life to the chart, I had already lost.