Trading cost me my marriage. Hope it was worth the 12% returns

she packed her bags while i was watching the NQ open on tuesday. didn't even hear the door close because i was too focused on a 5-minute fair value gap.

feels stupid typing this out to a bunch of strangers, but i wish someone grabbed me by the shoulders 2 years ago.

everyone sells you the dream of "financial freedom" or "passive income". they show you the lambos and the travel.

what they don't show you is the obsession.

i started trading to "provide a better life" for us. that was the lie i told myself.

in reality, i was addicted to the dopamine.

* dinner dates? i was checking tradingview under the table

* watching a movie? i was stressing about my open gbpusd position

* sex? i was thinking about the fed meeting the next morning

it creeps up on you. you think you are "working hard" but you are just absent.

the worst part is, i actually became profitable this year. made about $40k on top of my salary.

showed her the pnl thinking it would fix things.

she looked at me and said "i don't care about the money. i haven't had a husband in 18 months."

that hit harder than any margin call.

so yeah, if you are new here and thinking trading is a chill side hustle… it's not.

it consumes your mental bandwidth completely.

if you can't shut it off at 5pm, you are going to lose things that are worth way more than your account balance.

taking a break from the charts. maybe for good.

tl;dr

made money, lost the wife. trading isn't free money, you pay with your soul.

trade safe, peace.