The biggest lesson from observing the market under pressure — whether in extreme volatility or watching how other operators behave — is not in the technique, it's in emotional management. I notice that the difference between the amateur and the professional isn't the setup. It's the ability to maintain composure when the plan fails. The market has a cruel way of testing our discipline exactly when we're under the most stress. I've learned that professional trading is a solitary and silent activity — if you need an audience, you're in the wrong place. That observation reinforced that my success comes from being surgical and keeping my method non-negotiable, regardless of what external noise is happening.

My biggest early mistake, like so many others, was trying to complicate what should be simple. At the beginning, I was looking for the "magic indicator" or the perfect setup that would give me the ideal entry and the beautiful trade from start to finish. Over time and through market cycles, I understood that simplicity is the peak of mastery. My advice today: stop looking for the method that makes you rich fast, and focus on the method you can actually live with every day — long enough to understand how it works. The market pays for your intelligence, your patience, and your resilience in following a plan. Treat trading like a real business, not a casino. If you don't approach it with the seriousness of a company — risk management, error logs, continuous improvement — it won't treat you like a professional.

I reached the semifinal. The most valuable lesson was a serious mistake I made on the very first day: after a winning trade, I got distracted by my phone due to a personal problem and gave back all the gains. That destabilized me, because there was no time left to recover. That mistake was a watershed moment. I learned that discipline is not just technical. It is absolute presence. At high performance, any failure in the daily routine impacts execution. The semifinal proved that my technique is solid, but it was that mistake that taught me that in trading, presence and focus must be absolute. There is no room for any kind of distraction.

My daily focus is the futures market, specifically the mini-índice (WIN) and mini-dólar (WDO). They demand high liquidity and precise technical reading, which aligns directly with my analysis style based on Price Action and fundamentals. Since I also manage a business, I need instruments that deliver market movement in efficient time blocks. This lets me extract technical results within pre-determined hours, without needing to stay glued to the market all day.

Just recently, during a strong trend on the Índice with heavy news noise, the chart signaled clear exhaustion at an important support level. A reversal candle appeared. My reasoning was simple: don't trade the news, trade the structure. I entered long, placed my technical stop below support, and let the trade run. The exit was technical, exactly where the statistics suggested defense. What stood out was the silence: while many were trying to read the market through headlines, I was simply executing a plan that was already drawn on my chart.

I follow and deeply respect the Brazilian trading scene. A large part of my foundation came from what I learned from the Ogro de Wall Street, and I still follow the Mario Pisani room and BTG content occasionally. However, I do this with caution: I follow only selectively to avoid conflicting with my own analysis. I believe learning is continuous, but execution demands total focus. So most of the time, I prefer the silence of my office. The final decision must always be mine, based strictly on my own criteria.

My first profitable year was 2019. Since I started trading in an extremely professional way from the beginning, I learned early to operate with small losses. Of course I went through drawdowns and difficult days, but I never fell into the all-or-nothing trap. The big shift was the progression: I focused on increasing my lot sizes gradually, ensuring that losses were always controlled and small. I learned that by keeping risk management non-negotiable even on difficult days, the positive result becomes the natural consequence of your survival and the maturation of your method.

Emotion is not something separate from technique. It is the filter through which the market passes. If my emotional state is not aligned, my capacity for technical reading is immediately compromised. In Crossfit or running, I learned that if you don't master your mind under physical fatigue, your body stops. In the market it is the same: if I am not centered, gain or fear takes the place of strategy. So keeping my emotions aligned, through routine, sport and focus, is not a luxury. It is a work tool. I don't trade when I feel my balance is off, because I understand that in trading, your greatest risk is not the price movement. It is your mental state at the moment of execution.