This piece is built as a visual walkthrough in the Desk: sign in to see it.
Sign in to the DeskLast week I was driving to a friend's place in Indiranagar. I'd been there a dozen times. But out of habit, I opened Google Maps and just followed the blue line.
Ten minutes in, it sent me down a lane I didn't recognize. Then it rerouted. Then it flashed "faster route available" and flipped me around: straight behind a stalled truck on a road I'd never have taken if I'd just used my own head.
DRAWN AND NARRATEDThis piece is built as a visual walkthrough in the Desk: sign in to see it.
Sign in to the DeskSitting in that jam, something hit me. I know those roads. I've driven them a dozen times. But the moment I handed my eyes to the blue line, I stopped seeing. I just followed.
That is exactly how I traded for years. And how most of us still do.
A level you did not work out yourself. An entry and an exit that came from somewhere other than your own eyes. You follow the blue line. And it works. Until the road changes, the trade turns, and you're stuck with no idea why. You panic. You exit at the worst moment. You lose, and you can't even explain what happened. Because it was never your read. It was someone else's eyes.
Now think about the parts of your city you actually know. Your route to work. The shortcut to your kid's school. You don't need Maps for those. You know which road jams at 6 PM, which signal takes forever, which lane moves. Nobody taught you in a course. You learned it by driving the same roads, again and again, until the city lived in your head.
The market has roads too.
This piece is built as a visual walkthrough in the Desk: sign in to see it.