There was a guy—let’s call him Max—who spent his days glued to his laptop, bouncing between news sites, Discord, X (well, Twitter), and a stack of Reddit tabs. Maybe you know someone like that. Or, if you’re honest, maybe you’ve been there yourself.

Max was always on edge, chasing tips and rumors, hoping the next hot take would finally lead to a big win. More often than not, he’d jump in too late, sell too early, and end up frustrated and tired. “It feels like I’m always guessing,” he’d say, half-joking, but you could hear the doubt in his voice.

It’s an easy trap. There’s so much noise out there. Everyone shouting advice, headlines popping up every minute, and the pressure to act fast or miss out. I’ve felt it too—like if I blink, I’ll miss the one thing that matters.

He didn’t know there was another way. Not until he stumbled across the idea of system trading, almost by accident.

System trading isn’t just for Wall Street robots and algorithms—it’s really about following a simple, repeatable plan based on real numbers, not feelings or FOMO.

Instead of reacting to every bit of news, you set up a few clear rules: maybe you buy a stock when it enters a seasonally strong stretch, or you hold for a set number of days that’s shown an edge over time. The rules do the heavy lifting, so you can step back and breathe.

Max didn’t really think it would work, but he gave it a shot. He picked a few stocks, checked (by hand) when their best seasonal windows were, and made a plan. No more chasing, no more “gut trades.”

He wrote down his moves and stuck to his system, letting the numbers, not his nerves, call the shots.

By winter, Max realized something had changed. His results were steadier, but more importantly, he was stress-free. He checked his watchlist once a week, not a hundred times a day. He still had the occasional urge to check, but it faded. He didn’t second-guess himself because he trusted his plan.

This story is more or less fiction, but it’s stories like this—and at least a half dozen real ones—that led me to build SeasonalFlow.