Written by: Curry, Deep Tide TechFlow
Yesterday, millions of people worldwide watched a live stream: a man free-solo climbing Taipei 101.
No ropes, no protection, 508 meters, 101 floors. Netflix streamed it live for 1 hour and 31 minutes, and he successfully reached the top.
This man is Alex Honnold, 40 years old, a professional rock climber.
In 2017, he free-solo climbed El Capitan in Yosemite, a 900-meter-high granite rock face, without any protective equipment. The documentary Free Solo recorded this feat and won an Oscar.
The New York Times' review at the time called it: one of the greatest athletic achievements in human history.
But that's not what I want to talk about today.
I don't know if you noticed a detail: Alex Honnold is actually the spokesperson for the famous trading software TradingView, essential for trading stocks and crypto.
TradingView, used for chart analysis by traders in stocks, crypto, and forex, signed Alex in 2021 during a brand upgrade. The slogan at the time was "Look first / Then leap."
Look first, then leap.
At first glance, it seems strange for a trading software to choose a free solo climber as a spokesperson.
What are they demonstrating—look at the K-line and then jump? But upon closer inspection, this cross-border choice of spokesperson is actually quite accurate.
Alex once discussed his understanding of "risk" in an interview with TradingView. He said:
"Risk to me means uncertainty, means rolling the dice to see the outcome. That's exactly what I try to avoid in climbing."
What Alex does, free solo climbing, more professionally called Free Solo, looks like an extreme sport, like risking his life.
But if you've seen the documentary of him climbing that 900-meter granite rock, you'll find that Alex's methodology is actually extremely conservative.
For that climb, he spent nearly a decade conceptualizing it and a year and a half in actual preparation. He climbed every section of the route dozens of times with ropes until he knew every handhold and foothold by heart, even with his eyes closed.
He carried a notebook with him, recording details of every critical move.
He has a saying that applies not just to climbing but probably to trading as well:
"If the thought of a move makes me feel nauseous, that means the risk is still too high, I'm not ready yet."
Fear is a signal, not an obstacle to overcome.
It was the same with this unprotected climb of Taipei 101. Before the live stream, he did a full rehearsal with ropes, testing every grip on every floor. The live stream, originally scheduled for the 23rd, was postponed to the 24th due to weather, and then from the 24th to the 25th.
Wait for the wind to stop, wait for the right conditions, then act.
What Alex Honnold does seems like one of the most dangerous things in the world—no protection, a fall if he slips—but the methodology behind it is极致 (ultimate) risk control:
Ten years of preparation, repeated rehearsals, waiting for conditions, rejecting uncertainty.
What many people do seems mundane: trading, opening contracts, buying a coin. But the methodology behind it might be much more radical than Alex's: jumping in at the sight of a social media signal, following a whale's purchase.
In the world of meme and contract trading, where gambling is rampant and being a second slow means missing out on gains, waiting seems like the enemy of making money. Let alone preparing for ten years, sometimes we haven't even calculated where our liquidation price is.
Alex says he tries to avoid rolling the dice.
But open any contract trading platform, and you'll find most people are rolling the dice, though we think we're analyzing.
That said, TradingView choosing Alex as a spokesperson might not be because he represents bravery or "extremeness."
But because he represents "surviving."
In an industry with an extremely high liquidation rate, surviving itself is the best advertisement. The ultimate goal of Free Solo is not reaching the summit; it's reaching the summit alive, coming down alive, and being able to climb again tomorrow.
The same goes for trading.
Alex Honnold could free-solo El Capitan not because he's brave, but because he knows more clearly than anyone else where every step lands.
He prepared for ten years.
What about you?
Note: Alex's spokesperson relationship with TradingView began in 2021. "Look first / Then leap" is TradingView's brand slogan. Alex's quote about risk is from an official TV interview.
