Traveling Merchant with no cards in hand?

According to the official RiftJudge FAQs, if you move Traveling Merchant while you have no cards in your hand, you simply skip the discard and proceed to draw one card.

As noted in RiftJudge FAQ #6791 and #5567, the discard and draw effects resolve independently. Because the card text does not use restrictive phrasing (such as "discard 1 to draw 1"), your inability to fulfill the discard requirement does not prevent the draw effect from resolving.

The sequence is:

1. Move the Traveling Merchant to the battlefield (triggering the ability).
2. Skip the discard step (as you have no cards in hand).
3. Draw 1 card.
4. Initiate the showdown.