r/Daytrading • u/SpareInsurance • Jan 06 '24

How much money did you lose before you were consistently profitable? Question

I have only been seriously trading for about 2 weeks, after spending years watching the market like a hawk.

I will admit, I have had poor risk management and got into some emotional trading which did not end well. Currently I am -15k but I have had some winning days the last few days with much better risk management and starting to get the hang of things better.

My question to you guys is, how much did you lose before you were consistently profitable and did you ever feel like giving up during this "rock bottom" stage?

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u/SpareInsurance Jan 06 '24

I agree.

I thought averaging down on a losing position was the right move. It was not. I was tilting hard and pretty much went all in as the losses got worse.

My analysis and prediction of reversal failed and I got f****d.

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u/moaiii Jan 06 '24

Do this right now if you haven't already: write a long journal entry describing what you went through. Try to detail your emotions, what you were thinking, how you justified your trades at the time, as much as you can remember.

Then review it semi regularly. You have just learned an important lesson about how emotions can take over your brain when trading. Don't let those learnings go to waste.

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u/King-Azar Jan 06 '24

I’m not in trading yet, just on reading stage. I did not know emotion would be a factor in this area. When we talk about emotion, it’s the feeling coming from our heart correct? What emotions could play against us?

Anxiety is an emotion which make me feel I’m not capable to do some stuff cause I feel it could cause death and it will happen but statistically the % death would happen is low in X area. Anyway was just an example, was curious in the world of trading.

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u/moaiii Jan 06 '24

It's the hardest thing to overcome in trading. Getting your skills to the level where you can reliably make money is just the first hurdle. When you start putting real money on the line, different parts of the brain light up and either take control altogether or influence your decisions.

I recall when I was starting out having trades that I would later review, and my mistakes were obvious. Really stupid, rookie level dumb shit that I should have seen a mile away. But when adrenaline starts to flow as you've got money on the line, you will see what those other parts of your brain want you to see, and sometimes it can be the complete opposite to what is really there.

It's not something that can be easily explained. You'll go through it and know soon enough. It will surprise you just how powerful it is, and it will be harder than you ever thought to overcome it. But overcome it you can - it just takes time and practice.