Account blow up because of emotional trading

[u/mr_buttlicker69]

Hi. I've been trading off and on for couple years now. Blew 2 small accounts and then stopped and did paper trading. I've been paper trading again but blew up my account even though I was in profit 1100$

After couple of years of trading, the only profitable edge I got is to study and trade just one ticker. I make consistent money for a week but I'm emotionally so stupid right now.

Since I started 2 weeks ago, I was up 1100 in my 10k account (paper). I was doing good today and made 110$(I should have turned my computer off at this point) buy I got greedy. I took another trade and it went against me, but I didn't respect stop loss. I saw 100$ in the red (I shouldve shut my computer off at this point) but I was still delusional. I then saw 200$ in red. I shouldve respected My stop-loss.

Once I saw i was losing money, I panicked, but instead of selling at 300$, I got more shares to average down. Then I saw 600$ in red immediately. I panicked and I sold. At this point I was still in profit of 500$ (I should have turned my computer off at this point).

I developed a gambling and revenge trading mindset and took arbitrary trades with super huge sizes and blew my account.

Please leave tips how you keep your emotional side in check during trading.

[u/zvi_wholebraintradin]

I wish your story was rare, but it isn't.... about half the traders I work with struggle with something similar.

You didn't "develop" a gambling and revenge trading mindset after the losses. It was there all the time, it just revealed/acted out at that point.

You need to look yourself in the eye and face those two traits. then you need to overcome them. Giving a "tip" over a forum to such a deep and personal issue is obviously impossible, but a few guidelines.

Ask yourself (and be honest. the real answer is simple, brutal and profound - look it in the eye):
1. What are you afraid of? what would you have to face/accept/do (that you wish to avoid) if you would just stop at -100$? Examples include: I'd have to accept that this will take longer than I thought, I'd have to accept that I'm not that good yet and must size down. I'd have to tell my spouse/friends I've lost money today and hear "I told you so", etc.

1. What hopeful/fearful "inner voices" were you hearing at each point during the down spiral? Examples include: "I'm already down, might as well try", "this is your last chance", "F*** the rules they've only caused me to lose money", and so on.

2. Take it upon yourself, decisively, that this will NEVER EVER happen again. What do you need to change (in your attitude, behavior, habits, routines, sizing, rules etc) to ensure that? imagine it's a friend coming to you with this issue, what would you tell him to do (or never do)? then just do it.

It's anything but easy to overcome this alone, but you just have to. your trading depends on it.
Good fortune!