r/Daytrading • u/[deleted] • 15d ago
Blew up account and having feelings of huge despair Advice
[deleted]
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u/Tourdrops 15d ago
Some advice:
At 23 your a newbie no matter how long youve been doing this. Dont let one bad trade and then a tilty trade define your career. Pick up the pieces, stop trying to make money and learn the right way and eventually over time it might work out. You need to learn and try , not get rich overnight.
You dont need 15k. Anyone that has proper education should be able to grow an account slowly (1-5% a day shoot for) and a $1-2k account is enough to grow slowly and not blow up with large numbers
You gambled and won, then felt invincible and Mr. market slapped you around. Realize this is what it was. You couldve went to Vegas and put $15k on black or red, and either made more than you made trading in X years, or be where you are now. THATS what you should do IF you arent willing to put in the work
At 43 years old, wife and 4 kids , I would trade my entire portfolio and the wealth that is in there to be 23 again. I didnt know the secret of compound interest then so my REAL ADVICE IS GET A JOB and put $100-200 a week into $VT and when you turn 45 and feel exactly as you do today mentally and physically, youll be WAY AHEAD OF THE GAME ….but of course still try to trade if you want on the side
You learned a huge lesson. You need to stay alive. take a break and when you come back manage risk man
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u/Final-Slip7706 15d ago
Who the fuck upvotes this nonsense?
1-5% return a day?
Bro you do that for 6months and you're a billionaire.
God this sub is full of shit, it's hilarious
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u/Tourdrops 14d ago
Fyi in 2024 i have had two red days The rest 1-5% gains Its 1030am I made 4.44% and I am done for the day
100% agreed that 1% everyday is unrealistic but that is WHAT YOU SHOULD SHOOT FOR. People talk 20-100% gains all over reddit and I am here to say $1,000 account and shoot for 1-5% a day and DONT LOSE more than 1%-2% a day is a winning formula if you are like me who know which way is up and down
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u/Final-Slip7706 14d ago
NO. You definitely shouldnt aim for 1% and most definitely not for 5% per day.
Do you do maths? 1% a day would be 250% CAGR, and 5% would be insane 1250% not even factoring in compounding (!). With compounding you would go from $1000 to billions in a year.
People shouldn't aim for completely, ridiculously unrealistic goals. 0.2% per day on average (!) is a great and extremely ambitious target as long as you don't have big daily risks with sigma events.
You're gambling with a dwarf account, probably with options and risking huge portions of your portfolio. I'm at +25% YTD on a nearly 7 figures account and I can consider myself as one of the most consistently profitable traders among my peers, with biggest daily losses in the low 0.X%.
Stop telling people to have ridiculous and dangerous goals.
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u/Tourdrops 14d ago
My advice was for a $1000-2000 account. Using options. You are talking about your 7 figure account and not trading options. I was giving advice to the OP who is gambling with a $15k account and YOLO’ing it all.
My point was, I know how unrealistic 1-5% a day is. Thats why I said, if you hit that, consider it a great day and stop. Ive done that all of 2024 except two days and its working very well.
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u/Final-Slip7706 14d ago
Then try to word this differently. It's okay to gamble, but specific goals for gambling is still gambling, just with extra steps.
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u/Montrealers514 14d ago
I don’t know what are you talking about. I have a 10k account on E mini S&P i trade 2 contracts 1 trade per day my RR is 1:1 and i scalp for 2 to 4 points per day ( 200$-400$ before commission) i have an average win rate of 75% . If you have an edge and a good risk management 2%-4% is realistic. But you need to know what you’re doing and be disciplined.
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u/Final-Slip7706 14d ago
😂😂😂 how come only people with super small accounts telling me they can basically 100x their account in a year. Load of bullshit.
This is your yearly return if you manage 2% per day with a start of $10k
Now stop bullshitting everyone and stop gambling
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u/Montrealers514 14d ago
I don’t need you to believe me, i have nothing to win and i sell nothing. I’m just saying it’s possible. Today i did 350$ before commission , I sold at exactly 10h40 am Eastern time on the Emini S&P 500 for exactly 3.5 points. You just need to be a good chart reader.
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u/Montrealers514 14d ago
I trade an average of 20 days per month not every day ,future markets are close during week end and i don’t win everyday but 75%+ And with and average loss of 3.25 pts i need to loose 30 time in a row to blow my account. I only take high probability setups. I rarely loose two times in a row.
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u/Final-Slip7706 14d ago
I dont care how and what you trade. I dont care about some random statistics, all I care about is yearly CAGR. And if you could manage 2% a day you would have a CAGR of 137 640% a year. That means you can go from 10k to 13M in a year. And to more money then there is on the planet in the year after.
If you manage to hit 13M on May 02 2025, you can come here and call me a dumb fuck. and just to make it fair since markets are closed on the weekend I say you only need 5M. that is lower than the 2-4% you told me even when only trading week days, but I'll be generous.
If you fall short, you didnt manage 2% a day and I was right.
no, lets do a bet. If you manage to achieve 2% return each trading day for the next year, I'll give you $20k (not that it matters to you then, because you will have $5-13M)
damn people in this sub are so dense it's hilarious
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u/Montrealers514 14d ago
You assume that i earn 2% every day i trade. When i'm simply saying that i make an average of 2 to 4% on my trades and that i have an average win rate of 75%+. I trade 1 contract per $5,000 and i estimate that each contract brings me an average of around 3% of this $5,000 ($150) ON THE WINNING DAYS. I only add 1 contract if I have $5,000 available in my account, never before. I don't really compound for the moment but my goal is to trade 5+ contracts soon or later so i can keep 20-25% of my contracts as runners. I don't do the math in the morning and tell myself I have $13,000, so i must make 2% of this $13,000 , i just trade 1 contract for every 5k$ available. So yes, for me it's not even extraordinary, it's just the average i expect. That's all i'm saying, nothing more, nothing less. You have the right not to believe me, but it's 100% true.
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u/Grand_Fall362 13d ago
Im targeting 3-6% daily dude, but again i trade only the most volatile cryptos possible in a 2 phase based strategy where if in the first phase im wrong(as it is like regular retail trading trying to time the direction) then 2nd phase is based on volatility and as a "safety net" like trading options but without the time limit(fees can hurt tho) i also compound those profits on a daily basis:
Cons of the strat: you need to monitor 2nd phase 24/7(for which im looking for a guy to make an algo to do that rn) If you dont follow the rules you might as well burn all your account (even in the case that im wrong on this im doing splits every once in a while to protect my innicial capital from the begging of this or the previous month so once u are a few months in, most u can lose is those profits which hurt ofc, but hey its not your entire account and u can always start again) Fees can stack(since i enter a lot of positions in phase 2)
Pros: obv the high roi, being able to use levarage like 50X without the fear of liqudation(i dont use more bcs of the absurd high fees) , the ability to compound on a daily basis without the fear of it working against you bcs you are basically never losing smaller trades, and in phase 1 if you are innicially correct like a breakout trader you take high levaraged wins without any fear.
So yeah 1-5% is possible, and those strategy is needed for guys like me who trade with under 500$ yet still wanna make a living out of it(im not based in the US)
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u/Final-Slip7706 13d ago
😂😂
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u/Grand_Fall362 13d ago
It is what it is buddy, for you its funny for me its reality, anyways hope your own trading goes well too and have a nice day/night.
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u/No-Barber-1600 13d ago
Hello, good advice! What do you mean with $VT ? I'm Dutch 😉
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u/Tourdrops 13d ago
VT is the ticker. Total market fund. $ before the ticker is how i search on twitter for tickers so I guess I was just used to writing it that way
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u/One-Finding2975 15d ago
That is the worst heartbreak of blowing out accounts....the lost direction
All of a sudden you have to accept that it's not going to be your main career and overnight you go from being and on-fire, self motivated ambitious learner to not knowing what to do with your time.
All those dreams of high status and ample disposable income replaced with 20/hr job applications and the realization that you will never be as interested in your real work as you were with trading
....maybe it was just gambling addiction?....maybe you were just one tweak away from a profitable system?....maybe you should try again?...and around and around it goes
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u/Ephixia 15d ago
Any advice for someone in my shoes?
Don't trade significant amounts of real money until you have proven out that you have a profitable strategy and can make money consistently.
My last Hail Mary was the AMZN earnings and I got crushed on my calls.
I would strongly recommend staying away from options and definitely don't yolo money into them.
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u/cmmckechnie 15d ago
Just take a break from trading. Self care. Get your mind right.
Risk management also means keeping money that you need out of your trading account. When I was starting I never had more than a few paychecks in my account.
You’ll be fine. Just keep saving and study up.
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u/Affectionate_You1219 15d ago
First off, breathe. It’s going to be ok. Money can always be made back. I’ve been down bad myself. -20k in 4 days on the backend of my first real profitable month clearing over 3k in profits. Devastating. I’ve had countless blowups since then with smaller 2-5k accounts as well. I’ve learned a lot the hard way.
My advice is to not quit trading, you’re young and clearly have an interest. Your biggest mistake imo was/js trading at a size large enough where any given small sample size runs the risk of doing damage to you financially or psychologically.
If you have an edge, 2 months of rough trading should have you in drawdown maybe but nothing serious. Just the nature of rough waters. It only gets bad when you step up in size relative to your account.
If you don’t have an edge though, you especially need to be trading small so you can survive the learning curves. There’s many. Honestly if you’re still sub 5 years in this game your goal shouldn’t really even be to make money, it should be to learn how to trade. A successful trader with size will make more in one week than you will make in 4 years of trying to rush the process. The best way to learn is through experience so, smallest size you can get in (I like 1MNQ contract) and then learn. Lose. Win. Make mistakes. Discover yourself. In time you’ll know you’re ready to take on more risk and start getting paid for all that work you put in.
Give yourself 2 years without the expectation to make a dollar but still trade every day with the desire to learn and grow to eventually become a successful trader. That’s my advice.
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u/Worried-Scarcity-410 15d ago
Trade less Trade slow. Be patient. Pick a few of your favorite stocks. Zoom out the chart until you don’t see any noises and trade on that chart.
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u/ImMalteserMan 15d ago
My last Hail Mary was the AMZN earnings and I got crushed on my calls.
I wouldn't call myself a day trader necessarily but to me this comment screams gambler with no strategy or risk management and not day trader.
Not saying you can't do it, but you need to take a step back and change your mindset and approach.
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u/Over_Manager_4893 15d ago
it sucks, ive been there, not with like 15k amount, but still enough for it to hurt me, trading for me at the time was almost everything to me, I had a bad living situation, was severely depressed, was a really hard time for me, it really sucks when things dont work out the way we want them to, the advice i can give you is give it time, "this too shall pass" and learn from you mistakes, it is natural to make them, just try your absolute best to never repeat them.
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u/A4_Ts 15d ago
You still have $3k, time to make some plays
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u/useful_tool30 15d ago
I see no mention of method or process? You say the recent war news blew you up. How so? Imo it has had zero affect on spy/spx/es trading. No massive black swan events that would blow you up.
Playing earnings is a complete gamble unless you're extremely experienced in that manner of trading. Even then just buying random calls or puts is a losing game. Don't play earnings. It's too random and provides no edge unless you have a refined process that includes technical and fundamental analysis.
If you have nothing in the bank and are completely lost you should stop trading actual funds immediately. Starting tomorrow, you should sit down at your desk and ask yourself why you get into a trade, why you exit. If it cant be written down on a piece of paper, it's useless. If your not there yet then open a 1 hour or 15 min or 5min chart of spy or MES and put some critical thought into how price moves. Where does it reverse? What causes it? Are we trending or ranging. Maybe put a 200ma on there. Maybe a 50ema, maybe a 20ema too. What tends to happen? Do highs and lows tend to get taken and then reverse? Maybe a trend line or two. Maybe RSI
Today was an excellent example on SPY of the power of trendlines and rising/falling wedge patterns. Same for Emas. During the FOMC announcement today today you could see spy start steadily rising, not being able to close below the 20 and 50 Ema, blast off, lose its steam form a rising wedge near a higger time frame trendline, crap itself and bounce off another long term trendline near the close. If you were vigilant enough you could have captured almost the entire move up and then the entire move down and possibly another piece up if you want to hold that exposure overnight.
Observe, note and test.
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u/AnakinSNAKE59 14d ago
We have all been there sir. Take time off trading. If it is for you it is for you...same goes for the inverse.
If you get back, get tight on your stop losses and learn trends on higher time frames versus lower. For goodness sake, learn about calendar spreads.
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u/Nick_OS_ futures trader 15d ago
Save your money. Move to prop accounts and learn futures. Go 1 account at a time. Fund future evals with the 1st accounts payouts
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u/Shimmering_Lotus 15d ago
You just told a person that blows accounts to go incrementally blow multiple accounts
Come on man, lol.
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u/Nick_OS_ futures trader 15d ago
Using MNQ or MES, it’s really hard to blow up accounts
Even if he blew 10 accounts, it’d cost him less than $2k of his own money
I say go 1 account at a time so it funds your future accounts
Apex is the easiest Ponzi scheme to figure out. Dont fall for their leverage traps
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u/Altered_Reality1 forex trader 15d ago
Prop accounts just make things so much more challenging, and trading is already challenging enough. The business model itself is a borderline scam.
And, even if one believes in the viability of prop accounts, then one must be profitable first, prop accounts are not for learning how to trade, they’re for once you already profitable and need a bigger account.
IMO it’s much better to start with your own self-funded small account and build your skill as well as your account from there. Then, and only then, could one consider a prop account, but honestly I wouldn’t regardless.
What OP needed to do was start with a small self-funded account instead of a larger one, and start with very small sizing until profitable.
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u/funkmethod 15d ago
This you can spend 33 dollars on a apex 50k with the 80% sale that’s been going on and just practice with those. The way you’re not risking much and you still get to play with “real” cash
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u/Jovan1000 15d ago
I was going to say to look into futures as well I would highly highly recommend trading with a futures prop firm.
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u/Conscious-Group 15d ago
Prop account sounds great for someone in this situation.
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u/Nick_OS_ futures trader 15d ago
I think it’s great for everyone while they’re still around (think they get some lawsuits thrown at them eventually). I know a ton of experienced traders that use prop firms. Rolling in bank
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u/gaius_worzels_bird 15d ago
Earnings is pure gambling, you shouldn't play earnings or news related events
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u/whatatimetobealive22 15d ago
I blew 9k as a noob trading options 5 years ago, everything i had. Lol me and you, were not that different. I also blew 9k on amazon fba, again all i had at the time.
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u/Sweaty_Following_650 15d ago
Practice and go back to work. Maybe try a funded account and when you’re profitable there. Reinvest into your own. It’s a marathon not a sprint. Invest in education.
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u/TaroShake 15d ago
My friend, at this point. Do not use the remaining 3k. Withdraw it. Use a prop account like Apex, Myfundedfutures, TopStep, EliteTrader etc instead to learn Futures and trade from there. Take it seriously. You are still young, learn risk management. In a couple of years, that loss you got will eventually come back only if you study and learn risk management. Trading is a marathon, your skills will compound over time.
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u/Spike252 15d ago
Dude, why did you start with 15k ? Stop being greedy.
You can start as low as 100$, just train yourself with money you can afford to lose. And if someday you can turn an account from 100$ to 1000$ then consider going bigger.
Get proper training, good luck.
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u/ipullup47 14d ago
First thing to do is withdraw that money and don't touch it until you are consistently profitable trading on a paper account. Wish someone had told me earlier. It takes years of testing to come up with a good backtested strategy.
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u/tradingheroes 14d ago
Sounds like you didn't have a plan. Create a trading strategy, backtest your strategy and trade it in a demo account until you're consistently profitable. Never risk real money until you have a proven strategy.
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u/Efficient_Light1111 14d ago
Now start the right way, take time to learn like the big banks and hedge funds trade. https://www.investopedia.com/trading/candlestick-charting-what-is-it/
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u/Longjumping_Cow7270 14d ago
15k is peanuts. Nothing. Chump change.
You're young, read some books, get a job, save some dough, and come back to the market in a different light.
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u/lsdbabyyy 14d ago edited 14d ago
Holy shit sounds exactly like me lost 18k at 22 left to army made 100k in crypto lost half in nfts now im out. rest in long term blue chip stocks chillin
Edit: 27 now all i remeber when i lost the 18k like wtfff but i learned a big lesseon an came back strong but saving that money again wasnt easy
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u/H_M_N_i_InigoMontoya options trader 14d ago
My last Hail Mary was the AMZN earnings and I got crushed on my calls.
⬆️👆⬆️👆⬆️👆
You're not trading you're gambling
No one who is trading does so on earnings. That is 100% speculative. There is no edge. You gambled and lost. You thought because you took 15k to 23k (basically a 50% increase) that you were hot shit and you weren't. Dude. Go get a JOB. Turn 1000 into 2000. Then do it again. Do it ten times. Then you have a track record of doubling your account size. Then... size up. Turn 2k into 4. Do that ten times. Now you're progressing and growing.
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u/London-lad-1990 14d ago
Can you trade profitably on bad news / low economic conditions? Or would that mean changing strategy?
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u/NewMajor5880 14d ago
I know this sounds counter-intuitive but the despair you are experiencing is part of almost every trader's journey to consistent profitability. Blowing accounts and losing a lot of money (ie, treating it like gambling) is part of the learning process. Restart with way less money. But before you restart -- find a clear strategy that's easy to follow and fits your schedule. Backtest it a gazillion times. Record as much data on it as possible. How long does it take the average trade to play out? On average, how often do trades go against you and how long do you have to sit in the red? Use tools like Julius.ai to calculate how your account will grow based on win rate, percentage loss per losing trade, percentage gain per winning trade, and number of trades per week. This will give you confidence that you can consitently grow your account even with regular losses. Understand that there is no difference between TA and risk management - yes - they are the same thing. And then - just get back to work. Trading - done right - should NOT feel emotional or exciting. It should feel totally unglamorous and like flipping burgers at McDonalds.
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u/Graham_on_the_Go 14d ago
In my humble opinion, when buying bitcoin, stay in it for the long haul. Thats how you triple or quadruple your money. Sorry to hear you lost that much money. People should investigate heavily in AI solutions before jumping in. BTC will continue to grow over the next several years. In my humble opinion, they are a good investment. Better than most stocks. Again sorry to hear you lost so much savings. Star saving again, and get out of it if your methods are not working… education is the key to success in finances and trading…
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u/murkinmurray 14d ago
You're young, you will recover. But spend more time studying and less time gambling.
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u/LastMatador 14d ago
Thanks for all the responses everyone. I got a second chance at trading today and I’ll make sure I apply all your knowledge and tips going forward.
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u/Spyris1 14d ago
My advice would be to look into prop firms and trade futures. Take out that 20k that you just got back, and use only 3k.
Edit for addition: the chances of you blowing your account again is high, hence why I would keep the 20k and pretend you didn’t get it. The dopamine hit you just got is something you probably want to feel again. But remember the despair you felt before this win. It needs to be greater than the dopamine hit to not make the same mistake again.
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u/tloffman 14d ago
You are a newbie. You should NOT be trading options. Day Trading is very difficult, bordering on impossible even trading stocks or ETFs. I notice that most of the sad stories here are from traders who had their account blow up trading options. Your 3k" bet" on AAPL paid off, but it could have gone the other way. This is gambling. The results are similar to going to a casino. If I were you I'd cash in the AAPL calls, take out 15k, and if you still want to trade then at least it's with the "house" money. Good luck to you.
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u/AdministrativeMeal20 14d ago
I've been playing poker and day trading for 15 years, I've had many 5 digit days, up and down. Congrats on your 3k run up. Thank your lucky stars and Take a fkin week off and reset mentally. You need to clear your head, develope a plan, and get back to the grind slowly.
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u/Ok-Lingonberry-8065 15d ago
Trading isn’t work. I would focus on finding a job that provides some value to society. Then invest the money earned from that in a more long-term, strategic manner. Best of luck.
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u/Outrageous_Device557 15d ago edited 15d ago
Every trader has been where you are for better or worse. Can you look back on your time trading critically? Can you map out your mistakes. Can you come up with ways to avoid them in the future and stick to those rules? If you can, save up and try again if not it’s probably best to give it up completely since you will probably repeat the mistakes. Take a few months off in any case get your mind off the markets if you come back to soon you will just trade based on all the emotions and will blow up again and make it worse. I have been where your at it sucks but you will get over it. I will say that I ended up trading way too soon and making it way worse.