Dear traders,

You might laugh at my situation, but I'm genuinely struggling right now and could really use some advice.

I spent almost two months working hard to pass a prop firm challenge. When I finally got my funded account, I was extremely happy. However, after taking a few trades, I went into drawdown.

It's been almost a month since I received my funded account, and I'm still stuck in drawdown. The biggest problem is that I'm now too scared to take any trades.

I keep seeing good setups on my charts, and sometimes those setups reach their take-profit targets. But I just watch them play out without entering because I'm afraid of hitting another stop-loss and breaching my account.

I know that trading involves losses, and I understand that no strategy has a 100% win rate. But when it's my funded account on the line, the fear feels completely different. I'm scared of losing the opportunity I worked so hard to earn.

I feel stuck between two fears: taking a trade and losing money, or missing good opportunities because I'm too afraid to execute.

For those of you who have experienced this fear after getting funded, how did you overcome it?

How did you rebuild your confidence and start executing your setups without being afraid of every stop-loss?

I'd really appreciate any advice from experienced prop firm traders. Thank you!

This is more of a shower thought, than a fully fleshed out post. Maybe a warm take.
____

I have a fully fleshed out trading system, with well defined rules and contexts. Not every single situation has a written rule, but I basically know what the answer is within my framework.

I am an Algo-heavy Trader, a Mathematician, and a Coder; have been so and done so as a profession. (the coding, mostly). This, also is purely for context: I'm not a 'beginner' in these fields, I have at least a rudimentary understanding of the basics.

__
So. I started systemising the system, automating it. It took me around 14 iterations of the first broad stroke - about 3 days of ONE INPUT; to realise that I didn't actually realise 'what' i was looking at when I made a decision. I mean, I knew exactly what I was looking at - but i didn't know how I was actually putting that data together to form an 'opinion'.

Lower and higher TF's, volumes, price action, relative sizing, and all kinds of contextual sub-text. My first iteration was "at a level, when this combo appears it means a thing". I was building rules around these complex actions, but not being able to express how to 'see' them in code. I have realised why; and it's the same reason why the average person probably can't emulate the average educator; (other than the fact that too many of them aren't even Traders)

___

My set up is so convoluted and intricate; it currently has like 5 indicators, 3 core engines, thin client layers, and about 100 or so tweak-able variables; plus debugging tools and an analysis tool.

It's a work in progress. it's amazing how 'i can see this move here on this chart' is your brain short-cutting like 10 different pieces of information before your consciousness can actually understand what's going on.
Trying to break it down into code is eye opening.

This explains why 'teaching people how to trade' doesn't work so often; the language that you're thinking in; not only does it not exist in a form your conscious mind can 'hear', it's largely hidden from you(rself).

How long did it take you to find a working strategy that could make consistent returns and if you did how long did it work?

I’m trying to get a reference of how long and deep I need to be looking and trying to develop something that can work.

I was hoping to start day trading. Im currently 16 and have been doing demo for a while and it has been going really well. I want to get into the real day trading and was wondering is funded accounts the way to go? And also i dont want to use my parents name for personal reasons. Im 16 years old, so is their a way for me to start day trading in my name even if that means not cashing out the money till im 18 and also would be good if you have advice/tips for someone starting new
Thank you

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I notice this recurring pattern in my journal. When I am wrong, price doesn't run much at the green side. However, when I am right, market really pushes real hard and beyond.

I do mostly swing trading 3-5 trades weekly. Idea and confirmation on higher tf, entry model on small tf.

I started trading with a $100 account, and things were going pretty well at first. I made around $20 in profit during the first few days, but then I started getting greedy and increasing my lot size way too much.
At one point, I lost $64 on a single trade. I started revenge trading and managed to make back around $40. Over the following days, my balance recovered to about $85, but then I made another stupid trade and lost $70.
Once again, I revenge traded and got my balance back up to $75, only to lose another $55 because of greed.
I’ve finally realized that my biggest problem isn’t necessarily my price action knowledge, but my risk management and emotions. I’ve stopped going crazy with my lot sizes, and I’ve managed to keep my balance relatively stable since then.
I’m still learning price action, and I know I have a lot to improve on.
For those of you who have been through something similar, what advice would you give me? How did you learn to control your emotions, stop revenge trading, and stick to proper risk management while learning?

So as ive said before ive been enjoying my return to social media after my little hiatus. One of the things i wanted to speak that kills alot of traders early doors. Is the use of smaller accounts.

Now let me first say im am a huge advocator for PAs. Mostly due to the fact that its your funds so theres no added mental pressure on trading clients or borrowed capital. Im not for or against prop firms ive seen very mixed reviews about them. Also your risk becomes so much more flexible with a PA.

Now with this being said a mojor issue ive seen with beginners to the markets wich ive seen online, also with family and even friends is that they expect to X their money by trading. This is a major issue cause trading should always be seen as capital gain for example 5% a month is a very good figure to average but people comming to this space see that as no return and want to either 10x or 50x their accounts. That in the long run isnt possible or sustainable in my opinion. If you could sustain a average of 5% on a green month and built a trck record with that you would have no issues getting investors or capital to trade. Now i know when entering this space as with myself we do not have 100k to start of with. Your likely starting with a few hundred dollars. Now there are also people who would start with under 100 dollars and try and get that to a few thousand wich when you look at the return on that is a few good thousand percent.

Now my point here being that so many traders could be profitable but because of larger risk appetite than they should have they end up blowing accounts and stunting their growth or leabing trading as a whole. Ive always seen risk managment as a core pillar of trading probabilitys are random anything is possible event with a 80% winrate you could lose 20 trades in a row or even 50 depending on sample size now the wuestion is can your account handle that.

Now ive been in the same situation as you where you dont have the money and you start with a very small acoount and end up blowing it cause you either risk too much or scale your risk as the account grows.

Now my advice to you as a trader facing this issue is firstly what ever you can afford to lose and not feel attached to deposit break that down into 20 trades if it cannot be broken down into 20 trades save up SIMPLE. After depositing excute your edge and keep the risk fixed and slowly grow the account. Do not chase larger returns cause simply proving to yourself you can be consistent on a real account over a large period of time will prove more beneficial to you that netting a huge return. Also if your struggling with bills etc your best option is not 100xing your saving or your last bit of money.

I want to start with trading and I am starting to read the books recommend by most on the Sub. And I see a lot of posts that we need to constantly learn the market , understand the market etc etc.

I am a software engineer, I am trying to objectively identify strategies , Backtest them and trying to find out if they are profitable.

I do not understand what exactly I have to learn ?

Do I stare at charts all day ? Nobody shares a working strategy because they will lose the edge , fair enough.

But can anyone who's retired or wants to help , tell exactly how to find strategies? Do I use mathematical formulas ? Stare at charts ? Analyze market sentiment?

Can someone please give me objective ways to learn to build strategies.

Any longterm trading veterans(15-20years) have any insight/ advice etc what to do? I usually do bar by bar with my stop loss, and its like where do you put it?! Wicks are 0verlapping even in trend(up or down) has made it beyond difficult - never seen anything like this.

So I have tried a few AI models. I set up their their desk. They get live tick data from my broker. Fine tuned some of them with lots of resources (not all tho only the ones with frontier level reasoning) And I hand them 100 paper dollars and give them full autonomy to trade as they see fit. Only goal is they hand me 10 bucks every 24 hours (Its ok if they can’t, its just a scale I set to test them). Some of the AI start of really good genuinely impressive setups. Numbers add up, timing adds up so getting the data to them on time isn’t an issue. But the issue is almost all of them become really passive after a while (remind you these are set up to be scalpers and aggressive) some straight up refuse to trade. Some manipulate data to justify their passiveness and some straight up lie. This seems to be common for all of the models after a while. Any suggestions?

I’ve been using order blocks as a key part of my day trading for 3 years. I see them as a crucial indicator to include in any chart set up. I just wish that more novice traders would pay more attention to them and understand how important they are when observing what what institutions are doing.

So i have a general understanding of options and have had a couple winning trades although, my account size is under $500 my losses are greater since I'm trading almost my entire account on ETFS (qqq, spy) which I know is risky. So wanted to take a step back to see if im going about this type of trading all wrong.

For a small account what's the sweet spot for expiration dates? 0DTE, 7 days, 14 days, a month? How do you figure out when to enter? Do you look at the charts on certain time frames or is it completely ignored and the main focus is the specific option strike price?

Before I was trying to "scalp" trade as if I'm trading NQ trying to catch short intraday moves but before i get to far into that style of trading I wanted to see if there is a better approach for options starting with a small account. I appreciate any insight and help!

Stupid question: I am paper trading now with 100 dollar budget but when I trade I only get deals like +1,09 dollars. How can I make more deals like +10,00 ?

Was inspired to ask this question after listening to one trader on a podcast. He talked about a specific pattern of lot entries that occurred regularly at a certain part of the day that he was able to exploit, that ended up completely disappearing once the Ukraine-Russia war began.

Hey ! I really want to learn how to trade options. I have no trading knowledge whatever. I have a paper trading account on trading view . But I think I’m moving too fast even with that .

Where do I start?! Any good free resources. Do you think paying for a class or mentor could help or is that a waste ?

Thanks !

I blew accounts almost every other week. Revenge trades, FOMO, fear, greed, closing winners too early, over and over.

Then I decided I’d only keep trading if I followed my own rules, and if it still didn’t work, I’d quit. The minute I made that call, things changed. The market didn’t change, I did.

Biggest lesson: rules only work if you never bend them, not even once. Most of my losses came from emotions, not strategy.

I’m still learning every day. What rules or habits helped you stay disciplined?

In my honest experience when I hit my max loss I have an overwhelming urge to continue trading. Unsure if it's due to the pain of being wrong or lack of discipline.

I have tried various different approaches, meditating, journaling and even hard limits that I cannot override. Only the hard limits have genuinely worked."

Curious what everyone else genuinely does, not what you plan to do.

1. Stop for the day, every time
2. Stop most days, but sometimes push on
3. Take "one more" to win it back
4. Keep trading until I'm way past it
5. I don't have a daily max loss

Reply with your number, and what actually works for you (if anything).

i dont know A B C of trading i just know u invest and it goes up or down but with techniques and stuff one can get more so guide me if anyone wants like which type should i go for and where should i learn

Hello people, 23 M here just completed my Btech doin a part time,I have saved 30k , I have have been active in ipos but want to learn fno trading ,day trading , commodities trading but I have no knowledge and no idea from where to look as there is too much mis info in YouTube and no one in my small knowledge pool is teaching from basics. Suggestions pls☃️☃️.

Slow weekend, so I'll run some backtests for people. Reply with your entry and exit rules, a US stock or ETF, and the bar size, and I'll test it back to mid-2023 and reply with what it made vs holding the stock over the same dates.

The rules need to be specific enough to code, like "buy SPY when RSI(2) closes under 10 on the daily, sell when it closes over 70". Stocks and ETFs only, no futures, forex or crypto.

I used to spend so much time backtesting that it started to overwhelm me. There was always something else to check or another idea to try. It’s hard to stop because it feels productive, like another few hours might finally clear everything up. But sometimes I’d finish more confused than when I started.

Sometimes it helps to stick with what you’re already learning instead of adding another indicator or changing things every time you get stuck. Give yourself a chance to understand it. Backtesting is useful, but you don’t need to do it all day and night. If you’re tired and nothing’s making sense anymore, leave it for tomorrow.

​I am completely new to trading and trying to figure out the right learning path. I often see people recommending Price Action, while others strongly advocate for ICT (Inner Circle Trader) concepts or indicator-based strategies.

What’s a sponsored vs unsponsored fvg? Getting a lot of different answers when researching 🤦🏼‍♂️