I had everything ready.

Chart open.

Order size calculated.

Cursor hovering over the buy button.

Then I looked at my checklist one more time and realized I was forcing the setup.

Closed the chart.

No trade.

Looking back, that decision saved me far more than any winning trade would've made.

I never thought I would write this.

I had a strategy that worked. My accuracy was good. My edge was real.

But none of that mattered because I couldn’t defeat the one opponent that was always inside me—my own psychology and lack of discipline.

I passed 18-20 funded accounts.
I managed to take only one payout.

But I also failed more than 90 funded accounts.
Every single time I told myself, “This time will be different.”

I studied psychology.
I worked on discipline.
I reduced risk.
I journaled.
I made rules.

I promised myself I would never revenge trade again.
But when the moment came, I kept repeating the same mistakes.

One loss turned into multiple unnecessary trades.
Those trades turned into bigger losses.
And another account was gone.

I wasn’t losing because my strategy stopped working.
I was losing because I couldn’t control myself.

For years I believed that tomorrow would be the day I finally mastered my emotions.
It never happened.

Today, I’ve accepted something I didn’t want to accept.

I’m quitting trading.

This decision hurts more than any loss I’ve ever taken.
Trading wasn’t just something I did.

It was the thing I loved more than anything.

I loved the charts, the challenge, the endless pursuit of improvement, and the dream that one day I would finally become the trader I knew I could be.

Walking away feels like leaving behind a part of myself.
This will leave a scar on my life that I don’t think will ever completely heal.

Maybe one day I’ll look back without regret.

But today, all I feel is heartbreak.

Goodbye, trading.

Thank you for every lesson, every victory, and every failure.

I gave you everything I had.

I just couldn’t win the battle against myself.

Not “I learned discipline”, the specific moment things clicked.

Mine: I kept blowing funded accounts and couldn’t figure out why, until I realized every blowup happened when I was trading under real financial pressure,needing the payout to cover life, not just wanting it. The second money got tight, my size went up and my rules got “flexible.”

What actually fixed it wasn’t a new strategy. It was removing the pressure so when I sat down at the charts I had nothing to prove that day. Almost every rule-break I’d made before came from needing the account to work, not choosing to trade well.

Curious what others found was yours a strategy thing, a psychology thing, or something totally outside trading?

I met this chick online who was like "I'm gonna teach you about the market and swing trading" and I was like "Cool" and she was like "Buy this software (Quantelligence) that will let you predict the market" and I'm like "No it's a thousand dollars" And she was like "But you'll make way more than that" and we went back and forth for like an hour lol

One thing that took me longer than it should have to learn:

A profitable trade isn't automatically a good trade.

Sometimes you break every rule and still make money.

Sometimes you execute your plan perfectly and take a small loss.

The outcome feels important in the moment, but the process matters much more over the long run.

I've started reviewing whether I followed my plan before looking at the P&L.

It's made me much more objective, especially after emotional trading days.

I am trying to get into trading and i'm a complete beginner. I wanted to try the tjr stuff because some people recommended it but he seems unserious was barely teaching the trading stuff, so i checked here and everyone says he is a joke. I am kind of looking for some advice on where i can start, i just figured out how candles work and thats it. I looked on this reddit already and other people asking the same thing get replys like "youtube" but no actual accounts or videos... Does anyone know a reliable creator (for free) to learn the basics? I see a lot of people talking about ICT, i don't know what that is but opinions seem to mixed on it. I searched it up on youtube and still don't really know what it is. If anyone could help me with some directions i'd really appreciate it. I don't really have anyone to talk to who is already into trading so i am little bit stuck here and don't want to waste my time on some "scams". (I know that this won't get me rich in a quick/easy time, i'm serious on commiting to the years it needs to get decent at this)

For the longest time, I thought every losing trade happened because my entry wasn't good enough.

So I kept searching for the "perfect" setup.

Better indicators.

More confirmation.

Another timeframe.

Eventually I realized something.

Even great trades rarely begin perfectly.

Some move against you first.

Some chop around for hours.

Some work immediately.

The entry wasn't my real problem.

It was expecting certainty from an uncertain market.

Once I accepted that, my focus shifted toward risk management instead of trying to predict every tick.

Ironically, that's when trading became much less stressful.

The number one advice I could give to all new traders, size down , way down, until you become consistently profitable. Risk an amount you would feel nothing if lost, this is so you can focus on building your mechanical muscle without your judgement getting clouded by emotions associated to fear of loss (or gain) of money.

I wish someone explained this to me when I first started, would've saved me a lot of pain and a ton of money. To be frank I kinda "knew" in the back of my head I should be doing this, but I thought I'm different. Trust me no one is different at least in that sense, all traders walk down the same path.

You can either preserve capital and safeguard your emotions until you're profitable, then size up, or blow up and quit.

I'm still a beginner, and one thing I've realized is that trading isn't just about finding the perfect strategy. The small habits seem to matter much more over time.

I've started focusing on:

• Risking only a small percentage per trade.
• Waiting for quality setups instead of forcing trades.
• Keeping a simple trading journal.
• Accepting losses instead of trying to win them back immediately.

I'm curious about traders with more experience.

If you could give beginners just ONE piece of advice, what would it be and why?

What's the habit that made the biggest difference in your trading journey? I'd love to learn from your experiences. 👇

I've been trading the opening range breakout for a while now, and I wanted to hear from other people who use it.

A few things I'm curious about:

1. How does ORB compare to other strategies you've traded? Did anything work better for you?

2. Which market do you run it on? indices, crypto, futures, stocks, forex?

3. Are you actually happy with your results, or is it just okay?

4. What usually kills your win rate: news, low volume days, false breakouts?

Would like to hear real experiences, good or bad.

It doesn’t matter how much money you made yesterday, this month or last half a year.

If your trading history or a reliable backtest are not statistically meaningful, you are gambling.

The probability that the result is due to luck is close to 1.0.

Do you want to be donating money to MMs or other traders?

Please, save yourself time, money, and effort: don't go live until your strategy has been tested with statistical significance and demonstrated profitability with the exact risk management that reflects your risk tolerance. This will make you trust your strategy when you are live: you will sleep well at night, you won't be constantly stressed, you wont interfere and break the rules every day.

I’m turning 40 this year and I’m in debt. There is no retirement in my future cause I’m in South Africa and my industry is fickle.

I make okay money but it’s not enough, I have expenses.

I find myself spending hours reading subreddits like hypothetical situations. Places where people fantasise about millions and even hundreds of millions. That would make everything okay. Even relationship stuff, family stuff, it feels like it all goes away if I make enough money.

This is why I trade. And obviously loose. I don’t think it’s possible to be profitable with this mindset, that’s if it is possible to be profitable at all? The stats of traders being profitable is abysmal.

But I get a 1000 and I know if I play it just right I could double it. Sometimes I do. But I loose a lot more. And the truth is if I play it just right I won’t loose and I will win…

i think this is actually quite common. I think this is at the core of most gambling addictions. It’s almost religious with its promise of salvation. Nothing else promise me what winning millions in trading can.

I'm a 25-year-old woman, and I'm completely lost.

I earn just enough to live on (I'm French), and when I see so many people succeeding in trading or similar fields, it makes me want to try it too. I can't seem to treat myself or my parents, because there are so many things I'd love to give them because I love them so much.
I'd really like to know if it's REALLY possible to succeed in trading? I don't know anything about it, I don't know where to start, but I still really want to give it a try.

Looking back, I think the first market you learn shapes how you trade later on.

I started jumping between markets way too early. A bit of forex, then stocks, then options... honestly, it just slowed everything down. I wasn't learning how to trade, I was learning a different set of rules every few weeks.

If you had to point a complete beginner toward one market just to build good habits, what would you pick?

• Equities
• Futures
• Forex
• ETFs

I'm not talking about which one makes the most money. I mean which one teaches stuff like risk management, patience, position sizing, and sticking to a plan without picking up bad habits.

Curious to hear what you'd choose and, more importantly, why.

hello. nag withdraw ako sa VT Markets (Trading Broker) from them to GCash. nagwithdraw ako ng $1500 USD

apparently yung dumating lang sakin ay ₱29,931 and the rest ay hindi. the same time na nareceive ko yan sa gcash. nag text din ang gcash sakin na

“Sorry, we're unable to process your InstaPay Cash In via Rural Bank of Guinobatan, Inc and we've sent the funds back to your bank account. Meanwhile, for your protection, please ask for assistance by going to GCash > Profile > Help so we can get your Cash In services back up and running.”

anyone na naranasan to? ilang days usually bago bumabalik sa origin ang pera? or nagppush through naman sa gcash? or ano solution(

Last year I had been trading a little bit and I was posting on this subreddit. However, things have changed in my professional life, so I had to reevaluate and put it aside for a while. I'm looking to get back in it, but I need to do it in a way that will be good for my situation. It's not that I lost money last year I actually gained, but it was only about 6% for the whole year. but I only was able to really trade about 10 times or so. Long story short, I'm trying to find a way to do more trading on a mobile platform, but I haven't been able to find a very good real-time way. I currently use Think o r Swim on desktop, but with the way that I'm working currently, it's becoming more and more challenging to get on during trading hours. Any suggestions on some good platforms or mobile the think or swim app is garbage imo?

A few years ago that sentence would've made no sense to me.

If the market was open, I felt like I had to be doing something.

Watching.

Scanning.

Looking for an entry.

Now I don't mind walking away when nothing lines up with my plan.

Missing a mediocre setup has never bothered me.

Taking one out of boredom usually does.

I've found that protecting your discipline is just as important as protecting your capital.

I found the way to reduce the emotional trading. Because emotional trading mades massive losses that broke my account. So I have tried a lot of ways to reduce that.

Have you tried this?
And let me know another way to reduce that.

I'm in my early 40's, married (wife is preggo), rent (for now) and with a baby due in March, I gotta start making moves...

I have a learning dis/ability (depends how you look at it) that makes it tough for me to comprehend numbers and math, but I retain other things really well (conversations, experiences, etc). I am horrible at math.... like really bad. I have a small business that does pretty well and I make a decent income.

Currently, I have around 300K in the market - 80K in a roth I contribute to annually, 80k in a Rollover IRA (don't contribute to, not sure if I can) and 145K in my brokerage account. I started trading actively last year and am up $78K.

I trade mostly through what I hear about through finance radio (bloomberg), what I can read and retain online, and what I hear about through discussions and word of mouth. This AI dip and bounce got me a little worried, especially because I had maxed out my margin loan for a few days. With yeserday's rally, I recouped everything (thankfully) and escaped the margin loan, but now I'm a bit concerned that I'm out of my element.

I don't do futures/options, and just buy as low as I can and sell as high as I can. I'm slightly worried about taxes, but I'll worry about that a few months from now (unless I should start bugging out now)...

I feel like I'm doing OK, but am a bit worried that my portfolio is AI heavy. I have positions in some "safer" stocks and some shitty performing Schwab themes in my retirement accounts (kind of like a mutual fund, I think). In my brokerage account, I have positions in the following:

In order of market val (brokerage):

MU, ASML, NVDA, GOOG, AAPL, AMZN, NBIS, CEG, PLD, AMD, HOVR, SKHY, VRT, RDW, SPCX, MX, CMPS, HMR

Is it OK to actively trade without knowing much about the market? I see a lot of numbers in posts talking about things I can't grasp onto and I'm worried that my lack of discipline and strategy I see from other reddit posts is gonna crush me.

Can someone let me know if they have had concerns like mine and how they approach trading? Or, should I look into more diversification? Any resources that I should look into? I'm just worried that I had a bit of luck with the AI boom and it could crush me later.

TL;DR Guy with learning disability looking for resources and help/advice on portfolio performance.

There was a point where my charts looked like a science experiment.

Too many indicators.

Too many signals.

Too many reasons to hesitate.

Gradually I removed almost everything and focused on price, volume, and a few levels that actually mattered.

Nothing magical happened overnight, but decision-making became much easier.

Sometimes adding more information creates more confusion instead of more confidence.

Anyone who can get me into any business if there is 5 figure available to start?

Wanted to write up today because it was a good example of separating the trade from the story, which I screw up more often than I'd like.

The trade: gold coiled in a tight range all morning, broke the top in the afternoon, ran cleanly into the next resistance about 20 handles up. Took the break, banked most of it into the first target. Simple, mechanical, worked.

The story: the second it moved, every feed started calling it gold "flipping" back to a war/safe-haven trade. And that's where I had to stop myself, because I don't actually believe that part. Gold fell through two weeks of real escalation. The thing that moved it today was stocks going red at the open, not the war - and the dollar, which would need to confirm a real regime change, didn't budge.

So I let myself take the level and I refused to take the narrative. Long the break, not the "haven flip." If I'd bought the story I'd have been sizing up and holding into tomorrow's ECB and jobs data instead of trimming.

The thing I keep relearning: the level is tradeable today. The macro story is a hypothesis that costs you money when you treat it as a fact. Took the first, left the second alone.

Anyone else make a clean trade today but had to actively ignore the narrative wrapped around it?

I’ve been trading and following markets for years, and one thing that always took too much time was the daily prep.

Checking the economic calendar, central bank news, market sentiment, risk-on/risk-off conditions, major headlines and price reactions across multiple sources can easily turn into an hour of work before the trading day even starts.

So I built **Pulse**.

The idea is simple: reduce that preparation into a short, structured briefing.

Current features include:

• Morning and evening market briefings
• Real-time alerts for major macro and market events
• Risk-On / Risk-Off / Mixed market regime
• Economic calendar
• Sentiment and market reaction
• Decision Radar: Watch / Wait / Avoid
• Audio briefings
• Source-backed stories with context on why they matter

It’s not a signal service and it doesn’t tell users which trades to take.

The goal is to help traders understand the broader environment before making their own decisions.

I’m still improving it and would genuinely value feedback from forex traders.

Gold is trading near a two-week high, supported by a softer US Dollar and renewed optimism that the US and Iran could return to diplomatic talks.

However, gains remain limited as rising Oil prices continue to fuel inflation concerns. Ongoing tensions in the Middle East and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz have strengthened expectations that the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates higher for longer.

Markets are currently pricing in an 88% probability of at least one Fed rate hike by the end of the year, making upcoming geopolitical developments and Fed commentary the key drivers for Gold's next move.

spent years assuming my problem was the strategy. every drawdown i'd start hunting for a cleaner setup, a better filter, something to fix the results. turned out i was solving the wrong problem the whole time.

what finally shifted it was going back through my log and doing one boring exercise. for every trade i reconstructed what would have happened if id just left it alone. stop where i set it at entry, target where i set it, no touching. then i compared that to what i actually did.

the gap was brutal. my "untouched" version, the trades just following my own rules with zero intervention, outperformed my actual results by a wide margin. every time i moved a stop, took profit early because it looked heavy, or added size on a whim, i was on average making the outcome worse. not occasionally. on average.

that reframed everything. i didnt have a strategy problem, i had an execution problem. the edge was already in the setup, i was leaking it in the management. and no new strategy would have fixed that because id have just brought the same itchy hands to the new setup.

the specific leaks, ranked by cost, were moving stops first, then cutting winners early, then oversizing after a loss. the entries were basically fine. all the damage lived in what i did after i was already in the trade.

once i could see it as actual numbers instead of a vague feeling, the fix got obvious and it wasnt "be more disciplined." it was removing the decisions where i could. predefine the stop and target and make them non negotiable. no touching until one is hit. the trades i left alone were the profitable ones, so i just stopped touching.

curious how many people here have actually measured their intervention cost vs assumed the strategy was the issue. feels like the whole industry is selling new setups when the leak is mostly downstream of entry