I have been trading full time for over 4 years now, and surely enough, I started like a boss, thought I was smarter than the market, and proceeded to lose big and often a few short months after.

 

I call the next few years "The Spiral of Doom".

 

Surely things got a bit better, but I was still losing. I was listening to gurus, trying to find short cuts, looking for the Holy Grail.. only to find occasional consistency that lasted just a few weeks. I was making all the mistakes in the book too; overtrading, trading too big, not honoring my stop losses, switching systems/patterns after a couple of losing trades, doing a lousy job at recording my trades.... Yeah, all those and then some.  

 

I definitely approached my share of teachers and schools, purchased plenty of different programs and indicators and tried several niches; penny stocks, Canadian stock, options, cryptos... I was very, very lost, and was getting very, very broke.

 

Then I got to a breaking point and something triggered in my brain. Something changed. I started to tune out ALL the noise, including services I was an active subscriber of, social media, financial news, alerts.... EVERYTHING! I started to day trade focusing only on my system and a list of stocks that have treated me well in the past. That is it. Nothing else. I am now completely loyal to my system, to my one single pattern, and the results are amazing. Since the last week of June, when I started doing all of this, I have had a win rate of over 80%, and I am definitely not a slave to the markets nor I spend the day glued to my monitors.

 

Now, granted I am pretty much in uncharted territory (for myself, anyways) and this comes with a set of challenges I had not faced before. I have to fight the desire to keep my winning spree going and admit that I will lose one day, and I have to keep that loss within the rules of my system. I also have to decide when is it the right time to start trading bigger positions, not rushing things but not delaying my own growth either. But whatever challenges I am facing these days, none of them are of a technical nature. I trust my system and that is a really, really cozy feeling because I know it will keep me safe.

 

With all of this I am not looking to pump my chest and say that I am the next best thing. What I am trying to do is share my experience so far and tell you guys that trading is extremely personal. There is no right or wrong method as long as it works for YOU. But at the same time, it is up to you and you alone to discover that method. No teacher is going to give it to you; at most they will give you the base upon which you have to build it. Do not feel ashamed if a certain niche (penny stocks, cryptos, forex...) does not work for you. Do not be afraid to explore other alternatives. You just need to find the one that works for you and your system and everything else will be a lot smoother, you´ll see.

 

Trading is really, really hard until the day you realize that the Holy Grail is within you. It is your own psychology and discipline, the right mindset. Find your niche. Find a strategy that you like and make it yours. And then focus on mastering what lies in between your ears. That will be your only job as a trader from that day on. And that, my friends, will bring you the success we all seek.