Forget the $1,000,000 challenge, haha!

I just put myself on the $100,000 challenge!

WHAT A RIDE!! Wow, I've lost over $90,000 since Jan 5, 2018! I COULD NOT believe it!! I basically blew up my account MANY times! I traded with E*Trade from Jan 5 - end of April. And from May 7 to present, I've been using TD Ameritrade (which, btw, I love so much more than E*Trade. The platform and how I use it to execute my trades).

I was so embarassed before about my HUGE losses, but since I started turning around, I figured I can 'fess up and share with everyone my insane journey.

I started trading Jan 5, 2018. I lost over $10,000 from then 'til Feb 5. Feb 6-8 was super, thanks to $TVIX!! Made over $10,000 in 3 days! I thought I "got it!" But no... I reinforced tons of bad habits, chasing, buying at the top, not understanding support at ALL, and these poor habits and poor understanding would plague me for over the next SIX months.

I started doing these calendars because I saw John Papa do these.....

Some green days but scattered with reds. Inconsistent.

More reds, continuing inconsistencies and POOR and BAD habits!! That day I lost over $6100 and $5600, I was ANGRY and FRUSTRATED. I kept "trading to the ground!" I was like, oh well, I'm losing anyway, might as well keep going! I was "gambling" left and right!

Talk about DESPAIR!!! I was honestly trying. Trying to do the right thing, trying to learn, doing my reading, studying, doing tons of chart review, watching videos and recaps, but clearly, nothing was working. Entries were wrong, sizing was wrong, timing was wrong - everything was wrong. I kept thinking - am I EVER gonna make it? Am I EVER gonna "get it?" Will I make $100 only to lose $800 - every time?! Will I always lose ALL my gains and more?! 

Good thing I already make over $90,000 on my regular job, but I still needed to take out FOUR loans AND a private one (thanks sis!), in order to keep my account above $25,000. My losses were limited in May because I stuck to the PDT rule with my account about $15,000, but then I got more loans to put it above $25,000 because I was tired of making 3 day trades a week.

But then I bought some videos from another dude and learned about the RSI and it CHANGED MY LIFE!! By this time, I did gain a lot of market experience because I was trading every week, so I did study a LOT of price action. But I just couldn't profit! >.< I KEPT making the SAME mistakes and somehow I couldn't break free from them, no matter how many times I wrote about that in my journal. Even my posted rules on a piece of paper didn't seem to help! Maybe a bit, as I'd read it out loud every morning, but then FOMO would take over and I'd break my own rules...

And then...August came...

That $4,000 loss was because of a Friday trade. I forgot the ticker, but it halted from like 2:30pm until MONDAY MORNING!! It gapped down and I lost BIG! CRAZY!! The 14th, still working out the bugs... But then, something started to click and change....By the 4th week, I was making more and more, keeping more profits, doing less harm, truly waiting for better set-ups, refining my process, trying to stop chasing at the top near the end of a run... 

Then Sept came around...

The first week was still crap, but then $NIO and $QTT came into my life and I banked over $6,500 in two days!! I couldn't believe I had 2 green days in a row! The 18th, I only traded for 45 minutes but gained $400 and on the 19th, I only traded from 8:12am - 11:48am from a HOTEL room and made over $6200!! I couldn't believe it! I think I am FINALLY getting it! 20th was just sloppy. Made me wonder again...can I hang onto my profits or am I gonna run myself back to $23,000? Sure enough, I remained disciplined, waited for set-ups I like and know, and made over $4,000 that friday. Dip buys!!! And panic dip buys!! Yahoooo!

Now....I have started to believe. I do believe. I can see it now. $1,000,000 is doable. It is possible. And I can do it! And that's why, I put myself on the $100,000 challenge between Sept 24 - Dec 31. I am giving myself until the end of the year to see if I can make over $100,000, to make up for my $90,000+ loss and to start the path to $1,000,000.

If you read this far - Thank You for reading about my journey and I hope you are learning from your mistakes and pushing forward as well.

NEVER GIVE UP!!!

Charts: TradingView
Scanner: FinViz
Broker: TD Ameritrade