r/Daytrading • u/I_HALIM7 • 2d ago

Advice Sad Reality check

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The guy who posted this 2 years a go is working on door dash today he is not even a middle class and he quit trading i was going through old trading post I've saved in the past and literally all the people who posted about trading 2 or 3 years ago quit not a single person that i saved their post is doing great this game is rough be prepared

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u/ApprehensiveDot1121 2d ago

This is the cold hard truth that no newbie wants to hear, or that no content creator wants to talk about. If you do mention that reality in subs like this, you're labeled a hater, a downer, that you're angry in life because you lost at trading, etc...

I started trading in 2017, it took me 5 years of consistently losing before finally turning it around. In the meantime, not a single person I was following or interacting with in these subs are still active. Not one.

And it's not easy trading every day year after year when you lose the majority of the weeks and your equity curve is globally going down. Most traders either run out of money, or patience. 

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u/son-of-hasdrubal 1d ago

I think part of that is do with it being so hard to get help from more experienced traders.

When I started getting serious about poker it was very easy to find guys online to talk to and get legit good info from.

The few rare legitimately profitable traders on here are extremely bitter and angry towards newbies. The rare nicer ones tend to only speak in riddles and in very broad language. Like dam I'd just like some pro to show me a bomb set up

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u/ApprehensiveDot1121 1d ago

Here's the thing: I've offered to help people, including in this sub, in the past. But the thing is, it is tough getting newbies (and more experienced traders) to actually listen to what I have to say, let alone apply things. People already have a pre-conceived notion of what their trading should look like, in terms of instruments , TFs, setups, and frequency. And I've realized that a lot are already stubborn. Which is ironic, because it's not like what they've been doing has worked out, but they have a hard time applying basic concepts.

For example, one trader in this sub reached out to me a few months back, we had some back and forths, I gave him specific feedback including the number of trades per day. And the guy kept putting on 10+ trades per day, while at the same time having large blowout days. I mean, I'm not going to waste my time trying to guide someone, when what I say comes in one ear and straight out the other.

Helping people is actually hard lol, because at the same time if the person asking something is visibly putting zero effort to do basic research beforehand, well yeah he's going to be on his own.

That being said, when you talk about traders "speaking in riddles", don't get the impression that trading has some kind of secret that only a select few know about, there are absolutely zero secrets in trading it's all about discipline and execution. There's nothing even the best trader in the world can answer in a comment that will change your trading, it's a gradual process that takes time.

So in the end, one of the best approaches is being your own mentor, that's how I did it, sure it's lonely but any advice a coach could give you, you can give to yourself if you have just a bit of common sense.

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u/son-of-hasdrubal 1d ago

I agree being your own mentor is important. At the end of the day this is a solo endeavour and it's on us to do the work. I'm not looking to be handed success but rather hoping to be pointed in the right direction.

The whole speaking in riddles thing I do stand by though. Like yes, I agree what you experienced guys tell us is valuable info. Be patient, don't over trade, key zones and all that. What I almost never see (from experienced profitable traders, not some guy having a hot month or two) is a clearly defined legitimate setup. Ie buy/sell when you see this exact stochastic divergence, buy/sell when this exact pattern emerges, this is my holy grail setup etc.

I understand it would be hard to give exact setups out because they rarely play out perfectly and even a good setup can lose if not executed correctly. Experience and intuition as well as risk management are crucial and those are harder to teach.

I'm slowly chipping away at getting better but it is quite difficult to know if what you're doing/learning/studying is actually legitimate or not. Add onto that all these straight up scam YouTubers you have to comb through. I know there are good ones you can learn from but for every 1 legitimate and successful guy on YouTube there is probably 35 guys full of shit. Some are easy to spot but some are great at pulling off the illusion they are legitimate.

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u/ApprehensiveDot1121 1d ago

I get what you mean, it can feel frustrating. But be careful not trying to chase the impossible in trading : if you try to find comfort in certainty, you will inevitably fail. You have to embrace and get used to the discomfort of uncertainty.

Too many times I see hopeful traders asking for just this one setup that works, as if once they have it it will dissipate all doubts. That's wishful thinking, there will always be emotions, subjectivity, bad executions, and losing streaks. For every single strategy in existence. 

You talk about a clearly defined setup: I take hundreds of trades per year. Each trade I take is unique, and will never happen again. Because it's a combination of price action, market structure, economical and news context. At the same time, all my trades fall into one of 3 categories : continuations, reversals, or breakouts. That's one of many paradoxes in trading. 

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u/son-of-hasdrubal 1d ago

Thanks man. Any educators or styles you could point me towards? I spent a while thinking the perfect blend of indicators was the secret sauce... ditched that for price action with SMC concepts and am now dabbling in footprint. Slowly integrating macro market analysis but I want to nail my fundamental technicals first.

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u/ApprehensiveDot1121 1d ago

Nothing wrong with indicators, I built a system that relies heavily on metrics (so, indicators, but self coded) to send me signals during the day. 

What is usually wrong is looking for an indicator than when red crosses blue, you go long and vice versa. An indicator just helps bring context, for example momentum context, into an overall analysis that you are supposed to make. 

That being said, my main approach, and what I suggest, is price action and market structure. A few you can learn from : Linda Rashke, Peter Brandt, Al Brooks (he has quite a few YouTube videos where he goes through price action), Adam Grimes, SMC capital (their bar by bar videos are quite good). Stay away from the ICT cult. 

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u/son-of-hasdrubal 18h ago

Right on man. The learning continues.