[Education] How I Lost Everything To Trading
I wasn't always profitable. I lost a lot of money when I first started trading forex. I don't remember how I got started learning forex. But I know I started when I was serving in the army. I borrowed books from the library, watched many YouTube videos on trading. I was very knowledgeable on technical analysis. I know the concepts so well I could vomit them out to you. I didn't follow up on trading that much after my service ended.
I came back to trading when I was working as an auditor. The fact that I had to work long hours with little pay brings me to look for an alternative source of income. I found out that we can make money through percentage allocation money management (PAMM). You invest your money into a trader, and whatever profit they earn, you will give them a % cut, and you keep the rest.
I found this trader with a solid trade record. He has 3 years record with an average of 20% profit a month. He is trading with a $500,000 account. I thought that this trader was good. I calculated how fast my money will grow by putting money with him every month. I put in $1,000 for a start. A few months passed and it showed good results. I see the balance in my account increased too. That was when I decided to put all my savings in. I put $10,000 in, which was everything that I had.
I was working overseas that day. I checked my account after work. I saw that my account balance was $0.98. I thought it was some bug. I refreshed the page a few times. I saw that the account manager has risked everything in 1 trade. I was shocked. I felt numb. What was going on?
Red Flags
I did some research online, found out that the broker actually fakes the trades of “top trader” over a span of 2 years. When more suckers like me put my money in these PAMM, they will burst the account with 1 stupid trade. I believe this stupid trade was not even executed, but a front for them to scam all our money.
I realized that there were many red flags to begin with. None of the top traders offered any 3rd party verification through Myfxbook, MQL5, or even Fxblue. They don’t even give their investor passwords which are read-only to investors.
It was a painful lesson. But it led me to the journey of trading by myself. From then on, I put in a lot of hours studying and backtesting technical analysis.
Even right now, I’m not comfortable with putting my money with PAMM for diversification. I will need to know the trader, understand his trading style and the potential risk to reward of the trader.
The Problem Is You
Letting mathematics formulas do the compounding for your money is a bad expectation. You think trading is easy. You can trade from your room, or even overseas using your phone. Many people are posting screenshots of their profits consistently on the social media. You think that trading is the way to achieve financial freedom. This is a legit business and many people has done it. you can do it too. You start to play around with leverage, only to get your account wiped out after 4 trades.
You deposit $100 more. you are on a winning streak. You have 4 wins in a row. you look at your account balance increased from $100 to $1,000. You’re unstoppable. You continued overleveraging your account. I mean, what can stop you now right? You’re basically a god of trading with 4 win streak. next thing you know, you wiped out your $1,000 balance.
You repeat this cycle till you’re sick and tired. you proceed to find the next holy grail.
Breaking The Loop
Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results - Albert Einstein
You need to break this cycle. you are only repeating what you’re losing.
Relying on other sources for trading will not get you far. Yes, you might found a profitable signal provider. What if he don’t want to provide his service anymore? You will be back at where you begin, looking for another signal provider again. You will need a lot of time and waste money to make sure that the signal provider is legit. what if your profitable signal provider is experiencing a losing streak? will you continue to follow the signals? or will you start having doubt? will you take responsibility for all these losing trades? or will you blame your signal provider?
To be consistently profitable in the long run, you have to trade by yourself. Everyone’s view on the market is different. You can be looking at a long on EURUSD, but I could have a bearish bias.
Knowing how to trade by yourself is the key to success. You don’t need to rely on signal providers. You don't need to constantly monitoring your phone to check if there are any signals.
You know the risk and reward and your expected win rate by trading yourself. It is you who put in the hard work of backtesting. You will be putting your own trades. You determine the amount of risk you will take. You take trades based on your lifestyle and personality.
Do The Uncomfortable Stuff
Trading involves a lot of uncertainty. This is a hustle that you can earn money without knowing what can happen next. Even though I'm a profitable trader, I do not know what will happen next. I can only guarantee that either I will lose the next trade with -1%, or a profit. I focus on what I can control, not what I expect for things to happen.
When you trade according to your own plan, you understand the risk you are taking. It is scary to take your own trades at first. You don't know if your analysis is correct. You don't know if you will be successful. You don't know if you will be profitable. This is what every trader will experience. On my first trade, I was having adrenaline rush when price came back to tap my entry. I was looking at the chart for the whole day, even though I'm trading on the 15 minutes timeframe.
I know and understand that I cannot control the price. But psychologically, I'm not strong enough to let my trade play out. This trade ended up with a loss.
You have to start somewhere to learn how to trade by yourself. Without this, you will forever be trapped within the cycle of unprofitability.
If you keep telling yourself that trading alone is hard and you are unable to be profitable, you are right. You are constantly letting your subconscious mind get used to this message. Your subconscious never rests. Even when you’re asleep, your subconscious is still running in the background. It will keep telling your body what needs to be done to keep you functioning.
Being Trapped In The Loop
I was the same as you. I skipped from strategy to strategy, trying to find the holy grail. I tried many things. from EA to signals to mentorship.
I earned some, but I lost more. I lose before I even start. Buying EAs cost money. Subscribing to signals cost money. Signing up for mentorships cost money.
I tried EAs that uses grid and martingale. I bought indicators that repaint themselves after price actions have happened. I’ve tried EAs made by creators who adjust it to best fit past data, but are actually not profitable in the live market. I’ve tried signals that gives a 20 pips TP 1, but 100 pips stop loss. They make big celebrations with fire emojis when TP 1 hits. When TP 2 of 40 pips hits, they do the same thing. Weekly result summary are also posted which includes both TP 1 of 20 pips and TP 2 of 40 pips. They remove losing signals too. This looks like it’s a profitable signals, but the risk to reward ratio for their signals are shit with low win rate.
Some of the mentorships are cash grab. You pay them to give you video recordings and information. You can find them for free on Babypips.
It’s debatable that all mentorships are a scam. Some of the mentorships I joined actually provided great values. I’m able to look into how profitable traders are trading. I can get insights on their thought process behind their trades. There is a platform for me to do my analysis. Mentors will comment on my analysis, telling me what I could do to improve, or even add their insights. Some also provide 1-1 calls which is what all mentorships should offer. Sometimes, it’s faster and easier to explain through a call rather than on text. Furthermore, they record the 1-1 sessions and I can watch them in the future. These 1-1 sessions can be Q&As, or even backtesting session. This is where I will do the backtest and the mentor will comment on my thought processes.
I would consider myself to be lucky to have only lost $10,000. If I had more money, I’d lose way more for sure. After losing that $10,000, it led me on a journey to be a profitable trader now. I have no regrets on this journey.
Mentorship
Most people are unwilling to spend money for courses, knowing well that there are thousands of FREE online resources out there. But the problem lies in how do you sieve out all the unnecessary and useless information from such a huge amount of resources? Mentorships are made to solve these problems. They are built to solve and educate you on a specific skill and knowledge that you want to learn. They are built by people who have experienced the same problem as you did.
This is the same as spending money on university courses. Most of you are willing to pay thousands of dollars and 3 - 5 years of your lives to get a 4 - 5 figured day job, yet you don’t bear to spend that few hundred of dollars to get the specific skillset that you need as an investment.
My last mentorship costs me $2,000. I can tell you that it's the best investment I've ever made. Through the mentorship, it gives me different perspective from an active community. We look at the same chart every single day and anyone is free to critic our work. The 1-1 calls are also important to me. They gave me a good foundation, and I learnt a lot of advanced skills like psychology and risk management.
I got to a point where making $916.05 is as easy as placing 1 trade, and getting 2% return on a 0.5% risk. Yes this profit comes from only 1 trade on my $50,000 account.
I've covered the cost of mentorship through my funded account payouts. This return on investment will continue to accumulate. Sooner or later, I will be earning back whatever I've lost, and to quit my 9-5 job to trade full time.
Stay consistent. Stay safe. Success is just around the corner.
If you enjoy such content, feel free to click the like button and subscribe for more.
Let me know what are your thoughts and learning points in the comments below so others can learn from you too!
Please let me know what kind of topic you would like to read next :)
I came back to trading when I was working as an auditor. The fact that I had to work long hours with little pay brings me to look for an alternative source of income. I found out that we can make money through percentage allocation money management (PAMM). You invest your money into a trader, and whatever profit they earn, you will give them a % cut, and you keep the rest.
I found this trader with a solid trade record. He has 3 years record with an average of 20% profit a month. He is trading with a $500,000 account. I thought that this trader was good. I calculated how fast my money will grow by putting money with him every month. I put in $1,000 for a start. A few months passed and it showed good results. I see the balance in my account increased too. That was when I decided to put all my savings in. I put $10,000 in, which was everything that I had.
I was working overseas that day. I checked my account after work. I saw that my account balance was $0.98. I thought it was some bug. I refreshed the page a few times. I saw that the account manager has risked everything in 1 trade. I was shocked. I felt numb. What was going on?
Red Flags
I did some research online, found out that the broker actually fakes the trades of “top trader” over a span of 2 years. When more suckers like me put my money in these PAMM, they will burst the account with 1 stupid trade. I believe this stupid trade was not even executed, but a front for them to scam all our money.
I realized that there were many red flags to begin with. None of the top traders offered any 3rd party verification through Myfxbook, MQL5, or even Fxblue. They don’t even give their investor passwords which are read-only to investors.
It was a painful lesson. But it led me to the journey of trading by myself. From then on, I put in a lot of hours studying and backtesting technical analysis.
Even right now, I’m not comfortable with putting my money with PAMM for diversification. I will need to know the trader, understand his trading style and the potential risk to reward of the trader.
The Problem Is You
Letting mathematics formulas do the compounding for your money is a bad expectation. You think trading is easy. You can trade from your room, or even overseas using your phone. Many people are posting screenshots of their profits consistently on the social media. You think that trading is the way to achieve financial freedom. This is a legit business and many people has done it. you can do it too. You start to play around with leverage, only to get your account wiped out after 4 trades.
You deposit $100 more. you are on a winning streak. You have 4 wins in a row. you look at your account balance increased from $100 to $1,000. You’re unstoppable. You continued overleveraging your account. I mean, what can stop you now right? You’re basically a god of trading with 4 win streak. next thing you know, you wiped out your $1,000 balance.
You repeat this cycle till you’re sick and tired. you proceed to find the next holy grail.
Breaking The Loop
Insanity Is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over Again and Expecting Different Results - Albert Einstein
You need to break this cycle. you are only repeating what you’re losing.
Relying on other sources for trading will not get you far. Yes, you might found a profitable signal provider. What if he don’t want to provide his service anymore? You will be back at where you begin, looking for another signal provider again. You will need a lot of time and waste money to make sure that the signal provider is legit. what if your profitable signal provider is experiencing a losing streak? will you continue to follow the signals? or will you start having doubt? will you take responsibility for all these losing trades? or will you blame your signal provider?
To be consistently profitable in the long run, you have to trade by yourself. Everyone’s view on the market is different. You can be looking at a long on EURUSD, but I could have a bearish bias.
Knowing how to trade by yourself is the key to success. You don’t need to rely on signal providers. You don't need to constantly monitoring your phone to check if there are any signals.
You know the risk and reward and your expected win rate by trading yourself. It is you who put in the hard work of backtesting. You will be putting your own trades. You determine the amount of risk you will take. You take trades based on your lifestyle and personality.
Do The Uncomfortable Stuff
Trading involves a lot of uncertainty. This is a hustle that you can earn money without knowing what can happen next. Even though I'm a profitable trader, I do not know what will happen next. I can only guarantee that either I will lose the next trade with -1%, or a profit. I focus on what I can control, not what I expect for things to happen.
When you trade according to your own plan, you understand the risk you are taking. It is scary to take your own trades at first. You don't know if your analysis is correct. You don't know if you will be successful. You don't know if you will be profitable. This is what every trader will experience. On my first trade, I was having adrenaline rush when price came back to tap my entry. I was looking at the chart for the whole day, even though I'm trading on the 15 minutes timeframe.
I know and understand that I cannot control the price. But psychologically, I'm not strong enough to let my trade play out. This trade ended up with a loss.
You have to start somewhere to learn how to trade by yourself. Without this, you will forever be trapped within the cycle of unprofitability.
If you keep telling yourself that trading alone is hard and you are unable to be profitable, you are right. You are constantly letting your subconscious mind get used to this message. Your subconscious never rests. Even when you’re asleep, your subconscious is still running in the background. It will keep telling your body what needs to be done to keep you functioning.
Being Trapped In The Loop
I was the same as you. I skipped from strategy to strategy, trying to find the holy grail. I tried many things. from EA to signals to mentorship.
I earned some, but I lost more. I lose before I even start. Buying EAs cost money. Subscribing to signals cost money. Signing up for mentorships cost money.
I tried EAs that uses grid and martingale. I bought indicators that repaint themselves after price actions have happened. I’ve tried EAs made by creators who adjust it to best fit past data, but are actually not profitable in the live market. I’ve tried signals that gives a 20 pips TP 1, but 100 pips stop loss. They make big celebrations with fire emojis when TP 1 hits. When TP 2 of 40 pips hits, they do the same thing. Weekly result summary are also posted which includes both TP 1 of 20 pips and TP 2 of 40 pips. They remove losing signals too. This looks like it’s a profitable signals, but the risk to reward ratio for their signals are shit with low win rate.
Some of the mentorships are cash grab. You pay them to give you video recordings and information. You can find them for free on Babypips.
It’s debatable that all mentorships are a scam. Some of the mentorships I joined actually provided great values. I’m able to look into how profitable traders are trading. I can get insights on their thought process behind their trades. There is a platform for me to do my analysis. Mentors will comment on my analysis, telling me what I could do to improve, or even add their insights. Some also provide 1-1 calls which is what all mentorships should offer. Sometimes, it’s faster and easier to explain through a call rather than on text. Furthermore, they record the 1-1 sessions and I can watch them in the future. These 1-1 sessions can be Q&As, or even backtesting session. This is where I will do the backtest and the mentor will comment on my thought processes.
I would consider myself to be lucky to have only lost $10,000. If I had more money, I’d lose way more for sure. After losing that $10,000, it led me on a journey to be a profitable trader now. I have no regrets on this journey.
Mentorship
Most people are unwilling to spend money for courses, knowing well that there are thousands of FREE online resources out there. But the problem lies in how do you sieve out all the unnecessary and useless information from such a huge amount of resources? Mentorships are made to solve these problems. They are built to solve and educate you on a specific skill and knowledge that you want to learn. They are built by people who have experienced the same problem as you did.
This is the same as spending money on university courses. Most of you are willing to pay thousands of dollars and 3 - 5 years of your lives to get a 4 - 5 figured day job, yet you don’t bear to spend that few hundred of dollars to get the specific skillset that you need as an investment.
My last mentorship costs me $2,000. I can tell you that it's the best investment I've ever made. Through the mentorship, it gives me different perspective from an active community. We look at the same chart every single day and anyone is free to critic our work. The 1-1 calls are also important to me. They gave me a good foundation, and I learnt a lot of advanced skills like psychology and risk management.
I got to a point where making $916.05 is as easy as placing 1 trade, and getting 2% return on a 0.5% risk. Yes this profit comes from only 1 trade on my $50,000 account.
I've covered the cost of mentorship through my funded account payouts. This return on investment will continue to accumulate. Sooner or later, I will be earning back whatever I've lost, and to quit my 9-5 job to trade full time.
Stay consistent. Stay safe. Success is just around the corner.
If you enjoy such content, feel free to click the like button and subscribe for more.
Let me know what are your thoughts and learning points in the comments below so others can learn from you too!
Please let me know what kind of topic you would like to read next :)
Prop Firm Funded Trader
Find out more about me here: linktr.ee/kt_fx
Find out more about me here: linktr.ee/kt_fx
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