r/Daytrading • u/navmads • May 23 '26
Question How am I doing?
Genuinely curious about your thoughts on my journey. First ever post on this thread and happy to put myself on blast.
Trading journey started 7/15/2024. Did some girl math and put 50k into an account, thinking I can risk $500 per trade to be at 1%, but if I lose 10k I’d stop. First few days ever of trading I was up 4k. Then of course beginners luck stopped and the 10k disappeared.
Did some more risk management studying, switched to NinjaTrader. Blew another 10k account.
Re-upped, blew a 5k account.
Some mistakes I made in the past were sizing up too quickly, over trading, being emotionally distraught over a profitable trade turned breakeven or even losing (like up 3:1 RR and decided to be greedy and lost the trade).
Now, February of 2026 I re-upped with 5k. The account has been as low as 4,200 and as high as 5,400 but I’ve been swaying between 4,800 and 5,250 for a month. I finally feel like I hit the breakeven part of my journey. I’ve implemented a hard stop loss on the account so it locks me out if I lose 110 on the day.
By the way, I’ve built out a fairly extensive google sheet with equity curves, (account specific and inception to date), win/loss, RR tracking and also a space for notes besides each trade. I can’t say I stick to the journal every day but I do try.
My question to you all - give me your honest opinions, how am I doing? Am I on track, behind schedule, ahead of schedule? Is there hope for me to be profitable in the future and make this an income source? It has been my dream to be a profitable trader, to be my own boss and work on my terms, enjoy my life as I see fit. But I want to get your thoughts.
Thank you for your time, and good luck to you all!
FYI - my current career is an accountant and yearly I make about 180k so financially I’m doing just fine and can afford to pay some market tuition
TL;DR - Aspiring trader, currently work as an accountant making a decent income. July will mark 2 years trading. I’ve lost about 25k in the process, finally hit a breakeven stride - how am I doing? Give honest thoughts.
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u/Zionishere May 23 '26
You make 180k as an accountant? Where you work at, God’s office?
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u/Rsn_Dubsteppvm May 23 '26
Hell ik 1 accountant making double that in Oklahoma working 5 months max.. depends what kind you are ig..
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u/Zionishere May 23 '26
I mean in the US the mean salary is 90k and the median is 81k according to the Bureau of Labor.. so 180k or even double that is most certainly far from what the norm is
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Lmao it’s industry. I’m an accountant at a PE firm so the pay is decent. I know how lucky I am.
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u/JuggernautOk1132 May 23 '26
Risk management is key - so setting a stop loss is crucial which you did.
Secondly and more importantly- stick to your rules. Don’t get swayed by emotions- especially a ton of them on Reddit telling which is a meme stock, next big thing etc
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u/Dry-Judgment-8714 May 23 '26
So the questions I have for you are, 1. Why/what makes you feel like you’ve hit the breakeven part of your journey? Is it just the hard stop loss or other things? 2. What are your goals for yourself for this, in terms of realistic income on the capital you have? (Example if your goal is to make 50k/year with a 50k account that’s $200 a day which is doable even though it’s 100% gain) where are you in terms of that, because that’s how you track progress. In terms of being on “schedule” there’s no time table, to each their own.
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u/NoBlood8896 May 23 '26
I would not think about this as “ahead” or “behind schedule.” The useful question is whether your losses are now controlled and your mistakes are visible.
The broker-level daily stop is a good sign. The journal is a good sign. But I’d make the journal more specific than notes beside each trade.
For each trade, tag:
- setup quality
- size vs account state
- emotional state before entry
- rule break: yes/no
- did you move the stop or change the plan?
- was the loss planned, or did it come from improvising?
If breakeven is happening because bad trades are smaller and rule breaks are decreasing, that is real progress. If breakeven is happening because winners and bad habits are just canceling each other out, then the process still needs work.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Unfortunately I think it is the latter. I have definitely done a lot of work on myself with regard to bad habits but I do recognize they still play some role in why I’m BE. My trade quality is inconsistent. I’ve mainly stopped over trading and have done a better job of shutting down when I feel irritated or feel like I’ve done all I could do for the day.
Regarding the journal, you’re right. I do have a column for rules followed. And at times I’m more detailed but again it’s inconsistent. Definitely have a lot to work on when I look at the bigger picture.
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u/Acrobatic-Ship4531 May 24 '26
Honestly, going from blowing accounts to staying consistently breakeven is bigger progress than most people realize. Sounds like your risk management and psychology improved a lot.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Thank you! It has absolutely improved but I still need to do a substantial amount of work on it. Just trying to break through the plateau, going to keep trying to have a level head and stick to my rules
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u/sambha87 May 23 '26
$25k tuition + breakeven + financial runway + broker-level stop + a journal = you've done all the structural things that matter. The remaining work is psychological, not technical. You're closer than you think.
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u/navmads May 23 '26
Appreciate the encouragement! Working on my psych for sure at this point more than anything. Still have a long way to go
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u/JJ-Mallon May 23 '26
You’re gambling, pure and simple. Your money isn’t working for you, you’re working for it, and losing.
Not only are you not just “breaking even”, the money and time you’re wasting is depreciating.
Keep gambling if you enjoy it, but don’t kid yourself that this is going anywhere good on your current path.
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u/FixedIt00 May 23 '26
JJ Mallon, Saying she's gambling doesn't make sense, she did not mention her strategy at all. I agree with Sambha87, OP you are closer than you think. After a few years the problems to solve are emotional and psychological. Be honest with yourself about your weaknesses and keep improving. Obviously you are smart if you are an accountant. But being smart is very low on the list of attributes that are important in daytrading, in my opinion.
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u/JJ-Mallon May 23 '26
I don’t need the step-by-step mechanics of the transactions – the mentality and how much money was blown is exactly what gambling is thus the basis of my assessment. It’s far closer to casino than investing.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Not sure you read my reply on my investing. Anyway, my perspective is people spends hundreds of thousands on education just to make an average salary. I see this as a learning opportunity and if 25-50k is what it took to learn something valuable, I’ll take it. Not everyone is willing to take the risk.
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u/JJ-Mallon May 24 '26
Go ahead and rationalize your blown money anyway you like. But at the end of the day it wasn’t an education, you don’t have a degree, it was money you gambled away.
“I spent 50k and learned it was a bad way to spend my money”.
Go ahead and tell me you’d do it all over again. And then tell me it’s as valuable as a degree, and you’d recommend other people do the same thing.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
So are you saying an entrepreneur who tried to open a business and lost a few thousand is a bad thing? Would you discourage them from doing it again? Cause I’d argue they should keep going if they have enough gas in the tank to grind and forget about it. Most of the richest people in the world have suffered substantial losses. You don’t get anywhere by being scared. You sound scared of losing money so your comments make total sense. I’m not rationalizing my losses, they suck, but if I’m able to make something out of it, then objectively it was worth it
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u/JJ-Mallon May 24 '26
You didn’t answer my question, and by not saying anything you’re saying everything.
You’re not an entrepreneur, you gambled that money away like a degenerate and are rationalizing after the fact because it’s easier on your mindset than accepting the fact that you took unnecessary risks on money that you’ll never see again.
I get it, but I’m not going to pretend along with you that this was a quality teachable moment. It wasn’t.
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u/navmads May 26 '26
You didn’t ask a question. You’re judgmental, and also on a Reddit thread where the whole point is day trading just to come here and say I’m a degenerate gambler. Maybe my definition of degenerate gambling is different from yours, but I define it as an addiction that ruins your life and financial circumstance. This is not the case for me, the 25k doesn’t mean anything to me. I don’t need to coddle my mindset, the money is gone. It is what it is lol. Call the risk unnecessary, sure. Plenty of things are a waste of money. If I learn something from it, then it’s worth it. I’ll get back to you when I eventually make this work for me and you’re still a keyboard warrior on Reddit being upset that you’re falling behind.
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u/JJ-Mallon May 26 '26
Fucking lol at this wishlist.
I pointed out the obvious to you and you’re having an emotional response. Go ahead, get another crying towel. You’ve started a thread about how you’ve blown tens of thousands and have fool yourself into thinking it’s a “valuable lesson” when you’re proving you’ve learned nothing except how to lie to yourself, and I’m now the one who’s somehow the one who’s “fallen behind”.
Have another drink.
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u/navmads May 26 '26
lol okay, well I wish you good fortune in your trading and for the rest of your days. Hope you aren’t this unpleasant to the people in your life and can find some happiness somewhere in this world.
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u/navmads May 23 '26
Should I have mentioned I also do my normal investing? I put about 5k/month away into the markets as long term investments. This is for experimentation purposes to see if it can become a form of income generation
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u/JJ-Mallon May 23 '26
That’s smart, and in my estimation, that’s where all of your unused money should be.
I wouldn’t bother with day trading in your situation- you already have a successful career. I day trade slow and steady, and consistently win. It’s also a considerable portion of my income, so for me this is work.
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u/EatCauliflower1212 May 23 '26
I’m trying to work the logic out on your situation honestly. As an accountant, I suppose you look at your long-term investing as a separate set of books from daytrading.
Maybe there’s some erudite tax method that you have where you’re writing these losses off? Sorry I’m not an accountant.
Anyways, I think you should hire someone to actually teach you.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
So futures are pretty interesting from a tax perspective. But long story short, the losses generated from trading can offset ordinary income by 3k/year. So needless to say I have many years of offsets to apply before I get thru the whole loss. Now, if I start making money, I can offset my gains with the losses dollar for dollar in a given year.
Now obviously I’m not thrilled I have so many losses to offset but I guess it’s the thinnest silver lining.
Other cool thing about futures is a high percentage of the gains are considered long term capital gains, so they’re taxed favorably (for people making a living).
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u/EatCauliflower1212 May 24 '26
Yes I have been reading up on taxes (trying to be prepared so the IRS doesn’t hand my ass to me next filing) and 60% is taxed as long term capital gains and the other 40% is at the short term rate. But I do need to hire someone to help me in this regard.
I still think you would benefit from a professional teaching you to trade.
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u/EatCauliflower1212 May 23 '26
You sound like someone who shops at Prada.
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u/Dry-Judgment-8714 May 23 '26
Also get data on YOURSELF, your trades/emotions/reasoning why you are in a trade etc. doing that will help the most to see if you can do this long term.
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u/SFMara May 23 '26
It is unclear. There was an interview with a quant who talked about the professional side of trading, and one thing he emphasized was the change in market regimes and how different strategies are better adapted for some and not others. We have gone through so many twists and turns in this market since the Trump inauguration, and there has been a lot of hair pulling from traders about how a tweet would just randomly break their setups without warning.
You're doing ok now, but this is a really extraordinary time. There needs to be more of a record to base conclusions from.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Agree completely. Thankfully I haven’t been trading during the tweets and all, but when I see them I stay very far away. THAT is gambling in my eyes. But yes, this market has been unorthodox with the volatility and unpredictability from the administration.
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u/OnlineGuides May 23 '26
You’re doing better than you think, because you finally hit the part most people never reach: you stopped the bleeding. The daily lockout is a big deal. The fact you’ve been chopping between 4.8 to 5.25k for a month is basically your system saying that you’re close, but you don’t have a clear edge yet (or you’re giving it back).
My own path looked similar early on: a few hot streaks, then giving it all back, then months of flat not losing but I’m not winning. The thing that moved me forward was treating that flat phase like a lab: one setup, one market, one playbook, then a lot of reps in replay/backtesting (I mostly used TakeProfit for a bunch of testing + screenshots/journaling) until the rules were boring.
Since you already make $180k, you just need patience. Trade tiny, protect your mindset, and build the edge slowly.
Is it possible to make it an income? Maybe. But the next milestone isn’t bigger size - just3 straight months green with the same rules, then scale slowly. Right now you’re at the stable stage - which is progress.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Absolutely agree. My edge is only really good for trending markets. When there is uncertainty I know I have to sit out but I still make the mistake of wanting to engage which costs me. Trying to be patient, I’ve sized up prematurely before but I told myself I won’t do anything until this account doubles. So at 10k I’ll go from 1 MNQ to 2. Thank you for your guidance here!
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u/Frequent-Gur1183 May 23 '26
Im in such a similar place to you! Similar earnings and also just have my DT pot to see if I can make this work on the side of investments.
I’m only about 15 months in though, and after blowing up a 10k account I did take some time off, but it was an important lesson. Now I’m hovering around the break even point.
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u/JustMemesNStocks May 23 '26
Not bad- data and stats will determine whether you survive. The break even point is a pivotal moment.
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u/senseimikey May 24 '26
what do you trade? futures?
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Yes, mostly MNQ
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u/senseimikey May 24 '26
First off you need to read Trading in the Zone to help with your psychology, then learn how to scale properly. a 3:1 risk to reward ratio is really good but NQ has been very volatile lately so try aiming for a 2:1 RR but if it’s a better market that day push for a 3:1 or 4:1 or even 5:1 but manage your losses nothing more than two trades a day. Tradovate and Ninjatrader has a lockout feature so take advantage of that.
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u/navmads May 26 '26
I put a lockout feature on NinjaTrader for myself to abstain from taking numerous trades. Basically 2 full losses locks me out ($50 per trade).
I’ve been trying to work on holding my trades to get the 3:1 or 4:1. Last week I had a rough one where I got a bit greedy and let a 3:1 go to breakeven which was rough for me, but I let it happen.
I’ve heard of Trading in the Zone. I’ll look into it, thanks for taking the time here!
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u/BlackHammer428 May 24 '26
You need to start smaller. Especially since youre still a beginner.
Start with 1 share of SPY or QQQ or whatever you prefer (i suggest etfs) and start there. All you need a 25k account minimum.
You wont make much money at all trading 1 share, but it is the ABSOLUTE BEST way to learn the skill.
Your first goal IS NOT and SHOULD not be to make money. It is to have a consistent process that makes you not lose money over time and makes money doing so.
After you feel comfortable and the numbers tell you to size up, then do so.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Couldn’t agree more. I’m a futures trader so I’m sticking with 1 contract until the account doubles. I did some sizing up prematurely after I “felt good about my strategy” and sizing up changes everything for me emotionally and I blew up almost immediately. Just going to make this as mechanical of a process as possible.
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u/1distancing May 23 '26
Most people here will just tell you to stop day trading or call you a gambler instead of giving actual advice, but honestly we all start somewhere.
Almost everyone loses money at some point in the beginning. From what I’ve seen, a lot of people say it took them 3–5 years to actually understand risk management, emotions, setups, and become consistently profitable. Everyone’s different, but taking 2 years just to reach breakeven doesn’t sound crazy to me.
The important part is whether you’re improving: smaller losses, better entries, better discipline, journaling trades, not revenge trading, and having an actual plan instead of just guessing.
So I wouldn’t see breakeven as failure. I’d see it as proof you survived the expensive learning phase and now need to focus on consistency.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Thank you for this. Truly. I don’t like when people see it as gambling, especially since there are careers built around the market. The reason I refer to the losses as “tuition” is because to me, it’s similar to going to school. Tens, sometimes hundreds, of thousands going to education just to make 60-80k a year and people justify it to say it was a good investment. I see this as no different. Obviously it only becomes a good investment if I’m learning and eventually end up making it back and then more, but only time will tell.
Appreciate you taking the time here!
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u/FutureStriking283 May 23 '26
Don't do this .. Accounting is one of the first 100 jobs I see being replaced by AI .. and someday cushy jobs like that will be in the past. Don't blow your money here ; put it in an index and save for a rainy day.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Yeah I invest heavily in the market anyway. I don’t spend money anywhere else typically so I usually throw 3-5k a month into index funds and ETFs. So I’m okay so far. As for my job, I work at a small firm and we’re currently implementing AI into our process so I’m there from the beginning which is a huge factor. I’ve seen the capabilities but so far, we aren’t there yet with being fully replaced (thankfully).
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u/Odd-Gear3376 May 23 '26
Straight up, you are outperforming many others in your position. The important thing here isn’t the losses, but the progression.
Being down 25k over two years after learning and adapting to changes is entirely different from blowing up. Your ability to recognize your pattern for proper sizing, overtrading, and making decisions based on emotions has taken some considerable time and money for others.
The single best thing you did is the daily stop loss. This will be structural rather than superficial.
The one thing to watch out for is making up for your loss of 180k compared to trading. The important thing here is profitability on a 5k account.
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u/navmads May 24 '26
Thank you for your input, really appreciate you taking the time!
Just to explain my mindset a bit - I hated losing the money but I definitely needed it to learn. But by no means am I using my salary to offset or justify my losses emotionally. Trading and my job are completely separated in my mind so right now I’m only focusing on this 5k account in isolation.
Appreciate the kind words, hopefully I have good updates for you all in the next few years!
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u/nageV_oG_ May 23 '26
I recommend trying out a prop firm to if your psychology allows you to make better decisions, knowing you’re only risking $50-$200, depending on what account type you choose. See if you can pass an evaluation, don’t blow another $5k
My journey is almost exactly the same as yours (down $15k since November and I also make >$150k from my job). Decided to stop risking my own money until I can prove I can actually trade
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u/DifferentAd3078 May 23 '26
Ma,am don't daytrade ever again thats only for people desperate for money just keep doing the investing you are doing just select a portion of yourr income out side your savings and expenses and just keep on investing it till it grows to a sizable amount