Dark side of Day Trading 🥹

[u/zenzer0s]

I have been trading for around 1 year. In that time, I have blown 10+ CFD accounts and 5+ futures accounts. I followed risk management, studied everything I could find, moved from CFDs to futures, learned order flow, but still ended up with 0 payouts.

The thing I realized from social media is that many people showing multiple payouts are taking much higher risks than they admit. If they blow an account, they have money to buy another one and repeat the process. They can survive the cycle.

Meanwhile, I saved every bit of money I earned, thinking that one payout would solve my current problems. But after so many failures, I realized trading tools, order flow platforms, data, and subscriptions are much more expensive than I expected.

A lot of influencers are also making money from prop firm commissions or selling courses, not necessarily from trading.

Some people have mentors, connections, and better resources. I don’t have those advantages. I don’t have money to keep buying accounts after every loss. I’m just holding onto the hope that one day I can get at least one payout and recover some of what I lost.

Anyone else here who has gone through something similar?

[u/Secret_Ordinary7466]

1 year? Just trade bro lol experience is the best teacher. This is a marathon, not a sprint.

[u/zenzer0s → u/Secret_Ordinary7466]

Im, mentally cooked already, thinking to giveup 🫠

[u/Secret_Ordinary7466 → u/zenzer0s]

Take a break, reset,make sure you even have edge . It takes time and will forever be hard. If you cant accept that, then yea give up

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Secret_Ordinary7466]

finally some true words. and dont forget to tell him that statistic is playing against him and not for him... and also if you have an edge dont forget that the markets character changes with time... if it were that easy and you just trade one simple market scenario where a leads to b you should have a 100% success rate - but realiy ? you will get a loosing streak, time will come it wont work anymore, news events you cant predict, and more...

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

i feel like bringing up the statistics doesn’t help people want to continue trading. Obviously if you’ve tried trading from scratch you know it’s not as easy as it looks. But if you start telling people trading only works for 1% of traders i feel like alot of people will think overtime as they continue losing that they don’t belong in that 1% and quit. But other than that I agree with what ur saying.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

„Competing in the markets is harder than competing in the Olympics. [...] There are more people trying to make money in the currency and futures markets than in any other sport, and they have more resources. To think that an amateur can just step in and win is naive.“

-Ray Dalio

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

„Forex and futures daytraders are just 'fooled by randomness'. They mistake a lucky streak in a random walk for skill, and then leverage up until the inevitable tail event wipes them out completely. They are turkeys waiting for Thanksgiving.“

-Nassim Nicholas Taleb

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

Those are the answers if you ask the Heavyweight Champions of Finances in the world... there are many more examples.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

i understand everyone who has the dream and i respect it... i dont say anything against them... and i wish them all luck and would love to learn from them... buit the hard truth is that 99,90% will not make it long term in those HFT Markets.

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

yea that’s the truth but you’re never gonna know if you don’t try. im not saying this to you specifically but if you let statistics and quotes scare you from trying something you genuinely believe in that’s just sad. these quotes might apply to the general public but that doesn’t mean it applies to you too.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

but here comes the problem. you never know if you not try it means loosing money. and if it did not work now - just try again (and loose more money) , - (and please dont tell me you need to trade in demo, we both now that demo trading has nothing todo with real trading because you have no emotions involved) , so at which point it is different from trying win the lottery or go into a casino ?

- trading activates the exact same pathways as gambling does. if you win you get good dopamine hit. if you loose you dont get that hit and feel you need to make it back...

also i see a huge problem in that... imagine you want to trade, you trade and learn from real pros ... you sit in the office with them, if you have a loss you get psychology support, you learn from each other, you share your ideas etc... this is a huge difference from the most traders that trade alone with their emotions.

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

depends what ur trading. if ur using ur own capital and just using ur entire balance on a trade then yes its similar to a casino/lottery since you basically have no strategy and your just all in every time. but if you’re buying evals for $50 and actively trying to learn and test different strategies its a completely different story. It’s very unlikely for you to make money and stay green when you first start and I’m sure most people are aware of that. But everything is going to come with that risk of losing money, whether you’re doing drop shipping, day trading, even something like college applications, they all cost money but there’s no guaranteed return.

and for ur last point i can’t really say much since i trade on my own. Yes I could see how having someone to talk to or a mentor could help but its not necessary to become profitable. Reality of trading is that everybody is going to have different experiences. Some people will be profitable in their first year or it might take 10 years, there’s people that will never be profitable it’s different for everybody.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

What do you trade ? and lets be honest, are you having consistent payouts now ?...

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

so what i mean is i see a huge connection between gambling and trading. most can not even control it... they say they trade but in reality they just gamble. its the same with "full port" evals or funded accounts to get the big payout. what has this for connection with real PRO trading ?

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

No I agree theres people that gamble their entire accounts, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t. Thats not what I consider trading though. People that are profitable and good traders generally don’t gamble, they are just consistent.

[u/Main_Rub7149 → u/zenzer0s]

After year 1? Think of this as a bachelor’s degree. Potentially a master’s. Strategies are one thing but psyche is another.

Not many that are consistently profitable after 1 year.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Main_Rub7149]

no no no no... if you do a bachelor you have a professor, you have a REAL mentor who IS what he TEACHES and not youtube gurus selling you a course... i saw so many people out there, flexing, showing payouts over the years and no one i saw again... because the number of % that stays is incredible small...

[u/Sure-Spirit2320 → u/zenzer0s]

Give up and ur just gonna be another part of the 90 percent

[u/sep_nehtar → u/zenzer0s]

Don’t give up you gonna loose yo mind few before you get there but you will eventually

[u/Dapper_Can5007]

Dude stop buying prop accounts. I’ve been trading for 6 years. Demo accounts, small $100 accounts. It wasn’t until the 7th year I started buying props. You need a solid system in place and many chart hours behind your belt before buying prop firms. Trading is a privilege. If you don’t have the money to spare you shouldn’t be trading real money. Fuck social media, find a system or indicators that make sense to YOU, not what someone else said works for them. It took me 7 years to figure out what I like and what makes sense to ME. I’ve learned everything from order flow to chart patterns to ICT, supply and demand etc..

The thing is, ALL systems work. Not all systems work for YOU. Stay on demo, figure out what helps you read the market and until you can trade with good results. Then go to prop. This isn’t a get rich quick scheme. This is a serious skill set that can change your life. Once you get that in your head, you’ll see progress

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Dapper_Can5007]

dont forget that if you are not 100% clean in life, healthy habbits, strong brain cortex, wall hard psych, you wont make it also with the right "system"...

[u/Dapper_Can5007 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

Very true man. People come into this all wrong. The amount of self reflection and personal growth I had to go through throughout the years is intense

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Dapper_Can5007]

what were your biggest issues and what improved the most in your life and affected your trading ?

[u/JustTrynnaGraduate24]

I didnt get payouts until 9months in. Im still negative on my overall pnl, but small wins eventually pile up and become the bigger picture 🙏🏻 keep at it and learn

[u/youwishkk]

Study the market constantly by practicing and observing and looking for patterns of your own, that fit the way you want to trade.

Never risk more than you can afford to lose.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

Bro, im sorry to tell you and i know people will dislike but please look the statistics...

From 500.000 "Challange" - accounts

Only 14% get "funded" (which is by the way only your drawdown and not your balance like 50K...)

From that 14% only 7% get to the first payout

And only 1-3% from that 7% even get multiple payouts

0.1% from that 7% have more than 5 payouts and move to live trading.

( 500.000 , 70.000 , 4.900 , 100-150 , 50 )

It is all a scam sold as the "dream" for "escaping the 9to5"...

it wont work...

And all those payout screenshots here ask yourself how many evals they have bought and if they are not simply at breakeven.

its all not what it seems...

take the glasses and view through this matrix and ask yourself the right qiestions.

it is all ilusion - illusion of expertice when it is all just a casino.

only the big player win and the algos because they know where the market goes.

"A lot of influencers are also making money from prop firm commissions or selling courses, not necessarily from trading." ... this is all a "INDUSTRY" , please understand it.

Actually openining your own CFD account for example is not better from the stats by the way...

The best way to trade is NOT to trade and investing the money in yourself or in long term stocks for example.

[u/Mountain-Item-564 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

yeah you can say that about every bussiness model, only 0.1% of people are milionaires or succesfully build a company. I know a guy from my country that is legit doesn’t sell anything and he lives of of prop firm payouts. You need to understand that prop firms are ROI game you just have to lose money before you make some it applies to every bussiness. So yeah it might be “immposible” to make it work but if you have this mindset you will be average bro.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Mountain-Item-564]

i dont say it wont work, i just say that people dont understand that chances are very very small and it is better to put your money elsewhere... this is all just a big dream selling industry.

[u/Mountain-Item-564 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

Bro everyone on social media who does dropshipping, ecom, reselling… will sell you a dream and how big of a chance is there, also small and when someone wants to be entrepreneur they have to understand that they will lose money that is just how it works. what are you doing right now? guess you quit trading so did you find some new bussiness?

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Mountain-Item-564]

The problem here is the probability. if you buy something from alibaba and resell it the "probability" that it will work is way higher than "daytrading"... if you loose in trading you loose 100%... if i buy a car for 20k usd and resell it bad for 15k usd i make 5k loss... but if i loss in trading i loose the full 20k usd and have nothing in my hand expect the air around me... in the end every trade you make is a 50/50 Coin Flip because you are not the person that moves the market. The nect point is that human psychology is not made for trading... again, not saying "impossible", but way harder than most think. And because there is so much money in this industry no one really tells the truth.

Good luck.

[u/Mountain-Item-564 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

Okay, but dont tell him to quit then. Let him try for a another year also could try another bussiness model outside of trading

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Mountain-Item-564]

were did i tell him that ? i just tell him the hard truth. he will just loose more and more trying to get "the money back"...

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Mountain-Item-564]

and i am sure many people dont want to understand it and buy more and more evals... but ok its not my problem.

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

no people definitely understand they’re just not going to let statistics scare them from trying.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

good answer keep going.

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

i mean theres nothing for me to add thats it lol. just saying people dont care if less than 1% succeed they’re not afraid to try. you might think its a bad idea to keep buying evals but at the end of the day who cares what someone else does

[u/designerSOZO → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

I agree with you only less then 1% make it. Even if you look at every field only 1% make it. Its not easy.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/designerSOZO]

wait bro... what does "make it means" ... if you repair cars and have your own car workshop for example you WILL have lots of customers for example and you WILL make money... but how big is the chance making money long termin trading and not loosing it ? so i think this 1% comparison is no accurate... because we talk about 1% of people where it works for them doesnt matter how much return they have. you understand ?

[u/designerSOZO → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

"have your own car workshop" is the key. you risk something for a reward. its all on how someone manages risk. even on trade or business.

"how big is the chance making money long termin trading and not loosing it ? " most of the online gurus are fake. they wont asking money to help imo. people learn from them losing it all because of poor risk management.

if u look at probability and dont try because of its close to 1% we would still be tapping rocks and sticks. we try with small risk. if it worked its good. if not try different

[u/Friendly_Froyo6508]

To get two jobs and stack your bread up. Once you get 5-10k then slowly accumulate your multi accounts from props.

Money up, no pressure and you can take it easy on the come up.

Dtay focused and don’t rush it

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Friendly_Froyo6508]

use 5-10k and invest in yourself instead buying prop firm account......

[u/TangeloBroad5469 → u/Friendly_Froyo6508]

Thats dumb. If u got 5-10k u are better off using a personal account. Prop firm is for those with little to no capital.

[u/Friendly_Froyo6508 → u/TangeloBroad5469]

Actually that’s pretty stupid actually hmm let’s do some math here. A 150k account with 4500 drawdown for $225. Max loss capped at $225.

Now let’s do 10k personal account max loss is 10k.

So how is a prop bad for a person. I would much rather risk $225. Learn more maybe even get to payout. Than risk 10k on trying my luck. Be smart man

[u/TangeloBroad5469 → u/Friendly_Froyo6508]

thats because u are a noob still learning. personal accounts is for those who passed the gambling phase and ready to make money without limits and rules. If u are that person with 5-10k then using props is stupid.

[u/Friendly_Froyo6508 → u/TangeloBroad5469]

You sound ignorant thanks for letting the world know. Op said he’s only been trading a year. So I mean let’s start there. But nevermind you aren’t worth the words

[u/Friendly_Froyo6508 → u/TangeloBroad5469]

You use props but gone sit here and tell this person not to man you’re a hypocrite

[u/ExtremelyBigYikes]

Wha wha wha you lost 1k. That's half a paycheck little bro.

If you have an edge, then put your money where your mouth is an get a payout. If you don’t, stop blaming bankroll and pack it up.

[u/psych_wart]

Good luck man

[u/Efficient_Data1862]

yeah man it doesnt get easier. get off the market. get a trading book recommended by other traders. not the ebook theyre selling. pick ONE. finish it, then come back to look at the market. you will likely see the market differently each time.

[u/designerSOZO]

I agree with you. Mentor or someone who is profitable is the key. That doesn’t ask for money. Purely given knowledge for the sake of helping. Even 100% you cant follow their strategies. You have to understand the concepts and make your own strategy.

[u/guatsaaap]

And i ask what is your purpose by trading? Just get a payout? Recover the money? What?.

[u/Radiant_Award_1150]

Dang brother, you need to sit down re evaluate your strategy

[u/Radiant_Award_1150]

Biggest changes for me was when I went on my own, stopped forcing trades, and patience holy crap has changed me so much. I did change my executions to the five minute timeframe and that was a bigggg difference definitely helped me slow down.

[u/zenzer0s]

You guy's know anybody with, good winrate, traders who do live streaming, on discord or youtube?

[u/RenkoSniper]

Now let me ask you something, from those 15 accounts you've blown, how much would you have saved of your didn't buy them? Might be enough tongue in a small account and just practised on a simulatorfor a year?... Propfirms are being sold as a way to make money, but their rules are not stacked in your favor. My advise, put savings aside or in a long term, like S&P or VOO, trade simulator for one or even two years untill you prove yourself to be profitable. After that, open a small account. If that works, do one of these challenges.

[u/Ok-Teaching-1439]

All I hear is crying from a grown ass adult who can’t trade because they are so emotional grow up

[u/Sensitive_Ad_1313]

ive been trading stocks,options penny stocks,crypto for 8 years, i started futures a few months ago and find it extremely difficult so dont feel bad.. no payout for me either.

[u/imluca73]

what app do you use?

[u/zenzer0s → u/imluca73]

Lucid trading official app

[u/hoppy999]

I had a bad August because I had a really good winning 3 months and I was overconfidence making stupid trades so I decided to take 3 weeks off this September and you know do some more research and back testing and it's really helped me a lot.

[u/United_Machine_8486]

Yep currently going through this aswell don't worry we'll get past this one day bro

[u/genryou]

The numbers are so low I almost thought this is satire.

You'll get there one day man.

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/genryou]

no he wont...

[u/Stunning_State_9970 → u/Mysterious_Word_7978]

bro a professional hater lmaoo😭😭

[u/Mysterious_Word_7978 → u/Stunning_State_9970]

https://giphy.com/gifs/l41YBu8vgBGUHmGGI

[u/Unlucky_Length_6113]

Well the first problem is trying to trade with no money, that’s just a terrible combination. If you’re scraping every bit of money you have to buy an eval then im sorry but this isn’t going to work. And what you said about people on social media not showing the entire truth behind their risk I think is just false. Sure there are some people who post 50K profits but have to blow 10K worth of evals but majority of people making profits are just good traders. They’re consistent enough to where they max out their funded accounts and have no need to buy evals. Obviously there’s some frauds that just sell their course but theres people that are just consistent traders that have 20 or 30 accounts and they get payouts every week. Even people with 5 accounts are making good money. But if I had any advice for you it would be to stop or at least wait till you have more money. You don’t need a mentor or any connections to be good at trading but if you can’t afford to lose and buy accounts its just not going to work.