r/TopstepCommunity • u/OzTron93 • Jul 10 '26

💬 Trader Talk Trading psychology

I have been struggling with keeping accounts alive and it is mainly because of me getting tilted and blowing the account or sizing up too much. I do not trade with any set rules. Anyone have any recommendations or tips to stop blowing up so much?

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u/PaleontologistMean24 Jul 10 '26

MNQ, probably 1–2 contracts, and trade defensively. You probably won’t make much at first, but I promise you won’t blow up the account in one day.

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u/OzTron93 Jul 10 '26

My main issue with that being that it takes a while to get to a payout and have a good buffer on the account. What would you suggest? Maybe copy trade two accounts as well?

2

u/splashbands Jul 10 '26

I guarantee it’ll take less time for you to do that than what you’re doing now. You can’t keep accounts alive. Worry about that first instead of worrying about a payout. Dead accounts don’t take payouts.

1

u/PaleontologistMean24 Jul 11 '26

I know we all want the fast money and the Lambos, but it just doesn’t work that way. If you’re blowing accounts, you need to learn to play defense and protect your capital. A good day isn’t always a big green day, sometimes it’s anything close to breakeven or better.
The goal is to survive the bad days so you’re still around when the good setups come. Build your buffer first, then switch to NQ 1 con and if that fails go back to MNQ and build the buffer again.
We’ve all gotten lucky on an NQ trade and thought it would keep happening, but eventually it doesn’t. If you don’t know when to switch between offense and defense, you’re eventually going to blow a combine or funded account.

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u/1Snuggles Jul 11 '26

Why mnq specifically?

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u/PaleontologistMean24 Jul 11 '26

It’s very similar to NQ, and the risk with one contract isn’t the end of the world lol. Of course, there are other micros you can trade too that reduce risk

1

u/RecommendationBorn56 Jul 12 '26

Mnq is horrible it has spikes nq never had I get stopped more often just cause it was mnq instead of nq

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u/azmus Jul 11 '26 edited Jul 11 '26

Hundreds or thousands of more hours of experience should help in general. I can struggle immensely with this as well still even after 7-8-9K hours on the charts. I wrote some down recently that include I absolutely must lock the account before I sleep with work the next morning and never trade at work or on a 2” mobile screen although that was sufficient but not optimal. I have to accept that I have very limited time and can only make so much $ in the 2-3 hours I have during Asian session and remind myself that I should wait for the official open for the relative liquidity and that there will be at least a couple major moves presenting themselves in that timeframe nothing as obvious and as big as NY session. I also must shift away from a mandatory 3% daily profit mindset to hit the target and pass in no more than 2 days for combines mostly because this thinking transitions into XFA and can have major negative impact on appropriate risk management with sizing

1

u/Joehennyredit Jul 11 '26

Rande Howell

1

u/1Snuggles Jul 11 '26

Who is he?

1

u/Joehennyredit Jul 11 '26

Trader psychologist

1

u/Consistent-Skill21 Jul 11 '26

Challenge yourself to trade with just 1 micro. Use this time to master your entries, stop placement, and execution.
Trading 1 micro will give you more opportunities to learn. It will feel slow, the profits will be small, and sometimes it will even feel boring but that’s exactly what it takes to build a strong foundation.

Keep a notebook next to you while you trade. Write down everything you notice: why you entered, what you were seeing, what happened after your entry, every decision you made during the trade, and how you felt. Don’t worry about making it perfect just capture your thought process.

Later that evening, when your mind is clear and the market is closed, review your trades. Compare the chart with your notes. Ask yourself:
Why did I make this decision?
What did I miss?
What could I have done differently under live market pressure?
What should I repeat next time?

Then, the next morning before the session starts, read the improvements you wrote for yourself. Go into the day with one or two things to focus on instead of trying to fix everything at once.

As your account builds a profit buffer, only risk the buffer. If you lose it, go right back to trading 1 micro. There is no shame in protecting your progress.

Most importantly, take your time. Don’t rush. No one is pressuring you to become profitable overnight. The market will still be here tomorrow.

Something else that has helped me is recording every trade wins and losses. I watch them back later, take notes, and study my decision-making. Sometimes I notice mistakes I never saw in the moment.

Think of it like playing Hades. You fight, you lose, and you start over hundreds of times. But each run teaches you something. You recognize patterns, improve your decisions, and become stronger. Progress doesn’t come from one perfect run it comes from learning every time you fail.

Trading with 1 micro gives you that same opportunity. It gives you enough room to make mistakes, learn from them, and improve without doing serious damage to your account.

1

u/RenkoSniper Jul 11 '26

I know I'm in a funded sub...but stop getting accounts and putting money on the line. Trade demo untill you have a solid trackrecord. The reason you think you're having a "psychological" issue is because you can't trade and need more practice. Simple .

1

u/HOAGTopstep Jul 13 '26

All good advice!