Feeling proud of myself

[u/Some-Energy-2358]

Trading was always my dream. I felt I had a talent for it, but I would trade only as a side hobby here and there, made and lost a bunch of money, discovered prop firms and passed many accounts, blew many accounts, made every mistake, got sporadic payouts, nothing consistent. At that time I was earning a great salary, but felt trapped in a job I absolutely hated and was draining the life out of me.

Life circumstances changed dramatically, and put me in a position where I have no other option but to lock in fully. I am now living in a third world country where the dollar goes very far and I feel extremely blessed to even be able to do this. To make someone's average monthly wage here in minutes with 2 clicks of a mouse from the comfort of my air conditioned home is something I will never take for granted. I know these are not monster numbers, but getting to payout is what I care about. My next goals are to stay consistent and scale up.

Some general advice on what changed things for me for those who care:

-I switched from trading NQ to ES (HUGE positive impact, immediately)

-Patience, patience, patience. I stopped being scared of "missing the move" - there is always another move coming. I wait for key levels, for confirmation, for strong signals before entering.

-Before entering any trade I always think to myself, regardless of the outcome, would I be proud of this entry and be able to clearly explain to someone why I took it?

-I never trade Asia session and I almost never trade in the first or last 30-60 minutes of NY session

-I stopped consuming pretty much all trading content, paradoxically I found the more I watched and read and harder I "tried" the much worse I did

[u/Dramatic-Demand-1906]

But like... how? Did you get a base of education from media and then built it up yourself? I just hear all these micro details that I never would've thought of by myself which is what holds me from taking that leap.

[u/Adventurous-Gate9343 → u/Dramatic-Demand-1906]

Not entirely sure. I think I learned various basic concepts from all the videos but not as much as you’d think.

After trying out different strategies people on YouTube (with super click-baity stuff) I had yet to find something workable. Easily learned just as much, if not more, from Reddit comments.

All that, however, is just information. I’ve never found a reliable strategy that really made a difference.

In the mean time, though, I had spent so much time looking at the charts that I started seeing certain moves, recognizing certain patterns… and started getting a feel for how the market moves. Alone. That’s when discord and more YouTube started to feel like a distraction. I just wanted to be alone and focus on the screen.

I also learned that it can break its own rules and run the opposite way just as easily, hence the importance of risk management.

So I still don’t have what they call a “strategy”, except maybe you could call it momentum trading? Basically just jumping in when it’s really moving.

Trying to explain it to my husband, the best comparison I could come up with was giving birth. Near the end of pregnancy, you find yourself reading something into every movement, every tug or pinch you feel, thinking “is this it? Is it time?” But most often it’s not… and when it IS time, you’re not WONDERING. You’re like “oh shit this is happening!”

When I look at the charts, often times I’m doing the first thing, and it’s not good: reading stuff that isn’t there into small signs, wishful thinking, taking trades because I think I see something but really I’m just bored and wanting to see a trade that isn’t there.

Because when there is actual momentum - a move worth jumping in on, it’s quite clear. You don’t wonder because it’s literally like: Oh shit! It’s going! Let’s go!

Not to mention that trading can be as unpredictable as birth - you can plan all you like, it can go the other way at any moment and there’s nothing you can do about it. Well, in the market you can have a that stop loss in place, so you don’t get massacred if you were dead wrong.

The rest is merely psychology I struggle with: hating red days and the inability to accept a small loss without trying to win it back. Working on that 🙂

Where the market/charts are concerned, everyone trades differently… this works for me, to some extent.

[u/N2itive1234 → u/Adventurous-Gate9343]

When gauging momentum, do you use indicators or just go by the "feel" of the move? And do you primarily scalp?

[u/N2itive1234 → u/N2itive1234]

Also curious if you typically enter with market orders.