I don’t know how long OP has been trading, but the $130k loss was in the last 4 years if I am not mistaken. We all go through long periods of losses. I have been trading for 12 years and am still not there. My only regret is I started out with big capital @$100k and used big sizes often maxing out the 4x day trading buying power, all in the hope of making it big. My biggest one day loss was over $20k. lol Looking back now I think the best way is to start as small as possible. It takes many years (10,000+ hrs) to really understand the market to gain any edge. So it’s vital to keep the inevitable losses small. If OP still wants to keep trading, start small like $1-2k and treat it as throwaway money. If OP decides to quit I can fully understand. For short term T-bills pay 5%+ with no state tax. For long term investment gradually buy stock index funds during 1-2 year period to dollar cost averaging. The current market looks high but who knows. BTW, my original $100k capital would be $300-400k now if it were put in the stock indexes. The opportunity cost is huge.
FALSE! This is another idea we have to get away from...The whole idea of "put your money here as if you can afford to lose it." Oh really? You mean like the compulsory SSA and Medicare system in this country? Sorry, we're not buying into that anymore, because the money we paid into THAT bullshit is already lost to inflation. We cannot afford to lose it, so we are not treating our discretionary funds like your BS narrative of "if you put it here, it is probably gone." (not you Jzwu2017, just the punduits in general). It was funny in South Park, but we're going to take it a bit more seriously. Kthxbye.
My point is one should expect to lose the original capital when starting out in trading. That’s just the reality for 99% of new traders.
It is time to turn that paradigm around. There's a video out there for my point I am sure, but it goes something along the lines of this... "If a man is so thoroughly convinced he is going to die tomorrow, he will probably find a way to make it happen." I never subscribed to that BS of "Expect to lose all your shit the first year". Never. THAT is just negative reinforcement, and sets people up to lose subliminally based on a statistical set that they do not have to belong to. What the fuck is with that, anyways? When we were growing up, did our parents tell us, "You can try to hit that home run, but only 1 out of 50 in your school has ever done it in their first season at bat. But you go for it." No! There was encouragement, NOT discouragement, from the outset!
Well I thought I was good and would be different from all the others. lol I do believe there are a few geniuses in the trading world but 99% chance you’re not. You cannot beat the statistics.
Don't have to be a genius to make a billion. Just smart, to make a million. (I.E. We're not shooting for the moon here. Just a small space rock for a living wage).
If you finally gain a decent edge $1M is not a problem, but before that just expect to keep losing. Then it’s way better to keep losing small than big.
Hopefully zghorner is lost in my journal and is why he is not responding here, studying it, so he can see the light. Please dear Lord, let him see the light.