I just remember I was so mentally shot at many times, after awhile I was laughing hysterically when I lose, I'd gone to work and just laugh my ass off. I'd tell my co-workers I had another losing day and burst out laughing, they always thought I had a good day, for years they thought I was doing well cause I was so miserable laughing. I don't know even to this day why I couldn't turn it off, but it seemed to make other people happy, so something good came out of my losing horrible. Those were the years though I was so far dejected. Glad that is over, I forced myself to work smarter then harder. one guy in my group been losing for thirty years, he told me as he was sobbing yesterday he thinks he can do it now, I hope so as I know and understand those feeling of despair very well. Memories I wish I never had.
Simulated trades can often give a prospective trader overly generous fills leading to a higher degree of confidence than might be justified. Back in the old days when I first started, depending on the stock I was trading (with the simulator I used for 2 weeks) I'd knock either 1/16 or an 1/8 off of the fill so my net profit was smaller or any losses were larger than what the simulator fills would have been.
4 years in the industry and still learning every day. You can never stop improving/researching/building your skills and knowledge. Trading is very simple, but it's hard and takes time to master these simple skills.
I took a break from trading for a while. I kept blowing up my account because I lacked discipline and sticking with my strategy. What I do now that's really helpful is to keep a trading journal of my daily trades. I also set a daily profit target and a loss in my head I'm willing to give up on a daily basis. When I hit either one, I'm dunzo for the day. You gotta stick with your plan and stay discipline.
"How did you learn how to trade?" That's like asking how did you learn to scratch a lottery ticket with a penny.
Been in finance a long time, mostly dealing with alternatives (private equity, hedge funds) and capital markets. Not trading. I've been looking around the internet for reliable trading resources. Definitely have a few new leads from here. Thanks everyone. What resources have you used, videos, books, courses, trading rooms, etc? What's good, whats bad? Thoughts on proprietary trading? probably best for another thread.