Setting aside the fact that none of the above are true in actual (as opposed to purely theoretical) markets... this does not mean that it's impossible to structure losing trades. The two are not mutually exclusive - there's zero reason for them to be - and I would have thought that this would be obvious to anyone. Extreme outliers come to mind immediately; so does chance of ruin due to incorrect trade sizing. There's quite a few others. But someone arguing against the obvious, incontrovertible, fundamental, armor-plated fact that "reversing" bad decisions does not automatically produce good ones... that makes me wish for IQ filters. A "you have to be at least this smart to get on this ride" measuring stick at the entrance to this place. It's not just a bad take; it's a lack of simple cognitive ability. More than enough to qualify him for my "Ignore" bucket, anyway.
When you're starting out, asking questions - especially when you don't know enough to know what questions to ask - may not be the best tactic. Instead, I'd suggest tracking the sub-forum you're interested in - stock trading, options, futures, etc. - and figuring out the categories of questions/discussions that come up in it. Then, focus on those that seem to produce good results as reported by the other participants. Follow where that leads you; it will most likely be in some unexpected direction, and completely alien to the way you're thinking now. Nobody is going to tell you "how to make money" or "how to become a successful trader". But if you figure out who the good traders are, read what they write, think about how it applies to you, and then build - and continuously test - on that basis, then you may [1] learn how to become successful. At the very least, you'll know what questions to ask, and how to recognize and take advantage of any good answers that you receive. [1] Not everyone is suited to be a trader. Success in trading isn't guaranteed - even if you're smart, hard-working, and have learned "the right things". Who you are as a person plays a very large part. P.S. Read. A lot. There are good books, written by good traders; all to be taken with large grains of salt and filtered through your own head to see how it applies to you. But if you don't have a good-sized trading library, you're running a race with both feet in the sack and one arm tied behind your back. READ.
I think you're missing the main point that is, they aren't bad decisions they are random decisions. And reversing random decisions will produce more random results. Ie 50/50 This is an elementary concept.
I read your past 14 posts, your biggest mistakes are you have no trading plan and thinking that trading was going to be easy. There are many on this site that have traded decades and taken years of forward testing before taking an actual trade. You still in learning stage and I would advise you to quit live trading until you can answer every question that comes to mind. Everyone speaks of "edge", mine is Risk Management. Only area that can be controlled for most part is how much one is willing to risk. If you are 50/50, have to gain more than loses. "BUY LOW, Sell High", sounds easy. By buying on support, price either holds this area or drops, so risk can be tighter than if you are doing breakouts of Bull patterns cause then risk is huge on other side of support. I rather be right 30% of the time risking small so long as profits are 5-10 times greater than risk. There is huge amount one has to learn other than this, take a few years to learn well than toss your capital into dumpster cause huge lack of knowledge.
I lived to see this too. Not only you gotta work hard to prove your trading system is a winner but people won't accept you beeing a loser, you gotta prove it. Show me your track record of losses, fuckups and bankruptcy or get outta here.
Hello Lord Darkseid, You are doing very well. Losses is a requirement for success. This is how it has to be. Thank you for joining the ET team, many great people can help you. I can not help, because I lose as well. I have been losing money on ES for 5 years straight. I have never had a profitable year, beyond $5000 in 2021. Welcome to the day trading club. It is good you are losing. So you can learn how to win now This is the only way.
Another problem is that (I think) he's trading Options and doesn't seem to have enough experience for that. People now do not take time to learn things properly, everybody wants their instant gratification and I don't believe that this will ever change. That is the reason for the high failure rate in trading.
For me personally it's more like FOMO, mostly driven by age (>30y) + the fact I'm learning but don't have a buddy/mentor, nor know what a good "learning path" looks like (should I focus on what first? PA? TA? FA? Macro? Micro? Etc). Yes yes, markets have been there and will be there and opportunities will be there as well..