The Trader's Path

I started ‘trading’ in the late winter/early spring of 2021. At the time, I had a decent amount of extra income, and after coming across some YouTube videos on trading, I figured what I’m sure most people do, “this doesn’t look that hard.” I quickly made around 20K during the bull run from 29K to 60K trading on Bybit and thought I was a God. I was quickly humbled after getting liquidated on an isolated trade and saw my 20K net profit get cut in half. It was then that my real trading journey began. In March 2021, I joined Chart Champions (under a different name) and stayed in the group for about 1.5 years. To the credit of CC, I truly did learn a lot about trading (shout out to Igor and Trader R). I eventually left around the summer of 2022 as I felt I had outgrown the core principles they were teaching. From that summer to the beginning of 2023, I engaged in a cycle of up and down trading where I eventually lost the full 20K plus my initial investment. To compound this even further, I had two different spot accounts go way underwater, putting my total losses (about half unrealized/still holding) around $60K. Losing the entire 20K, along with my initial investment, and watching my spot accounts plummet was one of the most depressing periods of my life. The overwhelming sense of isolation was intensified by having no one to share this pain with. For those who truly understand the intricacies of technical analysis, it’s not something easily explained to the average person. I shut down my computer and didn’t look at a chart again until this past spring of 2024.

After much reflection, it became clear that no matter how much I know about technical analysis—and I feel quite competent in that area—I’ll never succeed until I conquer the mental side of trading. I am bad about following rules I set for myself and have a terrible habit of revenge trading after a loss. I’m a gambler by nature, and this condition will forever be my downfall if I can’t learn to control it. The final nail in the coffin that makes my trading journey so complicated is my large family. I have 6 kids. I work from home full time, while my wife works part-time. My wife and I also live away from our immediate family. We are on our own, and this means we have no help. When my wife works, I again am working from home and also managing my two youngest who are not yet in school full-time. I am very blessed to have a family. However, for anyone that understands trading, doing so with a family requires even more refined levels of discipline. I feel as though I constantly live in a state of torment where I’m missing out on trades, and when compounded with my actual full-time job, this makes it difficult to feel fully present when I spend time with them.

This Twitter account is one way to help manage this issue; an accountability mechanism, similar to a journal. However, I’m making it public to ideally diminish the likelihood I cheat. Whether I earn followers through my postings or not (not the goal), my thought process and trades will still be public, and again, the hope is this instills more accountability within myself.

Since returning, I have significantly less extra capital to trade with, if any at all. I bought a house in 2022, and with a large family that depends on me, my ability to take risks is very small. With the potential for an upcoming bull run and my spot accounts slowly rebounding, my plan is to further refine my skills through a combination of paper trading on TV, small account margin trading on Phemex, and small challenge trading on Funded Pips.

In this order, here is my plan:

● TV PaperTrading:1k>5K>10Kchallenge| Status: Complete

Using a scalping/intraday strategy only, the goal here was to start a 1k account, and in one month, turn it into 5K. In two months turn that 5K into 10K. I initially had a final goal where I’d then take the 10K, split it into two 5K accounts, and use one for scalping/intraday and the other for longer-term swing trades. I tried this for the first time at the end of April ’24, and after getting to the $9,500 range on two occasions, I ultimately failed (failed = blew the account). I began again at the end of May ’24, and in about one month made it to 10K. After splitting the account, and preparing to aim at 10K, I came to the conclusion I’d forego this final stage and focus instead on two different small account challenges via Phemex and Funded Pips.

***Note: I’m fully aware that paper trading is vastly different than trading with real money. However, paper trading or not, turning 1K into 10K in one month at a 50%+ win rate is not simple. My point being, I have the skill and technical prowess to succeed at trading. This is proof of that. It’s the mental ease I feel in paper trading vs. trading with real money that is the issue. While I may never be able to fully duplicate this mental state across live trading, it’s imperative I get close.

Here is the challenge breakdown analyzed by ChatGPT:

● Phemex: $100 > 1K > 5K > 10K challenge | Status: On-going

Prior to the decision to publish my trading thoughts/journal, I started this challenge (2 weeks ago roughly) and at its peak, had the account at $200. It’s now back down to around $128. This screenshot shows $122. However, that’s because I’m currently in a trade, which I will post about as my initial Phemex status entry, here.

● Funding Pips: Get funded on a 5K account | Status: On- going

On 6/18, I opened a small challenge 5K account for $34. In only 3 days and after 18 trades, I breached my max daily loss limit, and failed the challenge. On 6/25, I opened another 5K challenge, and as of 7/2 (7 days), after 43 trades (terrible/so much revenge trading), my initial balance of 5K is now at $4,826.41. I am $573.59 away from my profit target to complete the challenge.

My broader plan for Funding Pips is as follows: complete a $5K challenge, then trade that account to a net profit target of $2K. From that 2K, I will use it to fund three attempts at getting funded on a $100K account (the challenge is $499). From the remaining $500, I’ll either use it to boost my Phemex account further or spend it on another trading-related endeavor (I will keep you posted if I get there).

Conclusion:

This is my plan. If I can pull this off with only $168, I’ll essentially have a shot at accessing $100K to trade with. At that point, everything becomes possible. My biggest challenge is overcoming myself.

I invite you to join me on this journey as I strive to conquer the mental hurdles that have prevented me from truly becoming a successful trader and providing my family with the life they deserve. I hope my experiences and insights can help you on your own journey as well.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter for the most immediate updates. Occasionally, I'll use Vocal to post longer form thoughts along the way.

Let’s Go!

The Faceless Trader

Temperatus Per Dolorem