After almost 3 years, despite a lot of effort and countless hours staring at the charts I'm unable to become profitable.
A few times I thought I was slowly getting the hang of it, but it was just an illusion caused a short streak of luck and nothing else.
The truth is I'm not making any progress, and I don't know how to read the markets.
Important concepts in trading
RISK MANAGEMENT. There is NOTHING more important in trading then Risk Management. You could have every other aspect of trading dialed in, and still lose money without it. Risk Management is the key to profitability in trading.,
What are the key factors of Risk Management? I Never risk more than 1-2% of my trading capital on a single position. When you plan trade with risk management, first you must know where you are entering and why, then you must know where your trade is invalidated and why (stop loss placement). You Calculate how far away your stop loss is, and then you calculate your position size based on the distance between your entry, and your technical invalidation. (The caveat to the 1-2% rule in crypto, is that the market is heavily correlated. So if you have multiple altcoin positions open in the same direction, each with 1-2% risk, your overall risk is likely much higher, as the market tends to move together)
PATIENCE IN ALL THINGS. Patience is such an important part of trading. First, give yourself a reasonable time horizon to develop your skills and knowledge base. In the context of the LATF, give yourself time to go through the educational content, give yourself time to deploy those concepts onto charts, and to take simulated trades with a paper trading account. Be patient about deploying real capital into the market. Make sure you are confident and comfortable with your ability to navigate the market, and manage your risk. Be patient with your entries. Let trades come to you, don't chase them. Preparation, patience, execution. The majority of your time as a trader is spent waiting. The Market isn't going anywhere, there is no rush.,
DISCIPLINE. Seeking Inspiration and motivation to accomplish your goals is a great way to get started but without the discipline to put in the work each day, and to adhere to your trading plans, you won't make it far. Prepare yourself mentally for the reality that the inspiration will fade, and many days progress won't be easy, fun, or as fast as you want it to be. It might help to set your major goals on 2-3 year time horizons, not 2-3 weeks.
PROCESS OVER OUTCOMES. As traders, we control the process but we don't control the outcomes. Put your focus on the process each day. Preparation, patience, execution. Preparation, patience, execution. Preparation, patience, execution.,
We don't control what happens after that. Technically valid trades, with technical invalidation, with technical targets, and risk management. After that, the outcome of a trade is irrelevant. The only way to move freely in and out of the market is to let go of the outcome and focus on the process.
SELF REFLECTION. Everyone has their "demons". They manifest themselves in our trading in different ways. The best way to identify and overcome them, is to track your trades with journaling, and reflect on them. A journal entry might look like these.,
Notes. Example 1 . "Price failed to reach my target, I didn't want to miss my short trade, so I entered at the bottom of the local range, Then price rallied and I stopped myself out at a large loss right before my initial entry target. When my target hit, I took a larger position then I planned to make up for the loss. But because the position was so large, I ran my stop closer then I planned, because I was afraid to take a stop with that size. Price wicked up and stopped me out, and then started dumping quickly. I didn't want to re-enter because I just took 2 stop losses. Had I followed my original plan, I would have been in the position and not gotten stopped out. Execution Poor" ❌
Example 2. "Price came to my target, I took the trade as planned. Price stopped me out at invalidation, execution perfect" ✅
Example 3 "Price Swept the major low, I had been waiting for this level for a month. In the moment, I decided to trade it 5x bigger then planned. I was incredibly nervous and anxious, fighting not to close the trade out before invalidation. Price ultimately went in my favor. I closed half out for a large win, and set my stop at break even. Execution Poor"❌
Eventually you will see repeating issues in your trading. You will find yourself writing the same thing over and over again. Identifying recurring issues gives you the opportunity to address them. The end goal will be to reflect on a journal that looks like this "execution perfect",✅ "execution perfect",✅ "execution perfect". ✅
I don't know how to make this any clearer:
If you want to succeed in trading you should NOT follow me.
I have nothing to offer, and you will NOT learn anything from me.
After almost 3 years, despite a lot of effort and countless hours staring at the charts I'm unable to become profitable.
A few times I thought I was slowly getting the hang of it, but it was just an illusion caused a short streak of luck and nothing else.
The truth is I'm not making any progress, and I don't know how to read the markets.
I don't know how to make this any clearer:
If you want to succeed in trading you should NOT follow me.
I have nothing to offer, and you will NOT learn anything from me.
If you struggle to find all old posts (because X search is broken again), I created little tool to alleviate my own pain. It generates a link to advanced search results using timestamps instead of dates. That way you can have fine control over search range.
https://t.co/k6uTuhk4IJ
Save code as html file.
Open it in browser - done.
Something to keep in mind.
I often see people saying: “Yeah, but everyone is watching that level, even their mother, so it won’t work.”
Right… everyone knows the gym exists too, yet most people are still out of shape.
Jokes apart, that’s exactly the point.
The fact that “everyone sees that level” doesn’t make it useless, it just makes it obvious but in the market, obvious doesn’t mean ineffective, it means liquidity.
If everyone is watching the same level, that’s where orders cluster: stop losses, breakout entries, and institutional positioning.
That’s not a problem, that’s exactly why the level matters.
The market needs liquidity to move, and those levels act as magnets for it.
The real mistake the majority makes isn’t seeing the levels. It’s how they interpret them and how they execute.
⭕The majority, if you think about:
• enters late, after the move has already started
• places predictable stops
• reacts emotionally to breakouts and rejections
⭕The disciplined trader:
• knows the level is obvious → expects aggressive reactions
• plans scenarios (breakout vs fakeout)
• executes decisively when the setup is valid
In my opinion, It’s not about being right against the crowd, it’s about understanding where the crowd is vulnerable.
Saying “it won’t work because everyone sees it” is just an elegant excuse to avoid the hard part, which is executing with consistency, proper risk management, and zero ego.
The market doesn’t reward people for finding something secret.
It rewards those who do simple things, repeatedly, without deviating from the plan.
In the end, it’s not the level that makes the difference, it’s how you behave when price gets there.
@Albert_618 My pleasure.
There is very little information about this topic, so like you said - you have to spend tremendous amount of time on in order to train your 👀 & 🧠.
Personally I only grasped some general "outline" about how to do it.
@Moneytaur_ A big red flag is being sold ideas you want to hear. 1000x gems, signals etc.. no traders talk in these terms.
The problem with producing the thing that people actually need to succeed as traders.. is its the last thing they want to hear, and a lot of hard work
The digging is done. I've seen it all.
I wanted to have my own copy of his timeline (part of it that in my opinion is priceless), tagged, categorized, transcribed, cross-linked, commented, and enriched with supplementary posts and comments, like some of yours that I liked, to provide necessary context where it is needed.
And I have it.
Since 20 September 2020 @Moneytaur_ published 30165 posts.
Based on my personal archive that contains a little bit over 24% of them, you'll find:
🔷 >300 tickers charted, analyzed, talked or mentioned in a meaningful/actionable way
🔷 ~40 books mentioned, showed and/or recommended
🔷 >1200 posts pertaining to strategy (I don't consider all charts as strategy related)
🔷 >250 motivation related posts
🔷 >140 mindset related posts
🔷 >100 psychology related posts
🔷 >150 business related posts
🔷 ~100 risk management posts
🔷 ~100 money management related
🔷 ~100 mentoring related
🔷 >200 learning related
🔷 ~900 posts in which I've found some wisdom
🔷 823 💎💎💎 (charts, strategy, learning, psychology, markets manipulation, books recommendation, business, growth, mindset, motivation etc.)
NGL that's A LOT for a one guy, whose content is primarily accessible free of charge.