Lessons From the Past: This Takes a Long Time

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I'm writing a brief series about things I really wish I knew when I first started trading, or things I wish I'd been smart enough to actually listen to when I first started out. I really wish I could have had the message here from this first part beaten into my brain and tattooed on my arms before I ever took a trade with real money: this is going to take an incredibly long time.

Social media is both one of the greatest innovations of the Internet era and one of the worst parts of modern society, and it certainly plays a role in trading. There are enough smart marketers out there that flood your feed with massive gains, expensive cars, luxury watches, and big houses. What they don't tell you, though, is--for the most part--it's a mirage. All of those posts are just meant to make you think they are hugely successful traders. The reality, though, is that they are usually just marketers, trying to sell you a course, a book, or an educational server/room. That Lambo? Rented for the day. The big house? Rented for the weekend.

Sure, you're going to see the screenshots from these crafty individuals, and they're going to claim to make thousands of dollars per day from trading. They'll claim they struggled for a little while before finally finding a system that worked for them and then they hit it big trading. "It's not that hard, bro." "Just follow my trades, bro." "I can't believe it's this easy, bro." "I've figured it out and now you can bank like me, bro." Typically, though, what they don't tell you is they make money by: 1) they don't, it's all fake; 2) trading with money they make from subscribers and people buying their course or whatever else they are selling; or 3) pumping low-volume options contracts or small cap stocks.

The truth, however, is it most definitely is not that easy. Ignore everyone who says it is easy unless they show you their bank account in person (yeah, it's that easy to fake a bank account login screen, don't trust screenshots of those either). I felt like I even went in with a conservative mindset when I started trading. Once I felt like I wanted to take it seriously and actually learn and not just follow people on the internet, I gave myself what I felt was a very lengthy timeline. I told myself it would probably take 6 to 12 months to have a good grasp on trading before I started to find any real consistency. I'd trade small, figure out what I liked, learn some strategies and figure out what worked best for me, and then I'd start making a little bit of money consistently every day.

I had no idea what I was signing up for. I think my timeline wasn't too far off--it did take me about a year to really feel like I actually understood a lot of things and had an idea of what I liked to trade, what my setups were, and what strategies worked best for me. Where I was very, very wrong, though was the consistency--if I'm being honest, it really took 3 years to find any level of consistency. Sure, I had big days and some amazing trades and some great winning streaks (I once had an entire calendar month of green days). What I still lacked, though, was consistent discipline and sustainability. That inability to follow your rules, that creeping desire to size up even bigger, the revenge trades, the averaging down, the FOMO, the hoping and praying, the boredom trades--it all eats away at your consistency.

It takes a LONG time. Whatever timeline you think it will take for you, go ahead and double or triple that timeline and save yourself a lot of headache and heartache and soul-searching. Most importantly, give yourself a lot of grace. Most people don't actually make $1 million per year trading--and that's ok! The goal is to make enough money to live comfortably and take control of your life, and only you can decide what that dollar amount is and how long you take to achieve that goal doesn't really matter. Just follow the process and achieving your goals will follow. It will take a long time, and usually it won't happen until you think you should quit at least four or five times. Believe in yourself and be patient.

Here are today's NQ levels (3/13/2024):

Current Price (NQM): 18420

Upside Targets: 18436, 18491, 18506 (new ATH from this morning), 18582

Downside Targets: 18377, 18351, 18280, 18252

Stretch Targets: 18696, 18182

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