Repetitive Losses

General
1

After trading for over 3 years, despite sharing about trades and setups, I still haven’t found a consistent edge. What should I focus on after achieving discipline and maintaining an emotion-free state?

2

  • Ensure your trading system aligns with your personal style.

  • Keep your system simple, well-defined, and well-tested.

  • Journal and track your trades to identify what’s effective and what isn’t. Eliminate the ineffective parts and retain the beneficial ones.

3

@Bao
That sounds solid! But even with hindsight, I struggle to spot the setups and entries that consistently occur. This happens week in and week out across all pairs.

4

Lex said:
@Bao
That sounds solid! But even with hindsight, I struggle to spot the setups and entries that consistently occur. This happens week in and week out across all pairs.

Is the challenge spotting your strategy’s setups, or is it difficult for you to create new setups?

5

After 4 years, I finally managed to control my emotions and maintain discipline, but I’m still floating around break-even. It’s been a five-month challenge, where I go up to a $5k profit, but then slowly descend back to a $1k or $2k loss. I’m confident my strategy has an edge and is overall profitable, but I’m now unsure whether it’s suitable for prop firms since it could take over a year to get funded.

6

@Oren
At least there’s some capital growth! I only see mindset and mental growth in my case.

7

Consider looking into a straightforward strategy like the Moving Average Cross on higher timeframes.

8

Gentry said:
Consider looking into a straightforward strategy like the Moving Average Cross on higher timeframes.

I focus on easy setups, especially following Stacey Burke’s trading advice from his YouTube channel.

9

What are your monthly profit goals?

10

Linden said:
What are your monthly profit goals?

I usually start with £50 and take a couple of trades a month, aiming for about £20 to £30.

11

Lex said:

Linden said:
What are your monthly profit goals?

I usually start with £50 and take a couple of trades a month, aiming for about £20 to £30.

That’s probably why it’s not working. Unrealistic expectations around percentage returns are a major headache in trading.

12

If you still can’t find an edge after 3+ years of disciplined trading, your system might be flawed or the execution might be off. Consider reviewing:

  1. Trade journal – Are recurring mistakes evident?
  2. Risk management – Is your risk too high even if the expectancy seems positive?
  3. Backtesting – Have you thoroughly tested your setups against historical data?
  4. Adaptation – Is your strategy outdated in a changing market?
  5. Mental traps – Are you fixated on one idea while neglecting new opportunities?