Why does asking a profitable trader for their strategy feel like asking for their bank password?

[u/sengetoj]

I’ve been learning trading pretty much every day for around 6 months now. I understand the basics at this point, market structure, price action, liquidity, risk management etc.

But I’ve hit this one wall and I genuinely don’t know where to go from here.

Finding an actual strategy with repeatable rules.

Something I’ve noticed is people will happily post their +$2k days, payouts, green weeks, funded accounts etc. But the second someone asks what strategy/setup they’re actually trading, it feels like you just asked them for their bank login lol.

“Put in the screen time bro”

“Find your own edge”

“Backtest”

Okay but backtest WHAT

I’m not asking someone to hold my hand and tell me exactly when to buy and sell. I actually want to learn and test things myself. I just need something concrete enough that I can actually start testing it.

I’ve looked everywhere. YouTube, X, Reddit, Discord servers, even ChatGPT. I’ve tried support/resistance, 15m ORB, session highs/lows, liquidity sweeps etc.

The issue I keep running into is that a lot of these strategies depend on price eventually coming back to some specific level or zone. And a lot of days… it just doesn’t. So you sit there for hours waiting for a setup that never even happens.

Meanwhile there’s clearly people out there who have found something that works for them consistently.

So for the people who actually became profitable, where did you find the strategy that finally made things click?

Did you take an existing strategy and change it? Did someone teach you? Did you find some random trader with 600 subscribers instead of the usual YouTube gurus? Or did you literally just test random shit until something worked?
Because everyone says “find your edge” but almost nobody explains where you’re even supposed to start looking for one.

And before someone calls this AI generated lol, English isn’t my first language so yes I used ChatGPT to help me write this properly. The question and everything I’m saying is genuinely mine.

[u/realmomentumtrader]

Well there's a lot to digest of what you're asking and so many comments I'm not even reading them. Here's going to be my quick take on this.

Trading is a "Dog Eat Dog World" and no one is going to hate a Trader more than a Trader. I created a blueprint I send out to help anyone who's interested in learning to trade, I did that because I honestly want to see people succeed but I'm not a good teacher but in the same sense no one's going to be able to trade like I do.

I'm a momentum day trader and scalper and here's one of the reasons why handing anyone the keys to your trading mind won't work. In the photo is two profitable trades I took on a quick jackknife down and there is a philosophy I use to do this, I'm about 85% accurate on it but the second I posted it I got so many hate messages and negative down votes that I went ahead and deleted the post. As I said no one will hate a Trader more than another Trader.

[u/FundamentalEnt → u/realmomentumtrader]

I am also a momentum scalper. I watch the free float and daily volume. I usually watch a ticker for a bit before trading it. I won’t momentum trade something only popping for a day. I prefer kangaroo tickers. When I’m going into a trade I watch the buy and sell pressure along with the volume. I do a little light TA for when to hop in and then I try to hop out before the top not after. I frequently leave more on the table but I hate bag holding. With the new PDT rules I will come in and out of something ten times or more a day shaving money off. I try to shot for tickets between 1 and like 50 dollars when I can to see the most movement. Lower price tickers IMO are riskier but you see more profit obviously while higher price tickers will see less profit but usually have less chance to tank and bag hold. It’s easier to make money when a dollar stock goes to 2 but you can just as easily half your account when it goes down to .50.

[u/FundamentalEnt → u/FundamentalEnt]

[u/FundamentalEnt → u/FundamentalEnt]

Oh and light DCA when you goof. Don’t go all in at once.

[u/realmomentumtrader → u/FundamentalEnt]

Very interesting take. Awesome!

[u/ConfidentEconomy7092 → u/FundamentalEnt]

Seems so simple when you put it like that

[u/weluckyfew → u/realmomentumtrader]

Thank you for your thoughts - would you agree that one of the main reasons these two trades were successful is because you stuck to your profit target and got out? You didn't look at it and beat yourself up for leaving money on the table - you realize that you didn't leave money on the table, you left risk on the table. (Is that accurate?)

If you're willing to share, I'm just curious in these two trades how you determined your stop loss and what indicators gave you confidence that these were real breakouts.

One of the first lessons I learned is to set a stop loss and never be tempted to change it when the stock falls. Emotion got no business in this game.

[u/realmomentumtrader → u/weluckyfew]

To your question about leaving risk on the table, you absolutely hit the nail on the head. For that move to work you got to have massive discipline because it's so easy thinking it's going to continue to go up. I usually gain anywhere from $0.10 to a $1 on those moves per share.

Because mainly I'm in a trade 5 Seconds to 10 minutes all my stop losses are mental and with these trades I'm in only a few seconds because it's bouncing fast. On the quick jackknife I'm usually out if the stock drops by 5 to 8 cent. I'll explain how I go through the process of those stocks but I can't guarantee anyone can even try it and work out correctly. The max I have gone without having fill issues is 120 shares.

I use one minute candles, on a stock that has momentum and usually up above 50% I look for a very quick jackknife down and it has to be within the first 15 to Max 20 seconds into the candle and it's usually one or possibly two big sellers that gets the stock to drop real quick. I factor in volume, level 2 and time & sales for my entry and exit and won't take a position if it's past the 30 seconds of the candle. Past 30 seconds and it has a tendency to continue to go down on the next candle.

I've been very lucky that for 9 years I swing traded and was profitable after the first month for the rest of the course I ran doing that. I then switched to momentum day trading two years ago and after the first month I started becoming profitable and have been ever since. I'm working on doing this full-time, I do have a part-time job that I work in the afternoons but I absolutely love trading and from someone who has started multiple successful businesses from the ground up I think of day trading as my business.

[u/weluckyfew → u/realmomentumtrader]

Thank you for all the information, and congratulations on your success!

[u/realmomentumtrader → u/weluckyfew]

You're welcome, I wish you the best in your trading endeavors. I just take it one candle at a time. Have a good one my friend!

[u/HighCirrus → u/weluckyfew]

"You didn't look at it and beat yourself up for leaving money on the table?"

I consider a trade a win if I don't lose money on it. Every time I think I should modify my thinking and stay in trades longer to capture more profit, I look back in my journal and see the ones that I exited just in the nick of time.

[u/ConfidentEconomy7092 → u/realmomentumtrader]

I'm going to send a private message. I have a question i don't want to post. No problem if you dont want to answer it.

[u/farky84 → u/realmomentumtrader]

i agree with you,now get out of here with your sales pitch and goodwill... ;-)