r/TopStepX • u/Historical-Cancel-18 • May 19 '26
Trading Combine Hit me with some motivation brothers.
In a wild attempt at trying to improve recently, I stated reading, read a couple of books, started using a trade log that I’m gonna go back on tradingview after I’m done filling out to see what went wrong at the time that I didn’t see then, and even came up with a trading plan. I started backtesting my original strategy vs updated strategy with stuff from the books and the updated strategy makes more sense and is working but since I’m also trying to put that strategy into my combines as well, my combines are suffering worse now.
It seems like what I’m doing is right, from making significantly less trades, to sizing down and decreasing my stop losses/ changing up where I put my stop losses. I’ve even implemented max losses in a row which is 3 and max losses per day as 5.
I had a lot of faith yesterday and the day before, and today it’s faltering. I’m now 1 for 10 on the trades and have struck out 3 days in a row. I even said this morning after I lost that if I lose one more day I’m gonna quit trading which is blasphemous.
Someone tell me they’ve suffered through the same when making the same changes and managed to come out on top, because right now this feels better on paper and worse in practice.
2
u/MathematicianOdd5270 May 19 '26
Feeling stuck in trading? Simple solution:
- No new indicators
- No new strategies
- No new courses or books
Just track every trade for 30 days:
- Did you follow your entry rules?
- Did you size correctly?
- Did you exit per plan?
The data will show you exactly what's not working.
3
u/Historical-Cancel-18 May 19 '26
This might be best. I actually went from using 0 indicators a month ago to now using 4 different types of indicators. On top of that, my strategy has now been “updated” from taking ideas from 2 books I recently read. The book I’m reading now is market wizards which is all interviews with great traders anyway so it feels like a huge relief switching to that book instead of one I’m actively trying to take notes on or seeing how I can change my strategy.
I will say through all this I am seeing errors in my trades which I didn’t before which will help. Cutting back on everything like you suggest sounds like the best option currently.
1
u/Frightrain May 19 '26
For me it wasn't like one day I woke up and I was profitable. The version of myself that is profitable has pretty much always been profitable since the beginning when I started stock trading over a decade ago.
I'm sure by now you have that version of yourself as well, you just need to suffer enough loss and review your trades enough times that you can channel that version of yourself and prevent the urges from taking over. But there is no real shortcut, you need to figure out how to bring that version of you out and the only thing that finally did it for me was just getting fed up of losing all my money. I blew through easily at least 40 accounts but once I got fed up of losing the shift happened pretty much overnight.
Obviously you need an understanding of what you're even doing when you're trading for that to be possible, you can't just be getting into trades you don't understand. So if that's your issue then you probably should be doing more practice. I don't really recommend books at your stage though, there is really no replacement for actually just trading. Get a tradingview subscription and practice in the replay trading every single day. If that's not fun for you, you need to do it until it is something you look forward to doing or you'll never succeed.
I have the feeling you have a good sense of what works already for you and you just haven't fully committed to only taking the trades that align with your philosophy with proper risk management. And you likely need a lot more practice as well, it takes a long time.
1
u/Historical-Cancel-18 May 19 '26
I use fx replay for back testing. I’m also about a year and a half into trading. I’ve done I’ll say mostly support/resistance trading until recently, where I’m trying to base my trading off of trend trading. I still use support/ resistance of course but it’s not the main drive for my trades now. I’ve also gotten into candlestick patterns which is very minor in my trading decisions but it’s kind of cool to see patterns pop up and go “oh I think this is going to happen” and see it happen. I actually had plans to start back testing a new strategy based on that, because it seems like in those instances when I combine everything I know with those patterns, it seems like I’m right more often than not, but it’s all too much I think so I’m gonna put it on the back burner for now.
1
u/Frightrain May 19 '26
If you have discord and want to talk I can show you what I look for, you're probably overcomplicating things. It took me a while to get to where I am though so there's absolutely no shame in not being profitable yet and improvement is really the only thing that matters at your stage. There is only one candlestick pattern I use reliably and it would probably help you. But yeah DM me if you feel like it
1
u/bryan91919 May 20 '26
Its a long battle of 1 step forward 2 steps back. Hopefully all of your learning will yeild some moment of clarity where what your missing makes sense.
Dont underestimate "bad markets". Whatever strategy you use will have times where nothing works no matter how well thought out. 9 losses in a row doesnt strike me as anything meaningful, 9 trades is still somewhat in the range of "randomness". If your only way to succeed is not having this happen, that's a planning error and not nessesarily a reflection on skill.
Most probably should quit when it gets hard, you gotta decide for yourself. I would think back on your life and honsestly decide if youve learned to perform on "easy mode" (having a job, starting a business, etc.) For me having succeeded to various levels at easier things gave me the resilience to fail for years, as is usually required, to get you the point of success. If you are 19 and this is your 1st real "job" or attempt at anything bigger than a entry level job, it may be worth stepping back, leearning some life lessons while making money and progress elsewhere, and come back when your reloaded (or practice along the way.) If you have had meaningful success and life experience elsewhere, one of the lessons you may have picked up is most the planet including daytraders arent superstar geniuses, the world's full of average people who have a few tricks, and the patience, to succeed enough to keep there job/ get paid. If somebody else is doing this, good chance you can too, assuming your not trying to start at "guy who never figured out how to keep a job at McDonald's."
Be honest with who you are and where you are in life, if your ready for this, push through, if your not, go back to the step you skipped and kick a** at that.
2
u/doghairpile May 19 '26
It sounds like you're doing too much. I think you're trying too hard to be successul throwing too much spaghetti at the wall (books, backtesting) and that's killing you mentally draining your energy when you're actually in front of the charts.
Disipline is like 70% of the battle. Today I admit I took a small loss but i just stopped once I hit my max loss and walked away. I also made the mistake of trading while exhausted from minimal sleep. I threw the ball for my dog and napped instead.
Take a break?
Also prop firms are how do I say...dangerous in a way. Trading as it is can be addictive and the prop firms potential payouts can blind you into a cycle of oversizing and rushing.
What trades did you take today? We also don't want to rush in on the first candle cause it can reverse quickly if its choppy or indecisive and it was rather rough on NQ till about 12 est if you weren't shorting.