It's funny to say. When I first entered the market, I held three beliefs:
1. I need to do trading well, and must achieve stable profits to be considered successful; otherwise, I am very 'unsuccessful.'
2. What I learn and practice must have economic value. In the market, the input and return must be equal to be fair; otherwise, trading is a scam targeting retail investors.
3. Trading must be easy; everything must go as smoothly as I thought. If I haven't found a low-cost 'growth path,' then I have no talent and am not suited for trading.
Many people enter the market for the first time, recommended by others to read some classic books, immersing themselves in the experiences of legendary figures, inspired by the ups and downs of the protagonist's trading career, especially the occasional golden quotes and insights in the books that make people feel enlightened and help avoid twenty years of detours.
In my ten years of trading, I have encountered many losses, many confusions, and the problems I faced had no answers from anyone, and I didn't know where to find the answers.
Fortunately, you will meet many people, many books, and many experiences. You will encounter some opportunities that suddenly break your original understanding, solve your inner doubts, and find a clear direction.
I call these moments of enlightenment 'miraculous cures' on my trading journey because they solved the problems that once drove me to despair and helped me find the true path to profitability.
So today I will share these moments of enlightenment and their contents with you, hoping that you can also find your own trading path in future trades and achieve profitability.
The moment of enlightenment.
There was a time when I was in the 'awkward period' of trading. I already knew about the existence of trading systems and that they could lead me to profits, but I was caught in a wonderful paradox.
I believe there must be a magical trading system in this world that can achieve both a high profit-loss ratio and a high win rate while also ensuring stable profitability.
So I spent a lot of time frantically searching for and learning from others' trading systems. I also spent a lot of money on various training courses, hoping to quickly achieve profitability by replicating others' successful experiences.
However, after every experiment, I found that I had not encountered a good trading system at all because each one had problems: either the profits were unstable, or the drawdowns were too severe, or the trading frequency was too low, and the waiting time was too long. In the end, I lost a lot of money and still hadn't found a method.
At that time, I began to doubt myself, feeling that my luck was truly terrible. Was it destined by heaven that I could never make a profit?
Later, I came across a book called 'The Red Dust Under the Sky,' in which there was a viewpoint called 'not walking the road when seeing it.'
The book mentions that behind every successful experience, there are different natural conditions, such as the successful person's growth experience, level of education, awareness of thought, social background, luck, etc. Timing, location, and harmony among people cannot simply be replaced by their experience and methods to achieve success.
At first, I couldn't fully understand it, thinking that my lack of success might be due to not having the background and luck of successful people.
Later, I only understood when I looked at the back of the book that the so-called 'not walking the road when seeing it' does not mean not to follow others' old paths, but rather to walk 'your own path.'
Trading systems can be replicated, but the trading system of others may not fit you; you need to find a trading system that resonates with you.
But purely through searching, you cannot find it because everyone's trading habits are different; only what you create yourself fits best.
You can draw on others' ideas, improve and optimize them, combining them with your own personality traits and trading habits to create your own trading system.
The trading system I am currently using is integrated from all the trading systems I have ever seen, selecting the strategies that I find useful and effective, and after long-term backtesting and simulated trading, I optimized and modified it into my own trading system, which I still use today.
Just like many successful companies, there is always a group of followers who rush in, but very few achieve the same level of success; it's the same principle.
Some people want to become Livermore, some want to become Soros, and some want to become Buffett, but in a century of financial history, there are still only a few of these people.
In this world, whether it's a country or a company, or an individual, there is no success path that can be copied 100%. You can only borrow, transform, and practice for your own use; this process is the ultimate solution.
The moment of enlightenment.
In my more than ten years of trading career, there are two orders that I will never forget, both related to stop losses.
Once, I had a severe loss experience from a heavily leveraged long position on EUR/USD without stop loss. That loss was significant, and I mentioned this in an article; it made me begin to understand the importance of setting stop losses.
But I was not very willing to accept it, thinking that maybe it was the lack of stop losses in heavy positions that led to my being blown out. If I traded lightly, I wouldn't have this problem. Because if I entered lightly and it was correct, I'd take the money and leave; if it was wrong, I'd let the order float. It would eventually come back; if it didn't, I'd add to the position lightly and wait for a pullback, and it could come back.
Once a variety is trapped and the account cannot make a profit, use another variety to supplement the trade.
After determining the model, I had the experience of shorting the New Zealand dollar at 0.05 lots in 2014, with a capital of 10,000 US dollars. In forex, 10,000 dollars for a 0.05 lot position is very small.
After being trapped in the order, I wasn't in a hurry because my position was very small; I wanted to wait for the market to come back.
But the market reversed directly upwards from the 0.80600 position, and after two weeks of consecutive bullish candles, the third week closed with a bearish candle. I added a short position of 0.05 lots at the price of 0.82800.
After the first short position, the market continued to rise. When the market tested the previous high of 0.86800, the floating loss in the account had reached 50%.
At that time, I wanted to add to my position, but the floating loss was too large, and I no longer dared to do so. I just held onto the losing position.
In three to four months, my heart was already exhausted by these two floating loss orders, mentally drained, and my confidence was completely worn down.
I had the impulse many times to close the order and free myself, and my real thought at that time was, 'Money doesn't matter; I just don't want to suffer anymore.'
On one hand, I worry that persisting will lead to being blown out, and on the other, I am conflicted about what if the market turns back after I close my position now?
Until later, when the market rose above 0.86900, New Zealand announced important economic data, and the market gapped up quickly. In that moment, my heart was completely shattered, and I closed the losing position and freed myself.
But ironically, the market gapped up quickly again, another lure to buy, and after I closed my position, the market went through fluctuations and then plummeted. I fell again before dawn.
After this, I truly had an epiphany.
Whether heavily or lightly leveraged, as long as you don't set a stop loss, you will eventually suffer severe losses; it’s just that the method of failure is different. If you want to keep trading and achieve profitability, you must first set proper stop losses.
Additionally, I realized that even if a plan is technically feasible, if it cannot be sustained psychologically, it is also not acceptable.
If I could persist through this operation, I wouldn't be blown out, and the market reversed. However, before the reversal, my mentality had already collapsed. Once the mindset breaks, everything goes back to zero.
Lu Xun once said, 'People teach people, and they can't be taught; things teach people, and once is enough.'
In every subsequent trade, as long as I did not set a stop loss, the experience of once being blown out would continuously flash before my eyes, and I completely eliminated this bad habit.
These days, I am preparing for a divine trade that is about to start!!!
Comment 168, let's get in!!!
Uncertainty brings uncertainty, brings uncertainty, brings uncertainty!!!
Important things must be said three times!!!
