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The 7 Brutal Truths: Why You Should Not Be a Trader (And Is Trading A Good Career?) 

Last Updated: October 17, 2022

By Rayner Teo

Let me ask you…

Why do you want to be a trader?

You want financial freedom.

You don’t want to answer to anybody.

You want to be your own boss.

You want to make money.

You want a passive source of income.

Now you’re probably wondering:

“Is it possible to achieve all these from trading?”

“Is trading a good career?”

Good question.

Then you’ll want to read every single word in this post because you’ll discover the myths, the possibilities, and most importantly… the truth about trading.

You may be surprised at what I’m about to share with you.

So if you’re ready… then let’s begin.

#1 You’re trading for passive income

trading myths

Passive income means receiving an income without doing “anything”. In reality, you either require a large capital upfront, or you work your butt off in the early stages and reap the benefits later.

So, is trading good to be a passive source of income?

Well, let’s see…

Year 1   you’d probably blow up multiple trading accounts as you’ve no idea what the heck you’re doing.

Year 2 – you learn everything you can get your hands on

Year 3 – you throw out 90% of what you’ve learned and focus on the stuff that really matters.

Year 4 – you have a concrete plan on what it takes to succeed in this business.

Year 5 – you see some consistency in your trading.

Year 6 onwards – after being through the ups and downs, highs and lows, you come to the realization that the only thing passive is paying your brokerage fee on every trade.

If you really want something passive, you’re much better off investing in an index fund.

#2 You need to repay your debt

If you’re in debt and looking for a quick fix, maybe trading is a solution?

The answer is NO and it’s not even for experienced traders.

Here’s why…

Trading requires emotional control. But when you’re in debt, whatever control you have is clearly out of the window.

Because you only have one thought in mind… which is to quickly make back the money you owe.

So what happens?

Well, you start taking a larger risk because you want to make money fast.

You’re unwilling to cut your losses because you don’t want to lose.

You have such immense pressure on yourself and things eventually spiral out of control.

Eventually, you blew up your trading account and you’re still in debt.

So, never trade to repay your debt because you are only digging a bigger hole.

Instead, get a job (pizza delivery or something) and pay off your debts.

It may be a slow process, but at least you’re climbing out of the hole.

#3 You hate your job

trading myths

Your job has no career progression. Your colleagues talk behind your back.  Your work isn’t recognized by your boss. 

You honestly hate your job and you want to find a way out of it.

So you think to yourself:

“Why not trade for a living?”

There’s no boss to answer to, no politics, and no restrictions.

It’s what does a trader do, right?

All of it sounds good till you find out what it takes to trade for a living. So let me explain…

First, you must be a consistently profitable trader to start with. Else, it’s like saying you want to be a professional Golfer when you’ve never played golf in your life.

Next, you need sufficient capital. Having a $1000 account and trying to trade for a living is ridiculous, (unless you can survive with $30 a month). In my opinion, you’d need at least $100,000.

Also, your trading profits must be more than your opportunity cost of trading.

Because you could have been tucked in the office as a corporate slave and still be getting around $50,000 yearly. But in trading, there’s no guarantee that you will be earning $50,000 every year.

Lastly, you should have your living expenses covered for the next 12 months, which isn’t from your trading account.

This is to ensure your survival even if you didn’t make money this month.

Now…

If you meet these requirements, then you can consider trading for a living.

If you can’t, then you’re better off staying at your job. At least you get paid no matter how f***ed up things are.

#4 You want to make money 

I know this sounds ironic…

…who doesn’t want to make money, right?

If trading promises you riches, then is trading worth it?

Of course!

But here’s the thing:

If you trade just for the money, YOU WILL NEVER MAKE IT.

Why?

The reason is simple.

You will not persevere through the tough times to reap the rewards.

Especially when you blow up multiple trading accounts, when you suffer from analysis paralysis, when your fear is holding you back… what will you do?

As you’ve seen earlier, you can easily take 5 years or more to become consistently profitable.

Don’t believe me?

Check out Marty Schwartz, a stock “Market Wizard”, who took 10 years to become profitable in trading.

Marty Schwartz isn’t the exception.

Think about Bill Gate, Steve Jobs, and Warren Buffet.

They each took years before they had their breakthrough, and the thing that propels them forward is their passion, not the money.

So, is trading good?

If you just want to make money, no.

Go drive an Uber, give tuition, or take part-time jobs.

These are easier methods to make money than trading.

But, if you’re passionate about trading, then you can consider walking down this path.

You have to have a lot of passion for what you are doing because it is so hard… if you don’t any rational person would give up — Steve Jobs

#5 You want financial freedom

Financial freedom means you have enough wealth to meet your daily necessities even without working.

It’s probably because you have assets that generate a consistent income (like owning dividend stocks, collecting rental from properties and etc.)

So, does trading give you financial freedom?

It’s a yes and no.

Let me explain…

Yes, trading can provide financial freedom if you use it to generate wealth over the long-term.

For example:  Trend Following hedge funds generate an average of 10 – 20% a year.

This means if you have a $1m account and you adopt a Trend Following approach, the returns should be enough to cover your expenses (albeit you don’t require $50,000 a month to live on).

However, the catch is…

You need a large capital to start with.

If your fund is small, it’s not possible to achieve a state of financial freedom.

Remember, you need money to make money in this business and there are no two ways about it.

#6 You’re looking to make it big in a few short years

You should realize by now… trading takes time, patience, emotion control, frustrations, grit, and the ability to endure PAIN.

And that’s not all. You still need capital, the lifeblood of your trading business. Without it, you’re like a car without an engine. It’s not going to work.

Now… let’s say you took 5 years to see consistency in your trading results, and you make an average return of 20% a year.

With a $10,000 account, you can expect to make $2000 per year.

With a $100,000 account, you can expect to make $20,000 per year.

With a $1m account, you can expect to make $200,000 per year.

And It’s obvious the larger your account, the more money you can make. So, if you want to make it BIG as a trader…

  1. Get consistent in your trading
  2. Find ways to raise capital and trade larger

So…

Forget all the marketing gimmicks. Forget the get rich quick scheme. Forget about the fancy systems and that promise high win rates.

That’s not a path you want to walk unless you want to continue losing your hard earned money.

#7 You want to buy a new car, watch, or toys

trading myths

Repeat after me…

Your trading account is not an ATM.

Your trading account is not an ATM.

Your trading account is not an ATM.

Your ATM will always spit out money when you put in the correct pin.

But trading not only spits out money, it also EATS UP your money. A big difference.

So, if you think you can use your trading account to fund your latest gadgets, “toys”, or whatever… you are sorely mistaken.

Doing so is a recipe for disaster because you put expectations on the market.

You expect the market to give in to you. You expect the market to give you profits. And this is when you break your rules by trying to bend the markets to your will.

So…

You shift your stop loss to prevent a loss. You average into losers hoping you can make it back quickly. You revenge trade and hope to make back your losses.

In other words, you break your trading rules that were meant to protect you.

The outcome?

You destroy your trading because you treat the market like your ATM.

The bottom line is this…

If you want to make a purchase, don’t rely on your trading profits.

It’s wiser to save your money and buy on a separate account.

Frequently asked questions

#1: Hey Rayner, can you share some of your mistakes and lessons that you’ve learned in your years of trading?

Yup sure, you can discover my mistakes and lessons in this video over here.

#2: I’m not sure if I should go full-time into trading. What do you think I should do?

If you’re not sure whether you should go into full-time trading, then clearly, full-time trading is not for you. You should probably do trading on the side while taking up a full-time job.

When you’re consistently profitable and confident, then you can make the transition to full-time trading.

If you want to discover what it takes to become a full-time trader, then check this out.

Is trading worth it? keep these in mind:

1. There’s no such thing as passive income when it comes to trading. If you want something passive, you’re better off investing in an index fund.

2. Don’t trade to repay your debt because you’ll only make matters worse. Get a job, save money every month, and repay your debt.

3. If you want to quit your job and trade for a living, make sure you have sufficient capital and expenses covered for the next 12 months. That is the bare minimum.

4. Don’t trade just because you want to make money. If you just want to make money, there are far easier ways like driving Uber, giving tuition and etc.

5. Trading itself won’t give you financial freedom. You need sufficient capital, the skill to generate a positive, and your expense must be lesser than your return.

6. Trading is not a get-rich-quick scheme. If you’re looking to make it big in a few years, look elsewhere.

7. Your trading account is not an ATM machine. It can spit out money, but it also EATS UP your money.

But…

If you still want to be a trader, then go download The Ultimate Guide to Price Action Trading.

It will give you the edge you need to survive in this brutal markets.

Now, I’m curious…

Why do you want to be a trader?

Is trading worth it?

Leave a comment below and let me know your thoughts.

Leave a reply

  • Oh my gosh! If that is the reality in the world of trading, then I should not be getting into it. But if others did it, why can`t I? I wanted to be a successful trader like you, Sir Rayner.

    • Some very sad stories below… wow! and sadly behind each of these huge losses, some bozo probably shafted them into trading with a company that has no credibility or genuine support. This business it seems is rife with sharks. It’s a huge maze trying to find the right help out there.

      I still get calls from idiots scamming my number from Investing.com spouting their pipe dreams of great success and how it is so easy to make profit and wanting you to sign up and put your deposit on their account. If any exec’s from investing.com seeing this please do something about it!!

      Here’s a tactic I’ve used to flush them out…. let them blah on, then stall them and all of a sudden you’ll find they turn into monsters, they don’t listen to your needs, and then you hang up on them because they are not interested in you at all, they’ll even shout you down, interrupt you when you try to give a reason for not making a deposit. If they wan’t your credit card number to open an account, you straight away hang up. If you can’t pronounce their surname or find them on a google search with any credibility, they are crooks. They just want your money to fall into their account. I even had one go on for 90 minutes the other night (better me than than some other sucker, I’m usually stringing them along to see how little they really know just for a laugh) claiming he had a doctorate in finance and commerce but he couldn’t string his thoughts together… and he want’s me to trust him with my money!!! Next time I’ll record them and put their call on youtube for all to see their incompetence. Francis was this guy’s name… what a twat.

      My advice: If any one you know gets a call from a broker, please tell them:
      Don’t sign up with these telemarketers on that call. You make your own inquiries, google their company location call the phone numbers and check they are genuine and check every link on their website (do they all work?)and you always finish the call to call them back if you want to take it further. If they won’t wait for you then they are not interested in you, just your money. If they won’t accept that, you hang up on them. They’ll still be talking when you hang up… that’s how pathetic they are, and you’ll hear them swearing at you from the other side of the world because you just ruined their sales target!! or have a gun to their head, Yeah!!

      Please warn more people about these guys Rayner and I plead with every other genuine honest trainer out there to consistently warn your followers of these sharks. They’re sneaky, experts at lying and full of it. Probably funding some other campaign or a gambling debt you don’t want to know about….

      Thanks for your postings and your twitter etc. Rayner, your updates are excellent. Keep it up. I’ve been dipping my toe in for about 2 years now and the more I study it the more I see this is a science, and not just a play thing so agree wholeheartedly with your advice here. It’s fun… when you play it safe. Quick sand if you don’t…

      • Hey Bruce,

        Thank you for sharing your experience. I believe someone will benefit from it.

        Yes, trading takes time and it’s emotionally and intellectually challenging. And like you’ve said, risk management is key here.

        Cheers

          • sometimes you are profitable but one day loses everything. in the trading own strategy that is suitable if you like to trade another strategy without own how you call everyone you are freedom trader still you are depended on someone

    • I trade to do the right thing. I’m not worrying about money. That is why I trade a micro account at this stage. My graph on profits is growing. Start to get consistent now only.

  • Great article Rayner and one that everyone should read before ever contemplating any form of trading.

    I’ve traded for years and consistency, like you said develops over time from experience in the market. Persistence, patience, mindfulness, good record keeping and learning from your losses are essential. You also need to be totally disciplined and unemotional in your decision making.

    In my experience a lot of people blow up their accounts because they dive in without a plan and trade with only the money as their goal. The true goal should be to execute every trade well regardless if you win or lose. Being able to do this without emotion fosters the ability to be able to comfortably take a loss and do it early on in the trade, if you are wrong.

    Cutting losers early and letting winners ride is the key and it is easier said than done, most traders do the complete opposite.

    Keep up the great work!

  • Hi Rayner,

    Nobody can understand these facts except he/she experience them personally!
    You know/feel them because you lost all money in your accounts, you change system time to time, you were been looking to be rich quickly, …and finally you realize what trading is all about!

    It takes years and/or a lot of money.

    Anyway those are all truths.

    We have to see more realistic articles like this on the net than fake “getting rich quick with trading” ones.

    Great job man,

    All the best.

    Henry

    • Hi Henry,

      Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Glad you enjoyed this post.

      Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything, I’ll be glad to help.

      Best!

  • i want to be financial freedom.

    i doing trading last half years.
    i didn’t get success in that but i know the power of trading.

  • The first review from Publishers Weekly on the page you linked to says that Marty Schwartz “in his first full year as an independent trader made $600,000 and a year later earned $1.2 million.”

    I’m not suggesting most people can do this, but what’s the 10 years beforehand you’re talking about?

    • Hey Rico,

      Marty was using fundamental analysis for close to 10 years but didn’t found success with it.

      When he switched to technical trading, that’s when he made it.

      Hope that explains! 🙂

  • Most people can’t be a consistence trader because they been teach in school that they have to be right to be successful. That why there subconscious mind will tell them trade with out a stop.

  • Hi Rayner, it is an excellent article written. I would totally agree with all those points you have laid out. Though it may sound demotivating or quite discouraging in certain sense. However it also shows that you are not a mindful in just earning tuition fee from your readers like all others gurus out there trying to recruit more students, so that they can earn their income, from teaching rather than from trading itself. I can see your genuine motive in doing so.

    As for me, I have been in this stock business for about 4 years and enjoying some progress. I have found out my motivation behind me, like what you have said, is the passion of doing it. I found the joy of learning new skills, discovery of new approaches, or new potential earning sources, whether it be in stock, Index, unit trust, Futures or Forex… What has given me zeal to go on is the process of trading discoveries, not just the end result of making money. I feel happy and thrill even if I start trading new approaches just using paper trade, like what I am doing now with forex trading that I have just come to learn from you.

    I am learning many new lessons from your writing. I constantly follow all your posting and articles… thanks Rayner, keep up your good work….

    • Hi Asriel,

      Thank you for your kind words.

      Yes, passion and grit are important in this business. Without it, a trader would give up way too soon before he can find any success.

      If you ask me, this applies to all areas in life… not just trading.

  • Good advice as always Rayner, some very important points you’ve raised. Let’s be honest, most people hate their jobs or just working their butt off but just don’t have enough money at the end of the month. So they will look for a way out of the vicious cycle so they can do something better with their life, which leads to desperation and in turn leads to making rush decisions. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of sharks out there who look to take advantage of desperate people.

    Personally I work for myself, love what i do, and that gives me the freedom which a lot of people seek. I want to eventually get into full time trading but not in a rush. To start with I’m happy to just be profitable with my trades and then take it from there.

    You’re one of a kind Rayner, keep up the great work mate.

    • Hi Elton,

      Thanks for reaching out. I’m really happy to hear you’re working for yourself. I believe you can embrace the freedom that comes with it.

      Don’t hesitate to let me know if there’s anything, I’ll be glad to help.

  • I disagree with most of the points , market is a zero sum game ,think from other side ,if majority are losers other side is making big money , are they making 20% annually ….if u trade and think like them , i m sure 10 % or more a month is possible, soon i will write a detailed plan on how to achieve that with minimum risk…..

  • Great article Rayner and thx for being so honest, I have lived through all these stages and you are right, this is not a get rich quick scheme, also for what I feel more indignation is for all the people and even some prop desks that offer really EXPENSIVE training to naive people making them believe that just a training will give them the secret sauce to earn easy money. Myself I’ve been a trader for 4 years now and I am just starting barely to become profitable, some of the key for me was to trade a lot lot lot less than I did on the start. In my case allocation of time moved from trading actively in the market (clicking on trades often) to looking for trades extensively, waiting for setups, waiting for the best entry point and being on a extreme to trade once or max two times in a day. I found that being more thoughtful and selective on your trades gives better result than trading a lot (less commissions and mistakes – over trading) . Trading is a game of probability and you need to set the edge on your favor but the variance of the results can affect you emotionally and like you write, the pressure to pay the rent or some expenses can influence on that delicate balance in your mind to achieve the edge and make you “unprofitable quickly”. Also having a good capital is key. Getting more than 10% from your capital annually is already a remarkable achievement, yet 10% of a modest capital is not enough to live, even 20% could not be enough. My advice as you say, have another part time business, I fortunately have a property I rent, and I am a technology part consultant. I combine that with trading. AlsoI am doing some training in Spanish for starting traders but for modest fees. I believe that trading is probably 20% or 30% of what you can learn from everywhere and the other 80% is your work, effort, experience and time in the markets, obviously I talk about quality education because there is a lot of garbage out there. Is that 80% – “I get it” moment what really makes you successful, and it has more to do with knowing yourself better. So why abuse beginner traders and charge them thousands of dollars for something they can only achieve with their own work and experience, that’s the myth that a lot of abusive trainers companies do playing with the “hope” and “ignorance” of traders beginning. This is similar to take some course to be an entrepreneur and charge thousands because you promise students they are going to be successful entrepreneurs immediately after the training. There’s work to do, and a lot like you write on your article, but if you are passionate about your trading you can create some additional income from your trading.
    Finally appreciate your articles for the fair amount of useful information you give away generously and that many other would charge a lot, even thousands for the kind of compilations you do. Several of your articles have helped me to fine tune my perspective on trading and pursue the success such as “follow the trend” that is obvious but some of us forget often. Keep up the good work and glad to be part of the community!

    • Yo Carlos!

      Thank you for sharing your in-depth thoughts. I read every word of it.

      I agree with all that you’ve said. Psychology plays a huge role but traders put themselves at a disadvantage by having expectations on the markets.

      The less you need to profit from the markets, the easier it is to be a consistently profitable trader.

      I’m happy to hear things are working out fine on your side.

      Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be glad to help.

  • Rayner so true years ago when I first get into trading I would just wish all I could do is trade at the time I was working full time on a job for 17 years then something happen beyond my control and I had to take a medical retirement.
    Now I am off work medical reasons so there I was thinking I can dive into trading boy did I learn quick. Trading is not what a person my think it is.
    Well I blew an account larger. Lost account with a firm that stole the funds
    Anyway I am still trading what I learned about trading it will open you up to see who you really are as a person trading has out me as a person outside of trading.
    I trade because trading allows me to be me sure I am seen the valleys and pits in trading but the passion is still there.
    Thank You
    Rayner you are a God send

  • Great article Rayner! I think you did a great job addressing the common misconceptions about trading for profit. As you pointed out, consistent success takes YEARS of work, study and practice. Thanks for dispelling these common myths about trading for a living!

  • Eishhh!!!! The truth hurts. I thought l was going to make a quick buck but because of your article l realize l am in for the long haul. I have blown a couple of accounts myself and each time l lose a trade l go out to feed my rabbits ( I have rabbits in my backyard!) and it has just dawned on me that they (the rabbits) are benefiting from my lack of trading plan.

    Thanks man…. l have to go back to the drawing board and work on a trading plan. Your article has been very enlightening.

    God Bless!!!!1

    • Hey Greshem

      That’s right, look at the big picture. For the next 10,20,30 years.

      Trading isn’t a quick fix and I’m glad you’ve managed your expectations.

      Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be glad to help.

  • Guru Rayner all you had said is true… May it serves a lesson to anyone who reads it…. ” I was in food business for three years. It’s a tiring business, aside from the fact it was also a sensitive one in terms of food and heavy customers. 2012 forex trading was been introduced to me. During that time im very interested to know and learn about it since im optimistic and have that kind of positive energy towards earning money in the right ways… I thought to my self, ” trading is good, no tax, no employee, no accounting books, just a click in a comfort chair and eyes on screen to earn money!” When i heard these fantacies, it’s seems that I can do either better…. During those year, aside from tough competition, my bussiness faces strugles due to lack of marketing fund and family problems also that bothers me.. Then I came to a tough decision thinking to sell my business and go for forex trading because it seems Forex smells yummy. I tried demo account and looks promising profit. And so, what I did was I sell my strugling food business to a friend and used the entire fund to start live account. For 3 months I trippled my capital ( that was the time when europe’s economy was falling rapidly). Then I want more but more… My impulsive heart wants nothing but “MORE”….. I never understood that the world is round. As financial market has rise and fall…. In two weeks I faced market reversals. My fund goes down.. I said two my self “its okay forex business has ups and downs”.. Making this short story shortier, After 3 weeks, one morning I’m awake, ” my fund is gone”.. Yes Im not dreaming, everything is gone… I never tasted or made any withdrawals from my profits, but in a blink of an eye, My money is no more… only a 53usd is left…
    But I learned something… “i must not put confidence on every trade i clicked”… Patience and contentment is very important… Well, today I found my self working in other country to save for my family and a little bit for the future…

    • Hey Jason

      Thanks for sharing your story, I read every word of it.

      Really glad to see you’re still positive despite the events that occurred.

      I wish you all the best. And if there’s anything, don’t hesitate to let me know. I’ll be glad to help.

      Cheers

      • Thanks for awesome support Sir. From all your free videos and articles, I noticed that……

        “You preach what you already doing”.

        One of the lessons I value and learned from you is how to set “Stop Loss” properly and getting out of “analysis paralysis”. Is was one of your videos last year 2016….
        I’m still have the energy to pursue this forex because i believe and i wanted to be sucessful trader if only I practice the right mindset and discipline. I want to ask you later Sir regarding PAMM if you have it and your course when I’m ready… Thanks again..

  • Hi Rayner, great article as always..

    The idea about ” unwilling to cut losses because don’t want to lose.” attitude by losing traders may need stronger push than just encouraging words. They require evidences.

    I think it’s more relatable and acceptable to the losing traders’ subconscious minds if you and other successful traders could share your mistakes and your losses too in an article or a series of it.

    That way, their minds can accept the fact that it’s okay to lose in a trade cause they’ve seen Rayner and other great traders made losses too every once and a while. Only then, they will start to believe the notion that strictly following their systems is what really matters,

    If you already posted such articles before, be great if you could post it again via your social media channels.

    Let me know what you think about it.

    Cheers..

      • Cool. The list of articles there would cover the ‘mistakes’ one I think. But not sure it covers the ‘losses’ part..

        On that second topic, I Imagine you’d display a recent actual trading setup that you took based on your strategy, that you executed accordingly, but then unfortunately the market still stopped you out.

        I understand showing that might have some unwanted consequences, considering you still need to maintain your reputation. So, showing more actual winning trades are also a good thing of course.

        Having said all of the above, it doesn’t mean I ask you to show all of your trades. Just a number of them every now and then that you think we might take lessons from.

        Is it too troublesome to ask?

        • Hey Dana,

          I share my wins and losses in my weekly analysis. If you look through the older videos, I’m not shy about the losses.

          Also most of my losses are simply the cost of doing business, there’s nothing I would change to my approach as we’re dealing with probabilities.

          Cheers

  • Hi Rayner, great article… I have a question, if you prove yourself to be a consistently profitable trader with a small account but you don’t have the funds yourself to like from trading is it possible to reach out to a fund / money manager and effectively get a job trading for them (assuming you have a good enough record).

    If this is possible, what kind of trading record will they be looking for etc?

    Thanks,
    Karl

  • (1) I want to pit my knowledge and skills and want to challenge myself and see how far I can go. (2) I begin to have passion with economics/finance and want to learn more and more of it.
    (3) I’m in the mist of a career change from being an engineer to a trader (hopefully a profitable one).

  • Hi Rayner

    I am just starting with trading, I focus on Forex. My experience has been short but I want to share that the first month I got almorst 600 USD with a demo account of 5.000. That excited me a lot, but when I openned my real account with 500 USD the first two months I lost half of the account. What this short time trading experience left me was I only can think about success. “Every sailing starts with a simple first step” and talking about trading, lossing and winning are both steps towards the goal.

  • Hey Rayner,

    What an apt time to repost this and it caught my eye! I just made the rookie trader mistake of attempting to “micro-manage” my trade after I’ve decided on my plan, executed on the right price with the right SL, TP and RR managed. Yet continue to watch it whenever the 30 min bar forms… Big mistake! I should just let it run it’s course and shutdown my PC.

    Trading definitely requires time, lots of work, control of your emotions and most importantly, the commitment to stick with your trading plan regardless of the outcome. I got spooked when I saw the 30 min bar turning against me just 90 mins into the trade. Instead of leaving it alone and moved away, I didn’t want to take any losses so decided to “managed” it by exiting prematurely. Silly me, turned out my plan worked, only if I had stuck with it!

    This is a common mistake made by many traders. As much as I wish to believe I have good control over my emotion, the best is just to execute according to the plan and leave it. Lesson learned!

    And yes…why i want to be a trader? #1,3,4 & 5!! =P kidding! But seriously, after all these years of “training” (a.k.a. blowing 1-2 accounts) I think I’m finally getting it and loving it more than my day job!

    Keep those great posts coming!

    • Hey EY,

      Thank you for sharing.

      Yes, micromanaging your trades is one of the “barriers” to crack but I believe you’ll get the hang of things.

      Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’ve got any questions, I’ll be glad to help.

  • I lost around 50% of my capital within one month of trading. Still trying to learn to trade! Not giving up yet~ hope i will be as successful as you~

  • Hi Rayner I hope you are doing well! I’m actually following you in Investagrams and subscribed in your YouTube channel as well.

    I’m a freelancer web and mobile designer for 6 years now and learned about the stock market December last year. In my work clients don’t come to me, I look for them. Some months I don’t get any work. I saved $4000 USD this first quarter of the year to put on the stock market. I thought of actually trying to go full-time in trading so I have another $1500 USD set aside to be used as a budget for food and bills at least until December 2018. And a $500 USD at least monthly to send to my family who lives abroad because of uncontrolled personal circumstances. In a month me and my grandma only spend $100 USD, that includes food, electricity, and internet bill. By the way I’m from the Philippines, so we don’t spend too much as I’m not picky when it comes to food, and yes we’re eating 3x a day. I also cut down on buying unnecessary material want things but only the personal necessities like for self grooming.

    I only started day trading in January of this year, also lost around $800 on the same month. The reason, I was so eager to earn money without any knowledge in trading. I was brought in by the hype of stocks going up and in the end paying with my arrogance. So in the first weeks of February I decided to take my due to study, and there I found your channel and this site of yours, I also bought a couple of books to read. I’ve learned a lot in a month, so I applied what I’ve learned. I started to get my losses back in March, every time I see stocks skyrocketing or falling sky-high , I’ve become so calm that I’m getting scared that I feel like I’m turning into an emotionless person. But the good thing is, it’s because I know where I should be entering, I know where I should be exiting, and I know where I should be stopping my loss.

    Though still I’m not sure and confident if I should go full-time in trading. Can you share your thoughts with regards to my situation? It would be very much appreciated.

    By the way, thank you very much for your helpful videos and posts, they we’re the ones I used as my stepping stone to get me really started.

    • Hey Chris

      My suggestion is to continue with your freelance work to bring in a consistent source of income.

      Then you can learn to trade on the sides and grow your account consistently.

      Also, when you’re ready, you can add money from your work to further increase the size of your account.

  • This article is right on the mark.

    I’m a communication science student who has taken more than a year off. You certainly understand the feeling of not doing anything while parents work and others are busy with their studies. The scenario of my life changed and I was still thinking about overcoming it. I really frustrated thinking of work that can be done (in this case, wanting to work on something that has been provided). I have the skills to design, but there are a lot of situations that have to be taken into account.

    Here I am. I’m still 20 years old and ‘almost’ trying to use my savings to try something that is high risk without having a knowledgeable background (management, finance and so on). I was complacent, like a mouse lured with cheese and did not think the risk of being trapped in it.

    But in the past few days, after seeing many articles here and there, trading increasingly attracted my interest. I myself really like to think, observe and research something. It looks complicated especially in its application in the field. But still determined to try.

    I speak big now, have a high spirit, emit positive light that has not experienced a broken heart.

    And of all the people I met, many traders always said “do it slowly and consistently”. That is very true. You are the one that motivates me, your article is good and I will try to follow all your directions as a consideration.

    Cheers.

  • I see trading as the best field to know who you really are. This field also requires growth in numerous areas of life. My goal as of now is to grow my buying power and so when I reach my retirement age, I will not rely on anyone to provide for my daily expenses. It’s also part of my dream to influence my children and the next generation to see this greatest game and better business opportunity on planet earth.

  • I like challenges…. well trading is a hardest way to make easiest money….I want to pursue the skill that can give me confidence to deal with a business which is very hard to digest and far far different than any other things…It gives immense pleasure when you understands it better and gain confidence at that time, the thought process and analysis is the superior things which give happiness, and then the money becomes secondary and obvious thing in reward to respecting the business and market in its true manner.

  • After reading this blog, my perception about trading has totally changed.

    However, I still want to persue this path as a professional trader and generate income through trading as a sideline job.

    I think trading is going to teach me money management, patience and to control my emotions in other fields.

    Thanks a million for your sincere advice

  • I want to be a trader to produce extra income, an active trading income, in addition to working part time, or investing, or passive dividend and interest income.

    This is a skill and income that I can take with me anywhere in the world, and work at any age.

    Trading is also a fun game. It’s a puzzle, a psychological and technical challenge with real money on the line, and much better odds than most gambling games.

    The game is what first got me interested in trading, not the income or the profits, but the charts and the challenge and the puzzle of figuring it all out.
    The goal is always profits and consistency and finding what works best for me.
    The deciding factor is always profits and consistency. That’s how this game is scored, and the question is always effort and time vs profits and consistency.

    The skill is in combining trading styles and time frames and trade management to constantly adapt to market changes.
    Sometimes it’s best to just pile into a trend and trail a stop and do nothing else, other times it’s better to trade the swings or even day trade.

    Day trading doesn’t have to be an all consuming full time occupation. Day trading can easily be a part time income producing strategy, just a few hours in the morning with coffee watching the London-NY overlap for a reversal or breakout trade (eastern time), or simply targeting periods of great volatility looking for intraday trends to trade.
    To me, this is one of the best trades in the Forex market.

  • I have passive income, that’s dividends and interest and long term positions. I’m working to create a more active trading income. An additional income to help grow my accounts and fund retirement.

    Mostly, this is about creating a small part-time business that I can take with me anywhere in the world, and work at my discretion and at any age.

  • It is helping me learn about myself. It is helping me to become a better version of myself by continuously forcing me to do introspection, meditate to calm my mind and it is humbling. I have a passion to become better and it reflects in my trading.

  • Rayner, I thank you for such a piece. I am a victim to all the seven Brutal truth about trading and I have learnt a lot from it. I learnt how to trade six months before I started trading live account on the 15th February 2019 but as at now my account is almost $ 0.00. Rayner, you are very very good mentor and I will fellow your steps until I became a professional trader. Thank you very much….!!!

  • I have no obligations and at this age want be trader with a brain and hard thinking. I have been observing rather the trading system since 2014 and I have started trading with low amount you can say paper trading from last two months.

  • I love Financial topics… thanks for the info Sir!!! Excited to save more money and make some small passive income… more trading capital and emergency fund + other source of income

  • I DO TRADING TO…

    1. Diversify
    – had other investments, and active income, and the feeling of winning and learning and lossing and everything in between – is challenging, and worth conquering.

    2. Learn and Earn
    – it’s something you can make use of, in the long run.

    3. Improve my psych
    – Noticed, after I get passionate about trading, I learned a lot about myself. Money shows the real soul of a human.

    3. Goals and Actualization
    – Money is not power, but idea is. Know what you get into, and money flows into you.

    5. Smart and sassy
    – Everybody loves a person who understands money well, and makes a money well, and keeps a money well.

    6. Retire rich and become a philanthropist
    – After I trade, I hate complications, I hate hoarding, I hate buying, I hate drama, I hate nonsense. I just want money in my old age, and I want to build my own foundation. Say, 50 for me is my ultimate goal of becoming. Remaining 20-30yrs, is a self fulfilling prophecy.

    I DONT TRADE FOR…
    .
    1. Financial Freedom
    – I’m actually cutting expenses after I trade.

    2. Passive Income
    – I don’t believe on passive, I let my port sleep for 3 yrs, and I witnessed my money blown away.

    3. Time freedom
    – I’m actually devoting 90 % on research and studies, and 10 percent on trade, about that. I downgrade my phone, I shutdown my social media, and I buy more books. I sleep late, I wake up early.

    3. Hate my job
    – I love my job even more, especially when I’m lossing on my stock picks, likewise I need more cash in my port.

    4. Buying Luxuries
    – I am in a journey of learn and earn, learn first, then earn. And learning is an expensive thing, especially at trading.

  • When I was preparing for the entrance test, that time I was taking newspaper for a couple of month to get notice about the entrance test, that time I saw about market bull and above the news headline of front page from that time I was curious to know much more about market

  • Hi Rayner , very interesting , I really enjoy looking at your content and YouTube videos . If those are all the wrong reasons , Please may ask what are all the right reason ?

  • Hi Rayner,
    This article is an eye opener. I am new at trading and over the past year or so I have lost money and many of the reason stated in the article fits me. Learning the art and skill in trading is not difficult and not easy either especially if you come in with the wrong mind set which is what happened to me. I have now developed a passion for trading. It is something I think in the long run I will make money with guidance from you Rayner. Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

  • I want to learn about the stock markets. I don’t understand it, but I want to understand it. I’m not looking to leave my job but would like to learn how to invest and take this up as a hobby. I’m willing to learn.

  • In your opinion, why having a job is not a kind of trading?

    having a job : I can have stable salary income but once I make a fault, it is possible for me to face huge compensation, which may be more serious than blowing up a trading account.
    price action trading : I lose some money if my prediction is wrong. I can use risk management to avoid huge loss.

    having a job : being assigned to solve a problem which is almost impossible to be solved. (cannot cut loss)
    price action trading : having an unprofitable position (can cut loss)

    having a job : When someone needs my help, I cannot decline; when I need assistance, I need to face the fact that only I myself can solve it.
    price action trading : When someone asks my suggestion, I can suggest nothing; when I need assistance, googlable contents do not always decline. Tradingwithrayner is an example.

    having a job : When I encounter discords, only I can do is compromise.
    price action trading : the price falls after I buy and rices after I sell.

  • The more I read things from you, the more negative of a person I see you are. My opinion doesn’t really matter here, but then again neither does yours. Good luck.

  • Hi Mr. R. Thank u for taking the time to educate us correctly. I learned a lot from you within one hour! (serious). Please answer this question for me, I saw in your article that in order to invest well you will need about 100,000 dollars, my gosh how many people have that kind of money??? If you look at the population in America 39 to 40 million make15 dollars an hour??? or less. They should be able to learn to trade if its a passion for them, when are they ever going to be able to even see that kind of money in their lifetime??? When I was thinking of trading active I was told I could get a 25,000 dollars to start, but I thought what if I lost my earnings how could I pay it back? But I wanted to be in the game, I have a passion for it, so after studying and playing paperless, I started paying attention, stocks is definitely for the long haul you 15 an hour people! KNOW that, its a future thing & after spending time with your words Mr. R. I began to see, I need to be future thinking NOT so much NOW thinking. So I started paying more attention to planning my future. What I do is pay a lot of attention to presidents of that money house called the White House, they give clues…like the infrastructure plan, that’s future talk, so pick stocks for the future & pray (if you’re not a praying person, then hope) the companies you choose hangs in there with you & doesn’t go bankrupt. Pay attention to their histories. My game is electric cars, & anything to do with electric cars, such as batteries
    etc. The boom for them is coming….very soon, but NOT now, later. There is really no market for that now….later is the key. I set up my portfolio for anything to do with electric cars & energy, cause I know its futuristic. And I KNOW it is coming for SURE!!….it’s already happening….but slowly to get the people ready, gasoline is another future item cause once electric comes, gas goes upppp. Right now these things are cheap. I put in 30 dollars for battery companies, $50 charging stations, you have to think ahead of the game. Play monopoly to get an idea, it’s a win AND lose game. Look how long that game can last if you are good at it. So 15.00 dollars an hour people, know this game takes a long time to play, its best to put it out there and go back to it when the demand is high & that takes TIME. Stocks were created for future earnings for us poor folk, really for retirement, it was created because there was no social security back in the days, so only the rich….(100,000 can do folks)get richer. Pay attention to Biden & his plans & what he passes, then create your own plan, he is telling what to pick, like horseracing…but for the future. Mr. R. So many people are pushing for now now now, sometimes because of brokers wanting money for themselves, & reading your words 100,000 to start as daily trader is way too much for many, (39,000 of us) but noone talks to us poor folk. We want to play too. Then many say do it long haul but how??? What can they do as a long hauler??? hopefully this helps. You 15.00 an hour (& less)people…Don’t get discouraged…
    just think….you may need the money more later than you do now. Keep that as a frame of mind, instead of feeling you don’t have the money to play…so you can’t play…NOT true. You can play you just have to learn how. Good fortune my 15 an hour traders and hang in there!!

  • There is nobody in the whole world yes over 7 billion who can make profit in forex trading as retail trader!!!!. Yes in the short run but not in the wrong run. The chance in all millions strategy of making profit and loss is 50% 50%. With exorhobitant trading costs…spread, swab & commission..the loss will always be higher than profit for all retail traders in the long run.

    The persons who make profit are Banks, Forex Brokers and crooks pretending to be pro forex traders. The crooks sell signals to unsuspecting retail traders, pretend to teach or sell trading materials and robots. A little commonsense why are these crooks struggling to sell signals, training materials, robots, strategy…why not use the same to make millions dollars..simple they cannot and has lost their fortunes resulting to the those deceit and crooked crooks mean. Indeed forex trading is a legalised crime against humanity…because it is 100% sure any one who fall in the trap will loose money in the longrun.

    Those comments are as a research of extensive and intensive research….millions strategies tested.

  • What is said about forex and trading is 100% total rubbish. There is no way to make profit. Those selling trading ideas materials books are sadist losers wanting to be more…misery like company too. If there is any successful philanthropic trader…make money, register charitable trust help the needy like orphan children. Common sense.

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