Why we lose money?

My main reason why I lose is because I assume something to be a swing low or high before it turns out it isn't the high/low. Lol.

Similar for me.

If I had the patience,a level wouldn't be a confirmed level until it had survived a retest.

In the heat of the moment FOMO,I guess,kicks in,I convince myself I have nailed the level and jump in early,leaving myself exposed.

Its hardest after a string of losses,where you really need this one to be a winner.
 
Can you back that with stats? I bet a lot of very successful investors and traders, probably a lot more successful than any of us here, would disagree.

2 days of draw down is absolutely nothing in the long run.
SML has probably a different definition of drawdown.

Personally, 80% of the time, I'm in a drawdown (if not more). In fact, traders are not in a drawdown period only when they make a new peak.
 
What caused you to recover the losses in a prescribed time period?
Good Morning semperfrosty,

Because I do not like being drawdown, I like winning and making money every day/week. I want that equity curve going up day to day, week to week, or/and month to month.
 
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Can you back that with stats? I bet a lot of very successful investors and traders, probably a lot more successful than any of us here, would disagree.

2 days of draw down is absolutely nothing in the long run.
Good Morning FTDK,

Of course I can and so can you. You need do not need stats, its all math and this is basic trading. You do not know this? If you have a loss on a trade, you need to recover the loss in X minutes/hours/days so your Net Profits keeps growing for the week/month/year. We can not stay in drawdown forever.

Well, I do not think about the long run. What does long run means. I took a loss, now time to recover the loss.

This is what all traders do , I assume.
 
SML has probably a different definition of drawdown.
Good Morning rb7,

Yes, my definition of drawdown is very simple and all manual/discretionary/guessing day trading.

I took a loss on this trade, ok lets get the loss back on the next few trades or before the day ends, so I end the day positive or breakeven. Sometimes I have to end the day in PnL negative. It is what it is cost of doing business in trading.
 
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You haven't stopped losing, at least not if you are truthful, nobody has a 100% succes rate in the financial markets.
Good Morning FTDK,

Do not worry about what other traders have as XX-XXX% success rate and all those other terms of what you think other traders are doing, and who is winning and who is losing. Other traders is not going to help you make money anyway. Are they going to come to your house and show you how to make money trading in your face? NO. Are they going to let you Skype Screenshare to watch them click the charts everyday so you can learn? NO. So what those it matters who is truthful and who is lying and who has stats? How will that help you make money?

You define your own truth and your own lie and your own success rate in trading, that gives you 6-8 hours of sleep a night and put money in your pocket.

Question and doubt yourself, not others.
 
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And they underestimate their own faulty belief system and how much impact it has on their plan. So they start changing the method or plan and in the hope it will change the results. They do not need to change the method or plan, they need to change them self. That is the biggest secret of the succes of all successful traders. They made a system that fits their personality or they made their personality fit the system. That is it.
Good Morning danielc1,

This is the 2nd best post written on ET forum ever or atleast this year.

Great job.
 
Take a look at your history.
What is the reason behind most of your loses?
Have stopped it or you're still losing due to the same reason?

Loss is a cost of doing business, so I avoid attaching any emotion to any trade (whether it’s a winner/looser).

The problem is if the trader keeps on making the same mistakes over and over again (e.g. not following a plan, or not even having a plan in the first place).

Everyone stuffs up once in a while, but if it keeps on repeating, then it could be self-sabotage.
 
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