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Struggling to be profitable in trading

  • #21
  • Dec 23, 2025 2:19am Dec 23, 2025 2:19am
Quoting pizd0s
If you’ve tried “everything,” the next step isn’t another strategy - it’s narrowing to one setup + strict risk + tracking stats like a business. Profitability usually shows up when you stop chasing daily targets and start chasing repeatable execution

That’s spot on. When you’ve “tried everything,” what’s usually missing isn’t knowledge it’s discipline and structure. Treating trading like a business means focusing on execution quality, not daily P&L. Once you narrow to one setup, control risk tightly, and track stats consistently, the noise fades and the edge becomes measurable.
  • #22
  • Dec 23, 2025 1:48pm Dec 23, 2025 1:48pm
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Compiling knowledge into one .. keep learning .. keep slow but steady pace...Happy Holidays!
  • #23
  • Dec 24, 2025 3:29pm Dec 24, 2025 3:29pm
Quoting Moly_Cam5
I’ve been around this market on and off since 2015, trading, hanging out in forums, watching different strategies and people come and go. I’ve seen many fx platforms rise and then turn out to be scams. I have gone through a lot to learn, But honestly, I’ve never been consistently profitable. Sometimes I’d make a lot, but then lose it all later. I’ve tried sticking to one plan but could never fully make it work. I’ve tested everything from price action to even weird stuff like trading based on the moon and planets,...., What should i do ?
Don't trade others systems for starters. Don't buy them, don't follow people on social, etc. That won't work long-term for a number of reasons.

If you build a system on your 10 years of mixed results using only what worked and refining it, add in some solid technical analysis and sound risk management you are probably going to do fine. Tune out the noise and trade what works for you. No more systems, other than your own refined approach. If you can't both commit to your own system and also be confident in your ability, nobody else's approach/book/bologna marketing will work for you either.

Sounds like you have the sticktoitiveness to make it happen! I think you can. Great comments above mine by others already, just my 2p.
"Wisdom is proved righteous by its works"
  • #24
  • Dec 28, 2025 3:16pm Dec 28, 2025 3:16pm
Quoting Moly_Cam5
What should i do ?
find proper people
each day 10%,,,, https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/1371538
  • #25
  • Dec 29, 2025 4:04pm Dec 29, 2025 4:04pm
Quoting Moly_Cam5
What should i do ?
Save some money, wait for a recession, then buy an asset when its price falls and sell it after 10 years
  • #26
  • Jan 2, 2026 12:57pm Jan 2, 2026 12:57pm
Instead of blowing up fireworks, today I have just blown up my profits from all December !!!

Happy New Year to all traders !
  • #27
  • Jan 3, 2026 2:57am Jan 3, 2026 2:57am
Honestly, I think a lot of this comes down to psychology more than strategy. You can have the best entries in the world, but if you’re letting losses balloon, doubling down after red days, or chasing setups just because you feel like you have to trade, consistency is going to stay out of reach.

I’ve read so many stories where people backtest and things look “great,” then live trading blows it all up — not because the market is rigged, but because discipline breaks down.
Maybe take a step back and treat this like a business instead of a game — define your edge, cap your risk, and stop trying to outsmart every candle, because — spoiler — no one knows where price is going anyway. Consistency beats perfection.
  • #28
  • Jan 14, 2026 12:43pm Jan 14, 2026 12:43pm
Maybe active trading is not for you? Try investing. You are trading since 2015, and just imagine how much you would have earned if you simply started investing and compounding your balance… You don’t need some special strategy or sth like that, focus on slow and steady growth. Assets like S&P500, NASDAQ, GOLD etc have been performing amazingly well! Stocks are a great option as well. So, I would recommend you to switch for a slower gains, but even average person makes around 20% a year from stocks, which is decent if you reinvest each month.
  • #29
  • Jan 23, 2026 12:12am Jan 23, 2026 12:12am
@SteveFX22 has said it right. The psychology of trading seems to be an issue for you rather than the trading system, even though the system itself is very important. I can share what helped me, maybe it will be of help for you too.
I’m sure that with this trading experience it is not a biggie for you to spot trading opportunities with 20 pips per day. What you need is to create a table where you will project your progress with 20 pips winning every trading day. Instead of day, label it as a level because we all know that one can’t win every trading day. In the table you need to put down starting balance, balance after win, risk per trade and lot’s size you are going to use for each level. You win, you go to the next level. You lose, you get back to the previous level. As simple as that. But you need to be disciplined about following your trading plan. Once you get your daily 20 pips you are off the market. You will be surprised how overtrading is actually killing our profits. Less is more in trading..
  • #30
  • Edited 8:54am Jan 23, 2026 3:24am | Edited 8:54am
Hi my friend, I tried to contact you before hence my post over here.

I think this might actually form the basis of something good: (I've been informed that this is a very good H4 manual trading strategy)

https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...6#post15437786

I am trying to implement it into an EA adding the missing parts. I am average in creating EAs, but lack the required skill to add what is required to your final EA message, adding more filters & the code for actual action - I do manage those normally on a standard EA template using indicators. Would you please respond via an PM should you care at all to help.

I am currently working on this:

https://www.forexfactory.com/thread/...plates?page=17

Please everyone, nothing special so please don't bother to investigate - neither is the example attached. If it worked I would not have responded over here. These are only meant to show the author that I CAN proceed with just a little help. Maybe I can add what you've already done as another filter to experiment with. It is just that the structure of your EA is not at all what I'm used to work with.

I add an example of what I'm able to work with. I just do not know how to replace the buy/sell requirements inside with what you've created into this type of layout, putting everything into the proper locations.

I sincerely apologize for my rude interruption over here.
Attached File(s)
File Type: mq4 Hennis Superbot.mq4   30 KB | 93 downloads
  • #31
  • Mar 6, 2026 7:06am Mar 6, 2026 7:06am
Quoting SteveFX22
Honestly, I think a lot of this comes down to psychology more than strategy. You can have the best entries in the world, but if you’re letting losses balloon, doubling down after red days, or chasing setups just because you feel like you have to trade, consistency is going to stay out of reach.

I’ve read so many stories where people backtest and things look “great,” then live trading blows it all up — not because the market is rigged, but because discipline breaks down.
...
In my case, psychology wasn't enough to instill discipline even after years of trying. What did it for me was developing a framework for reading the market and recognizing when the market was going to go against me. Knowing that I had a 90% chance of losing on the next trade was more convincing than psychology to keep me from pressing the buy button.
  • #32
  • Mar 7, 2026 11:23am Mar 7, 2026 11:23am
Hi CoffeBreak.
How you come to know the 90% chance of losing the next trade?
  • #33
  • Mar 8, 2026 6:19am Mar 8, 2026 6:19am
Quoting jeuro2.0
Hi CoffeBreak. How you come to know the 90% chance of losing the next trade?
Hi jeuro,

Analysis skills. Pro traders have their own analysis framework. This is mine.

Take a look at this EURUSD chart:

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It has broken an upward intermediate trend and is heading down. However, 80% of daily cycles on this pair last last between 27 to 46 days and decline on avg -3.5%, the current cycle is 34 days and has declined -4.57%. There is an 80% chance this pair has made or is pretty close to making a short term bottom and will head higher for 10 to 15 days before rolling over into a bigger decline.

In other words, there is an 80% chance that shorting here will end up in a losing trade (even though this pair is headed down over the intermediate term) unless I'm planning to hang on through the drawdown (which I'm not).

I understand that most forum members may have no idea what I'm talking about. My point here is that as a struggling trader, I mistakenly thought that I was losing because my "trading psychology" needed fixing, when in reality it was my analysis skills that sucked and still sucked even after reading 100s of books, trying countless strategies, indicators, systems and "trading psychology" over 10 years.

Hope this was clear.
  • #34
  • Mar 10, 2026 11:24am Mar 10, 2026 11:24am
I semi understand. You have an intuition that most don't have.
But , with an 80% certainty of shorting ends up in a loss, why not go long?
  • #35
  • Mar 10, 2026 1:35pm Mar 10, 2026 1:35pm
A lot of traders think they need one more indicator, but very often the missing part is execution quality and routine. Once I started tracking only one setup and reviewing it every week, my results became much more stable
  • #36
  • Mar 11, 2026 2:33am Mar 11, 2026 2:33am
Quoting jeuro2.0
I semi understand. You have an intuition that most don't have.
I didn't have a natural intuition for trading, my friend. It's 18 years of blood, sweat and tears, more than 10,000 hours of intense learning / studying, and 5+ years of full time trading, i.e. skills that anyone can develop.

Quoting jeuro2.0
But , with an 80% certainty of shorting ends up in a loss, why not go long?
Because I would have just exited a long position and be looking to enter a short position, just it's a little too early to enter short at the moment. Hopefully, the chart below illustrates what I mean.

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  • #37
  • Last Post: Mar 13, 2026 2:34am Mar 13, 2026 2:34am
Quoting Guide2befree
Let me throw in my 2 cents. Hopefully you'll get more than that. You've probabally read and studied about many systems and strategies, paid for courses and workshops....me too. In the last 4 months I've seen some success that has stabalized me in trading. For me, I didn't really change my system, or rules....I CHANGED MY MINDSET, AND STARTED EVALUATING MY EMOTIONS, MY ATTITUDE. YOU MUST HAVE UNRELENTING PATIENTS, AND UNRELENTING DISCIPLINE BEFORE AND DURING THE TRADE. There are some good youtube videos and books out there just on trading...
Hello, the mindset you mentioned is exactly what I've been striving for. Could you recommend some bloggers or books on this topic?
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