How to get motivated?

I'm in need of some motivation on what to do, I took a big hit this past month or so , basically made a rookie mistake and wiped out my gains that I had. I was actually profitable for the first time consistently until this past month, and its tough to try to pick myself up and continue trading. I'm aslo in a postion where I am young, 24 being that, and everyone tells me I'm wasting my time doing this and I should go find some full time employment. Trying to fight mind over what matters I guess you could say , if anyone could chime in on this subject matter or have been there before that would be great.

There’s two ways I could reply to you here.

The first is to tell you what you want to hear, that trading isn’t so hard and hits like that are normal and that if you keep pushing at it you will make a lot of money and make your friends and family eat their words in the next 12 months as you compound your account to twice their annual incomes.

Or…

The reality which is trading is actually difficult to do, particularly when you have no back up, and for most people takes a long ass time to get right. Whether you become a successful trader or not you will have to deal with people telling you you’re dreaming, as well as peaks and falls in your motivation and results all through your journey. People fear what they don’t understand I guess.

There is also the added pressure that the skills you are learning do not translate into the real world. You earn no formal qualifications trading, the only possible form of qualification as a retail trader is results. Again, this takes time to achieve. I’ve heard of some traders on hear getting internships in trading firms and this type of thing but I couldn’t tell you much about that myself.

The fact you are on a forum seeking motivation and guidance is a clear sign that you’re not ready to put all your eggs in the FOREX basket. The risks are real. You’re still young, what if you do this for the next three years and suddenly they ban your access top the markets. Or cap leverage at 20:1, 10:1. Then what?

You should find some sort of middle ground that would suit both you and your friends and family so you have a safety net. I was in the same situation as you when I was your age and I decided to take up a degree at University. That seemed to shut everyone up for a bit, so now I have almost finished this degree I have some formal qualifications. Some income on the side will take some pressure of you as well in the way of a job.

You can still learn to trade whilst doing other things, in fact this is probably more than necessary. When my friends and family used to tell me this it used to p** me off a bit, like they weren’t taking me seriously, so I can relate to your predicament.

Anyway good luck with it, I’m sure it will work itself out.

Sorry to hear about your loss.

Take a break, get a job and get some steady income coming in. The market can be an unrelenting boss. I read a survey recently that PeterE had linked to in a post. It said that just 0.4% of retail traders will have more than 4 back-to-back profitable quarters. His post is here. I know we all like to think we are gonna be one of them but the chances are, we're not.

Come back to trading when your head is clear. Preferably part-time.

you're young, be smart and get some real education, get a mentor... a good one... http://trading.adamjowett.com/10-tip...rading-mentor/

get a real job and do trading on the side. It is much less stressful, when you know that you don't have to rely on trading as your primary source of income (especially when you are not wealthy yet).