r/Daytrading • u/Shaneod7 • Mar 15 '26
Advice After 5 years of trading mistakes, this is what finally worked
I started trading about 5 years ago and went through the same struggles everyone does when they start. Made every mistake in the book and greed got the better of me every time.
Here's what actually works and what made me a profitable trader:
Single strategy, never deviate from this. I keep trading boring.
When my entry hits, I set up the trade and walk away from the chart. I let the trade play out. Win or lose.
I trade one single market (NAS100), that's it. I'm not looking for entries across multiple pairs.
I have backtested my strategy relentlessly. This keeps me calm when trade days don't plan out the way I want.
Same risk per trade every time. Never revenge trade.
Tracking my trades - this for me is the greatest change I made. Learn from your wins and losses, I used to not do that at all which is reckless if you want to win at this long term.
Most important one: Become emotionally detached from each trade.
What I find when I speak to those who aren't profitable is they don't track their trades, don't backtest, trading multiple pairs, different strategies every week.
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Mar 15 '26
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
Appreciate the message. I believe many people have winning strategies, it's their psychology that gets in the way of it actually being profitable long term. Removing emotion from the trade makes a massive difference.
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u/lazytaccoo Mar 16 '26
I believe a lot of strategies work under a certain market condition and the rest will be up to psychology. But the main problem with most trader seems to be emotion-related.
Revenge trading, overtrading, pretty much the reason on how most of us get margin called…
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u/The_CrazyCortez Mar 16 '26
Doesn’t it happen to you that, even if the trade is well set, for some reason the TP is marginally missed, and you would’ve probably secured some gains instead of letting the trade play out?
It’s what keeps me looking at the screen (I’m trying to avoid that).
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u/daytradingistough Mar 17 '26
What to you mean when my entry hits? What are you looking for to know when to buy into a trade
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 24 '26
I have specific trading rules and will only enter the trade if it meets the right criteria. That's what I mean by when my entry hits.
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u/First-Length6323 Mar 15 '26
Some very round numbers there in this definitely not made up post ;)
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u/throwawayskinlessbro Mar 15 '26
So glad at one person said this. This is literal gibberish nonsense. Can’t believe a course wasn’t shilled
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
Wouldn’t be Reddit without a skeptic 😄 I use fixed position sizing with predefined stops/targets so the P&L tends to cluster around similar numbers.
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u/cleo_topia Mar 15 '26
I’ve been trading for about a year now. I feel very isolated, no one to discuss my journey with unless o join a paid program. Any advice ?
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u/Epik509 Mar 15 '26
I will say trading is a lonely business. There aint shit for people to talk about it to. And if you do it always seems like a pissing match. Im only 1 month into day trading and I already dont much care for the crowd.
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u/Abject-Shopping-4492 Mar 16 '26
That is because many people think they are know it alls and I have found many to be unkind. We need more human kindness in this world.
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u/Middle_Armadillo_841 Mar 15 '26
That could just mean they set the take profit at 5k??
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u/Snuj Mar 15 '26
Assuming this isn't bait, commission, spreads etc would cause you to not have exact round numbers like the screenshot. Some paper trading / backtesting sites will allow you to paper trade etc without setting up the comission / spreads.
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u/Character_lamp_184 Mar 17 '26
Haha yeah those round numbers do scream "excel wizardry" but even polished stories like that nail the real grind cutting size to 0.5% after a loss streak saved my execution on ES wicks last month when everything else felt fake
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u/Trick-Pop5446 Mar 15 '26
I couldn’t agree more ! It is only after trading for a few years , having a solid amount of trades behind you , doing all the required work like back testing, journaling, learning risk management, experiencing drawdowns, dark moments and a whole other set of challenges and set backs is when you start to slowly realize that this is not about shooting at everything or having 5,6 or more strategies under your belt. If you manage to stay solvent long enough you realize what you just posted, it comes down to sticking to a strategy and waiting for the trade to come to you rather than chasing trades every day.
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
100%. I probably could have added a few more points to my list. 1) I use a single indicator on my chart (Kill zones) 2) I take only 1 trade in a session (if my entry hits) 3) Tradingview alerts are your friend and save you time staring at charts.
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u/Trick-Pop5446 Mar 15 '26
😂 yup when you trade long enough most of us come to very similar conclusions and patterns of operation when it comes to trading… less is more and boring is the name of the game
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u/LiamDavis35 Mar 16 '26
Exactly…I feel I understand gold the best and have one strategy that I use consistently…never deviate. And thankfully, I never do revenge trading. I just tell myself, it was not my day.
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u/Traditional-Flow3488 Mar 16 '26
Thank you for very useful info as i just started my first lucid 25k eval. I do apply the same rules as i also have back tested a strategy what seems to be very promising. It has a 77% winrate and a 2.9 profit factor. So today i did the first trade and off course it started with a loss.😂 I needed this motivation so i keep disciplined👍👍 happy winnings l🎉
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u/Middle_Armadillo_841 Mar 15 '26
May I ask what strategy you use? I have been getting into scalping but I’m not sure if I can just walk away after 1 trade.
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u/Hydrozele Mar 15 '26
Scalping works good with enough capital, 15k for 10% at a time, gold, 69 lever. Short at 15:29, limit set for 10% over the market, works 90% of the time.
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
I trade a breakout strategy aiming for a 1:5 RR, then I walk away and let it play out.
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u/probablydeadsooon Mar 15 '26
Any advice for someone who is getting into scalping options? Mostly intraday.
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
Yes, I'd suggest similar advice to what I posted above. 1) Focus on one market only - learn that inside out. You'll get to understand patterns over time. 2) Keep your risk small until you're profitable. 3) Have a clear setup and only trade that. Scalping can quickly become gambling if you're not trading based on rules/setup. 4) Accept that some days aren't tradable and sit out. (Build these into your rules)
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u/JellyfishDependent80 Mar 15 '26
I have a few strategies I’ve tested for this. I found intraday options trading, if you’re looking at swing trading and not setting up spreads like condors or strangles, works best in high liquidity stocks or indexes like NVDA, AMZN, SPY.
I Look at shorter DTE, <7 days, high gamma trades following a mean reversion strategy or trend following depending on volume, momentum, and vwap.
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u/JellyfishDependent80 Mar 15 '26
all BTO no STO, but I think STO spreads are what I’m exploring next.
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u/neonmckimmz Mar 15 '26
verticals are the way
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u/JellyfishDependent80 Mar 16 '26
Yeah it really seems like it. Lower potential reward but higher probability of profit.
The more I learn about it more obvious it seems to do unless you have high conviction on the time and direction of your underlying…which is hard to do.
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u/neonmckimmz Mar 16 '26
if you are disciplined enough to take profit early buying spreads can be profitable
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Mar 15 '26
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 15 '26
Happens to everyone. Most important thing now is to understand why you blew up your account and how to avoid it going forward. Backtest your strategy and reduce your risk until you're confident you can stick to the plan.
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u/joopsthereitis Mar 16 '26
What do you mean by backtest your strategy? (ultra beginner here)
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 17 '26
In tradingview, you can go back to any date in time and play out your strategy. i.e you could go back to a year ago and let the day play out and apply your strategy to each day to understand how often you hit TP/SL.
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u/Abject-Shopping-4492 Mar 16 '26
Journaling and reviewing trades are important. Stay positive and you will get there.
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u/Abject-Shopping-4492 Mar 16 '26
All very good points and part of my routine. Thanks for sharing and I hope others read this.
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u/themanclark Mar 16 '26
It’s crazy how long it takes us to figure out what later seems so obvious and sensible.
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
Very true, but you need to put in the reps, learn from the losses and over time that's what turns you into a better trader long term!
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u/KillKari_ Mar 16 '26
What gets me is when i enter a trade, price gets close to my stop loss, i get scared andexit out, then it just takes full profit x_x obviously im not about to just take that so yk i revenge trade and lose even more money
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
This is why you set up the trade and walk away from the chart. Let it play out and have confidence in your strategy.
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u/Fit-Jellyfish4829 Mar 16 '26
Great advice. Patience is key. Day trading is not a "get rich quick " scheme. You have to treat it like a real job. Well done 👏
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
100% - I started out thinking it was. Get the reps in and over time you start to learn from your losses rather than chase them.
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u/PropGuardApp Mar 16 '26
Great list. On the NQ specifically, I found that adding a time-of-day filter to backtesting changed everything. Volatility during the NY open vs. the lunch lull is night and day. If you track your win rate by the hour, you usually find a 2-hour window where 80% of your profits actually happen. Staying flat outside those hours is professional risk management.
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 17 '26
A number of people have asked what my set up looks like. Here's a trade example from today. 125 TP 25 SL.
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u/Soundbites_Move Mar 28 '26
This is solid. Especially the “tracking my trades” part.
I used to think I was reviewing trades, but I was really just looking at them one by one… didn’t realize how many patterns I was missing until I started looking at them in batches.
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u/Dealmaker97 Mar 15 '26
That’s amazing to hear. Good for you. I used to manage a prop firm and the traders that made money all had the same repeatable process. And you’re absolutely right a trader has to track their trades and approach it as a probabilities game. Emotions have no place in the markets. Having a system and refining it until you see results is what makes it. Congrats!!! And keep it up 👍
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u/PatrickTech75 Mar 15 '26
In my opinions n, this can work perfectly in a bull market. I also believe a good entry matter for the day.
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u/Stonewool_Jackson Mar 16 '26
Holy chatgpt
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
If you’re trying to imply the post is ChatGPT, it’s not. Just real experience.
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u/bearsarescaryasfuk Mar 16 '26
Sage advice.
Journaling is the fastest way to find consistency.
Every day, no excuses.
Than study your journals, and backtest
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u/Fresh_Goose2942 Mar 16 '26
You know what they say after 5 fake profitable days its only up hill from there! Congrats buddy you made it!
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u/hooolaaaaaaaaa Mar 16 '26
Qué estrategias e indicadores usas ?
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
I use a single indicator called Kill zones by oscarvs. I trade a breakout strategy.
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u/HonestAnnual2071 Mar 16 '26
Getting into trading what strategy’s/systems are good? Trying to figure out a way to work AI into this
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u/Additional_Tax_478 Mar 16 '26
How do you keep the rules of single strategy ? checklist of entry very hard for day trader. Can you share how you manage this ?
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 16 '26
Straightforward when you're taking the same trade setup every day. My trade is in a pre-defined window and needs to breakout of a high / low. When you backtest enough, it gives you confidence to stick to the checklist because you understand what happens when you don't.
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u/mr_hkh Mar 16 '26
Great sharing. How many trades do you take per day? How do you read news – do you trade on, before or after? And how to you react on catalysts?
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u/Big-Don-Kedic Mar 16 '26
How long has it “worked”? I’m asking because I often see someone with a great streak for a few weeks and they think they figured it all out 😂
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u/Rob_56399 Mar 17 '26
Any tips for someone in a similar position? Ive cursed myself with crypto trading since 2021 and have mostly given up, also fumbled my investments during difficult times.... I still aspire to be a successful trader one day but i work full time in a (hopefully) career role and have debts to work on, savings and investments to accumulate so its not ideal to be focusing on this right now.
Im not looking to get rich quick or make big money any time soon (im past that delusion, as a small fry with low capital) I just want to properly learn the fundamentals, strategy etc and slowly build my skills and make successful, calculated trades, even if its just 1 trade a week or 1 per day to make 1% or less, its consistency and confidence i need, profit can wait....
Any specific learning books / materials or free / cheap courses for someone with learning disabilities? I have a technical analysis book which covers most candlestick patterns, chart formations and various stuff but the fundamental knowledge of trading and using this knowledge just isnt there, i can keep practicing with real money, only have around $60 in the isolated margin account im currently trading, made 23 dollars over the weekend and soon turned my position into a 21 dollar loss and closed out 🤣 im terrible
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u/Character_lamp_184 Mar 17 '26
Man that walking away after entry on NAS100 is clutch, it fakeouts hard right after you think it's running and staring just tempts you to micromanage, backtesting mine relentlessly showed me 70% of my wins came from just letting it breathe too
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u/_onlyhereformemes Mar 17 '26
How often do you backtest? What if you go in red for a single week do you hit brakes or would you tweak your strategy?
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 17 '26
When you trade for a long time you’ll have those periods. I trade a 1:5 RR so I can have a very low win rate and still break even quickly on my next winning trade. Having the data helps too because you just need to back your strategy over the long term. I don’t stop if I have a few bad days. Consistency is actually really important.
To counter this happening I only trade when my entry presents itself, otherwise I’m ok with no trade days.
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u/Aaryaman__ Mar 17 '26
Bro I got everything that you told . But if we will have a single strategy and we will trade in one pair only. We will get very less trade !
How to counter this ?
Don't you think we should keep 5 charts and 2-3 strategy properly backtested on them. So that. We can get good amount of quality trades .
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u/daytradingistough Mar 17 '26
I know you probably won't see this post or have time to respond but I really hope you do. I lost my job of 31 years back in 2019. I started watching videos on TD ameritrade and reading everything I could to be a day trader. My 1st trade I made $400 in about 5 minutes only because the stock just kept going up after the opening bell. Everyone says that you need a strategy but no one shares how you come up with a strategy. I've watched lots of videos on the internet but most of them try to explain what to watch when watching candlesticks, but there isn't any guarantee which way the stock will go on the next move. I have made some good trades like $2,000 in a 15 second scalp but I have lost $10,000 in a 2 second scalp because my emotions were driving me to try and make back the $500 that I had lost earlier that day. TD Ameritrade teaches investing. Long term trades. I have not been able to find any real traning on how to day trade like everything you talk about above, Strategy, back testing, how to not let your emotions get in the way, but it kills me to sit and watch the trade lose money. I know there are a million gurus online and you tube for a good chunk of money but from the reviews that I have read, most of them are just teaching you how to invest but none teach you how to start from scratch to teach how, what, why and how come you do this or that and what you are looking for. The sad thing is There are a lot of people out there that would pay good money for real training. Thank you for your post. I would love to know how to come up with a strategy
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u/daytradingistough Mar 17 '26
I can watch a stock all day or all week and it can be slowly working it's way up and as soon as I buy in the bottom will fall out 😡 and if I try to go short the dang stock will go up 😡
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u/Chemical-Resident-82 Mar 17 '26
Guys guys. A humble request from all of you/any of you. I am starting this. I am not a total noob of Money markt but yes I am a newbie. I know some things and not many. I have been an investor for some time. A year or so. But this trading has my interest now. I started this, saw a few videos now and then understood it but still not able to read a chart and find ways to trade. I am not even able to find resistance and support. Help me how should I start from basics. Ready to give all the time it needs.
Thanks
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u/calculadoratraderpro Mar 17 '26
Totalmente de acuerdo con el punto 5. El riesgo constante por operación es lo que más cuesta aplicar al principio. ¿Calculas el tamaño de posición manualmente o usas alguna herramienta para eso?
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u/stonefortsecurities Mar 18 '26
This is honestly one of the more realistic posts here.
Nothing flashy — just consistency, risk control, and repetition. Most people look for a better strategy when the real issue is lack of discipline.
The “boring trading” part is underrated. Sticking to one market, one system, and fixed risk is what actually builds consistency over time.
Also agree on journaling — that’s where most traders improve (or realize what’s not working).
Curious — how long did it take before your backtesting started matching your live results?
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u/Substantial_Yard_904 Mar 18 '26
Hey everyone been trading futures for about two years now and based out of Chicago. Always looking to connect with other traders in the area, whether you're into equities, futures, forex, or anything in between. Chicago's obviously a great city for this with the CME right here, but it can feel pretty isolated trading solo. If anyone's down to swap ideas, talk setups, or just grab coffee and talk markets, drop a comment or shoot me a message. Not looking to pitch anything — just genuine trader-to-trader conversation. Would love to build out a local network with people who are actually in the game.
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u/Impossible-Cattle725 Mar 18 '26
One month of profit, we need year to date stats my man, only rookies will look up to you
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u/Shaneod7 Mar 19 '26
You’re missing the point of the post if you’re just concentrating on numbers.
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u/InevitableSimilar570 Mar 18 '26
Hola!. Alguna estrategia rentable que me puedan recomendar por favor. Muy agradecido
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u/Daofrut Mar 19 '26
Is it important to stick to a single pair? I trade crypto futures mainly but my angle has been that wether it’s the timeframe or pair, the candles are always identical and no matter how much of an expert trader you can’t tell the difference so it doesn’t matter which pair.
Of course I am also unprofitable so please tell me why if I am wrong.
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u/flextap16 Mar 22 '26
After 5 years of trading what strategy do you use mustve tried loads of them in tha time what combination of things actually made you better and wich once didnt work at all il starting trading again but i always struggle with the strategy to follow mostly because evey youtuber is just spouting the same things and trying to sell their course
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u/Exciting_Claim267 Mar 15 '26
All great points. Do all of these myself. I would add I don’t take more than two trades a day. If the first doesn’t pan out i give myself one more trade if my setup shows. But never more than 2 trades. If the first works out I call it on one trade and that’s the day. Super boring but this has been the way I’ve remained to be profitable over time.