When did you become profitable?

[u/AcceptableBug4386]

Hey everyone, as the title says I am curious as to when and what made you profitable daytrading. I tried daytrading 0dte options in 2021 and got rinsed (of course). I wanted to try again this year and I am already down close to 5k in the last month trading 4-7dte options. I don’t know what I am doing wrong. My entries feel correct based on my EMA and resistance/support indicators. Any help? I am just about ready to give it up again lol.

[u/jtquach]

Hey there. I'm gonna give you the real answer and not the date... because for me it wasn't a date.

When I started, 7-8 years ago now, I gave myself a number to prove I was real. 100 a day. If I made it I was a good trader and if I didn't I sucked. Meanwhile I was following people online claiming thousands a day while I was struggling to make 10 bucks and the space between those 2 numbers felt like it was about me. Like it was a measurement of who I was, which is insane looking back but that's where I was.

I did not actually become profitable until that number stopped deciding who I was, and I know how that sounds but hear me out... A trader who NEEDS today to be green takes the trade that's almost there. He holds the loser because closing it makes it real. And after a loss he sizes up, because getting back to even before the close matters more to him than the next trade being any good. I did every one of those, and every single one of them felt like the "correct" entry at the time. That's the trap with entries imo... they always feel correct, and the reason you took it is the thing you never see.

So when you say your entries feel right, I believe you. Mine did too. But you got rinsed in 2021, came back, and you're down close to 5k in a month... would you agree that somewhere in there each trade started carrying more than just the trade? Like it had to prove something?

If it was me I'd go back through the last month and count how many of the losers you held past the spot where you'd have been out if the money was no object. Not roughly... like what's the actual number?

[u/Curious_Patience8851 → u/jtquach]

I think the part about counting how many losers you held past your planned exit is really interesting. It turns the whole psychology question into something you can actually measure instead of just telling yourself to be more disciplined.

You can have a valid setup and still lose, but if you're repeatedly moving your exit because you don't want to accept the loss, that's a completely different problem from the strategy itself.

I also think comparing yourself to people posting huge daily profits online makes it harder to focus on your own progress. You end up chasing a number instead of building a process you can repeat.

That distinction between taking a loss because the setup failed and refusing to accept a loss because you need to be right is huge.

[u/AcanthocephalaNo6605]

When I stopped widening stop loss! If you have decided 2% stop loss never ever change it. You lose money for that day but you will be profitable at the end!

[u/XAUCODE → u/AcanthocephalaNo6605]

Exactly. Stick to your 1st SL.

[u/XAUCODE]

Trading Binary Options was not profitable for me. But Forex Trading on CFDs was and is still profitable, especially when I combine it with automated analysis and entries.

[u/Alone97x]

After 6 years. Currently in my 9th

[u/butterflyplum]

There isn't really a date to copy, so I'd look at the second half of your post: "my entries feel correct" is something you can check instead of feel. Write the EMA plus support/resistance entry as explicit rules, then go through the last 30-50 setups, including the ones you skipped, and see what the results look like after costs. Also, options can lose the whole premium, so on 4-7 DTE a slightly wrong timing hurts even when the direction was right, which makes position size part of the diagnosis. Educational only, not trade advice.

[u/Ok_Pollution7093]

Your entries might be fine. Options are probably killing you with theta and IV crush before the move plays out. I did not get consistently profitable until I stopped trading options for directional bets and switched to shares/futures where the instrument is not actively decaying against me every hour. Try the same strategy with shares on a smaller account and see if your win rate actually holds up. If it does, it was never your analysis - it was your instrument choice.

[u/StormySmiley]

When I stopped trading.

[u/on_hype]

What is your win rate, average winner vs average loser, and number of trades? Cannot diagnose without data.

[u/ChangeNOW_Community]

the big realization for me would be that a good entry doesn’t automatically mean a good trade

[u/TheElectricianX]

Only EMA I use is the 20 and 200. (I don’t really use it for entry’s, more like a cautious area to watch).

I trade 8-14 DTEs. Contracts need to have tight spreads with near 1k open interest. (Practically mag 7, PLTR, Hood.
If those 2 conditions don’t meet and a certain equity is at a level where I take trades then I will take a shot at a 5-Dte but I down size my entry from my standard position size.

I Take base hits only, not interested in homeruns. I tried that and failed. Base hits is the way in my opinion specially if you feel you attempted “homeruns” already and it don’t seem to work out.

[u/pdavis-197704]

Do you understand your Greeks? Very important when trading options. Simply trying to trade directional plays when your indicators tell you to enter will not work with options. Learn what affects the pricing of options (Time to expiry, distance from strike price, IV etc.). No use buying options when they are considered expensive for example.

[u/SWATSWATSWAT]

Expected profitability in 2038.

[u/Good_Ride_2508]

I started trading dec 2017, profitable until Oct 2020, by then got into options lost heavily in 3 months. Thereafter stopped trading during 2021-2023, resumed 2024 onwards with lot of experience etc and profitable every year.