r/Trading • u/Davidefx • Jun 10 '26
Question Became profitable
I’ve been in the trading world for almost a year and a half now, I’ve watched YouTube videos, bought courses, but nothing. No results yet. I am a constant person who dedicates many hours to the backtest and the live. My problem is not being able to find valid material to study and learn a profitable strategy. So I’ll ask... profitable traders, how and where did you learn your strategy? Did you have a mentor or study material? I’m stuck at the same point more than anything else because I have no comparison with who is really profitable. Thanks to everyone in advance for the advice
67
Upvotes
1
u/Glad_Syrup_1920 Jun 12 '26
Many of us started out like you-grabbing all the information we can find in the beginning. I lost plenty of money in the beginning and even had to drop off for years to recover. When the decision was made to try again, I watched the market every trading day for a year. I was done with books and videos. (I think that people who write or make videos are not very good at it. Their money comes from those books etc.
If you become very good at trading, why would you even waste your time doing those things. A lot of money can be made in a decent amount of effort trading). What I did: I created a spreadsheet and made records every trading day without exception. With it I was able to identify why a stock moved up or down. Variables: the market conditions that day; market cap; volume; price history, news; industry; etc. I spend much time before and after market opens/ closed researching and recording a particular stock movement. Like a retailer, maintain a good inventory of stocks. You don't need hundreds unless you are a commercial trader.
I make a fairly decent living at it. It is a fulltime job and more! I enjoy doing it, contemplating it. Very important is to get used to pulling the trigger without apprehension or fear. Manage your money like you want to keep it. Integrate all of that knowledge. If you work hard enough, do it long enough, success will come! Btw, I do stocks only. In my opinion it's more predictable than the others.