My 7 Biggest Trading Lessons

 Today I want to share with you the 7 Biggest Lessons I have learnt throughout my entire trading journey so you do not commit the same mistakes that I did and can actually become a profitable trader much faster than I did.

1) Trading is a hard way to make an easy living.

Trading is NOT a get-rich-quick scheme

Trading is a maybe get rich slow scheme.

Trading is a marathon, not a race.

Let’s be honest, we all started trading because we thought that it was a way for us to get rich fast, become a millionaire overnight. BUT the more we trade, the more we find out that this is actually not true. Yes we might make profits here and there as a beginner, but soon we will end up losing those profits and enter a losing streak. And when we do enter a losing streak, we dont know what to do and we eventually lose even more money and we quit trading forever.

The top 1% traders get paid more than doctors, scientists and lawyers. They have access to time, location and financial freedom.
Some of the top 1% traders are hedge fund billionaires who make billions of dollars every single year.

 Do you really think that you can get there in 1 month or in 1 year? 

Do you really think you can become profitable just by learning how to draw few lines on the charts? ANYONE CAN DRAW LINES ON THE CHARTS YET EVERYONE IS NOT MAKING MONEY. 

Trading is an incredibly difficult craft that takes years and years to master. And by thinking that trading is easy, you are disrespecting this art.

When you go to my Instagram, you will see all my public victories. Me travelling around the world, buying stuff for my family, bringing them out to fancy restaurants and buying my first Rolex…

What you don’t see is the small consistent wins that accumulated everyday for the past 4 years of my life. 

The endless nights where I am all alone in my small little room studying how to trade after coming back from my 9 to 5 job. 

The early mornings where I wake up at 5am and visualize myself reaching my goals.

Those times where I feel like giving up at trading after blowing accounts after accounts. 

Most people don’t even know half the shit that I do on a daily basis.

Till today, I still live like a monk most of the time and I still work like Im broke.

Before you can even think about learning how to analyze the charts or learn risk management and fundamental analysis and all that stuff, you need to do 1 important thing. If you dont do this thing, no matter how good you get at trading, you will never become profitable because you will always end up sabotaging yourself.

That one thing is to BELIEVE. 

Yes trading is hard but you need to believe. If you dont believe in yourself, you already failed at trading. 

Beliefs have the power to create and the power to destroy. 

When you start to believe in yourself, your brain will do everything it can to validate that belief. If you believe that you can become a successful trader, then you will automatically take the actions that makes you a better and more disciplined trader.

Play the long game. You might not get there within 1 year. You might not even see consistent profits for 2 years but as long as you keep moving and show up every single day without fail, you WILL get there.

If your son doesn’t get bullied for having Daddy’s money and having a Hot Mom, you have failed in life.

As a trader, you work alone. You are responsible for executing your trades. You are also your own manager and coach. It’s just you vs you. 

You are your worst enemy. You are the number 1 biggest threat to your trading account. If you are not careful, one wrong decision can wipe out your account. 

Don’t try to copy exactly how someone else trades because what works for him might not work for you. You need to ignore the noise, find what works best for you and only focus on your own journey.

2) Losing can be good

If you want to trade for the long term, you must change the way you think about losses.

Trading is a business and every business has expenses so you should treat losses as a business expense. The best traders learn from their losses so they don’t repeat the same mistakes again next time. 

When I trade, I don’t expect to win. I expect that anything can happen. This allows me to react to the market and pivot my position if necessary. 

This should be your mindset.

Every trader knows that losses are part of the game BUT Not all losses are the same.

Not every loss is a bad loss. There are also good losses.

What separates good losses from bad losses is not how much money you lost. It’s all about the context.

For example, you entered a trade because you have all your confluences and it is aligned with your trading plan. You place your stop loss correctly and you used a comfortable lot size. But for some reason, an unexpected news come out and cause the entire trend direction to change and you end up with a loss. That is a good loss because you followed your plan and it’s not your fault the trade didn’t play out.

But then you start to feel angry and upset so you don’t care about your trading plan and you enter the next trade randomly without any confluences. ALL BECAUSE YOU WANT TO MAKE BACK THE MONEY YOU HAVE LOST. And then you end up losing that 2nd trade. Now that’s what I call a bad loss.

Good losses are those trades that did not go well even though you followed your trading plan and you used the correct position size.

Bad losses are those trades that did not go well because they are taken out of emotions, rather than your plan.

Everyone has bad losses. The key is to recognize and learn from them.

In fact, bad losses can actually be some of the most valuable lessons because they are often the most painful type of losses. 

Pain is a great teacher if you listen. Use pain to your advantage. Use pain to get you out of the bad trading habits. 

For me, I only started learning about trading psychology after I lost $9000 in 1 day. I still remember that day. That loss was so painful that I knew I needed to change the way I trade.

Sometimes you have all the confluences in the world and you follow your trading plan and you take the trade and that trade will still end up as a loss. That’s just the reality of trading. 

You WILL have losses so you need to get comfortable with seeing red. When you do have good losses, accept it, learn from it and move on. Don’t beat yourself up over it.

If you followed your trading plan and your trading strategy, it is a successful trade. Even if its a losing one.

Remember you’re one good trade away from becoming successful

But you’re one bad trade away from being broke

3) Trading is a Video Game

 In my teen years from 13 to 16, I was addicted to video games. I would end school at around 3pm then I would quickly get onto the bus to go back home. When I reach back home, instead of showering, I immediately opened my laptop and started playing my favourite FPS games like CSGO and PUBG. The lag was so horrible that sometimes the screen would froze and I would literally teleport from point A to point B. Because it was a shitty laptop and my parents wouldn’t buy me a better one even though I beg them every single year during my birthdays

I would jump into Discord server and play games with my loser friends all the way until midnight. My mom would always scold me for playing games instead of studying hard. And she would force me to go to sleep before 12am. 

I would often wait for her to sleep already then sneak to the living room and continued playing the games until 2am. Then I go to sleep and wake up at 6am to go to school.

There was this one time where my mom got so angry that she took a baseball bat and bashed my monitor and then you could literally see some pixels of the monitor are fked up and it stopped working. I got so angry at her that I went into my room and slammed the door at her. Now looking back, I understand why she did what she did. 

Video games were my way of escaping reality. I would level up in Fortnite because I wanted to thrive in a virtual world because I was sick of being a loser in the real world. I was afraid to face the reality - the reality that I was insecure, broke, depressed and lonely.

The conventional path to success has been programmed into your mind. 

• Go to college

• Get a high-paying job

• Retire at 65 so you can finally enjoy life

This should scare you. The truth is you don’t need to play the conventional game. You can switch games. 

I want to congratulate you because if you are watching this, you don’t want to play the conventional game and live an average and miserable life like most people. That is why you need to become extremely good at trading so you can escape the system. How you can escape the system is by having access to financial, time and location freedom. 

Video games are fun because you can level up and earn greater rewards.

View life as a game.

View trading as a game.

When you choose what markets to trade, you are choosing your player.

When you get better at trading, you are leveling up your player.

When you make money from trading, you are stacking points for your player.

Stack trading goals.

Gain new experiences from the market.

Level up by getting better at trading

Unlock new levels

Eventually get to the point where you win the game by achieving consistent profits from the market.

The level where you gain acess to freedom.

Can’t you see that trading is simply just a game?

View your trading goals as quests to be completed in a video game.

Level up in trading instead of in games.

4) Reclaim your focus. 

I spent most of my teen years playing video games until 3am and searching for the perfect 18+ materials so I can fiddle my noodle before I go to sleep. And as a result, my life was horrible and depressing and I wanted to kill myself.

In this modern world that is filled with distractions, you need to reclaim your focus if you want to become successful. Because whatever you focus on, compounded with time, determines your quality of life.

• If you spend most of your time playing games and watching Netflix, then you are not going to get anywhere in life.

• If you spend most of your time learning and trading, then you can get ahead of your competition.

You might not see the results right now or even in 6 months. But if you keep going for 5 years or even 10 years, the results will be tremendous

In trading, you don’t get paid for working hard. You get paid for making the right decisions. You can only make the right decisions when you have a clear and focused mind.

When you start analyzing your charts, you must show up in front of your laptop and be at your 100%. You can’t afford to be distracted. 

Let’s say you are scalping right now and you have entered a trade which requires your full attention to monitor it. The moment you reach out to your phone because your girlfriend texted you, you have already lost because you might have missed a big move. Of course trust your analysis and let the trade play out on its own BUT when it’s time to focus, focus.

Lock your phone in a cupboard and put your full attention into the charts. Just like how you should put your full attention into watching this video right now

You have to be fully locked in OR you will lose to the guy that is on the other side of the market who is more focused than you because he wants it more than you do.

5) Profits won't make you happy

I never shared this with anyone before but one of the reasons why I work so hard every single day is because I want to fill a void inside me. Back when I had less than $100 in my bank account, I thought that more money will make me happy but when I did make more money, my happiness level did not really change. 

More money equals more problems. Now I have more team members to manage, more people that are depending on me and more responsibilities. 

I’ve made $1k per month, I’ve made $50k per month and I’ve also made $100k per month from both trading and my businesses. And I realized that when my income change, the level of my happiness never really changed. Once you have made $10k per month, anything more than $10k per month won’t really affect your happiness level anymore.

Lets say you finally made it, you bought yourself a gorgeous matte black G wagon and a nice Rolex watch and now you think that you are the best trader in the world. Complacency leads to failure. Its easy to make your first $10k/mth but to maintain that income every single month is the hard part. The market will eventually humble you and put you in your place and show you that you are absolutely fucking nothing. So get back to work.

To be frank, there are some days where I will feel quite lonely. I don’t party often like the other kids at my age. I don’t really go out with my friends. I have a very small group of friends which I am close to and thats it. I don’t have a girlfriend. 

It’s not that I dont enjoy all these things or Im a fucking weirdo, it’s just that I am just fully focused on building and trading at the moment. I know what I want in life and I know that all these things might bring me short term pleasure BUT they will not bring me long term happiness. The things that will truly bring me happiness are the things that matter to me the most

Not many people know this except for my close friends because I like to keep my dating life very private. I actually broke up with my girlfriend about 6 months ago. And our whole relationship lasted for almost a year and she means the world to me. She was my first love and the first love always cut the deepest. I loved her very much and she’s a very good woman who deserves nothing but the best.

One of the reasons why I decided to break up with her was actually because I wanted to go all in into The Trading Geek. At that point of time, I was not only consistently posting YouTube videos but I was also creating The Trading Blueprint course and also trading at the side. So it was honestly very hard for me to balance all my shit with the relationship. And Im the type of man who chooses my purpose over everything else.

When my friends asked me to hang out, I would say no because I wanted to stay home and learn trading. There was this one time where I screamed at my mom because I was so stressed and sick of being alone in this race, where no one can really understand me and the shit I have to go through everyday.

 I have to sacrifice a lot to get to where I am today. I love drinking and partying. I love video games. I love dating multiple women. But if there’s one thing that I love more than anything else, that would be my purpose which is why i choose to live every single day of my life aligned to my purpose. This is why i am able to sacrifice all these pleasures and vices so I can solely focus on my mission. If you don’t sacrifice for what you want what you want becomes the sacrifice.

Making money alone is not fun and thats why trading doesn’t really make me happy. I love trading but it doesn’t necessary make me feel fulfilled. To me, life is not about making as much money as possible, its about helping others and changing other peoples lives. 

I dont give a shit about money. What truly makes me happy is making these videos for you guys, knowing that I am changing so many lives and helping so many people become profitable traders. 

I didn’t really felt this until like recently where people would walk up to me and ask me “Hey are you The Trading Geek?” Then I would be very shy but I would always be polite enough to have a conversation with you because I want to know how you found about me, how has my videos helped you? Because of The Trading Geek, my life has purpose and meaning.

Know what you want in life. Focus all your energy and time on what’s important to you.
Everything you won’t sacrifice takes you away from your goal

6) Learn by teaching

“If you want to learn something, read about it.

If you want to understand something, write about it.

If you want to master something, teach it.” - Yogi Bhajan

The best way to learn is by teaching. If you can’t teach it, you don’t understand it well enough. That’s why I am able to simplify complicated trading concepts into something a 5 year old can understand. That is because I know my shit, I fully understand what I am teaching here on this channel because Im speaking from experience.

I have blown multiple accounts, I have lost over thousands of dollars, I have made all the trading mistakes you can think of be it revenge trading or forcing trades.

When I first started The Trading Geek, I was still studying how to trade. 

I was the underdog who was still losing and I was barely making any profits. Thats why I could relate to the audience the people watching my videos. I know exactly how they feel and I knew what to do to get out of that shithole because I have managed to escape that shithole myself. I myself was researching on how to become profitable and I was still trying to perfect my price action trading skills.

I wasnt necessary the millionaire trading guru who already made it. The guru who drove fast cars, lives in big mansions and have a thumbnail of them carrying stacks of cash and then when you click on the video you will see him flexing his MetaTrader 4 with over $1,000,000 in demo profits. 

 I was an average guy who came from absolutely nothing and was trying to build a trading empire from scratch just like you. I was using my iPhone 7 the one which still a home button, a shitty $500 laptop and some cheapass $20 mic I found on Amazon to record my videos. Look how far I have came. Now Im using a $4000 camera, a $2000 macbook and a $1000 mic setup. My whole studio cost me more than $10k. Some of my video editors get paid more than an average 9 to 5 worker.  And it’s all because I want to make higher quality trading videos for you guys.

Now we have over 45000 people in my discord server The Trading Tribe and we have over half a million subscribers on YouTube…

You don’t become a master because you’re able to retain knowledge.

You become a master when you are able to release it.

Anyways if you want to learn trading fast, you can try The Feynman Technique:

1. Learn

2. Teach it to a child

3. Share it

4. Review

7) Trading is 80% Psychology

“The consistency you seek is in your mind, not in the markets” - Mark Douglas

Most traders agree trading is 80% psychology and 20% analysis. But most traders don't spend 80% of their time improving it. Instead they spend 100% of their time on analysis. Finding what are the best trading strategies on YouTube, staring at charts all day and taking loads of trades without thinking it through.

To master your mind, you need trading discipline.

Trading discipline is the most important skill to be successful in the market.

But almost nobody has it.

If you are still watching this, you deserve something special so here’s 10 trading discipline tips you must follow:

1. Stick to your trading plan

2. Know when to get in and when to get out

3. Always use Stop Loss

4. Never enter a trade because of how you feel

5. Accept losses are part of the game

6. Focus on quality of trades, not quantity

7. Decrease your screen time so you don’t get analysis paralysis

8. Be a lifelong learner

9. Learn from your mistakes in the past

10. Be patient and wait for the trade to come to you