In the BTA community this week, a member of the Protege program shared his LIVE trading results for 2024, verified by Striker.com.
Not only are they impressive results (he joined Protege in late 2023), but I noticed an interesting pattern in his monthly returns that I wanted to share with you.
Do you see anything that stands out in the results? (hint: it’s bright red)
When some traders experience a losing month, like Apr-24, they panic.
They’ll make sudden changes to their portfolios, adjust strategies, modify stop losses, or any other “improvements”.
This is because they don’t have any belief or confidence in their strategies.
But it can be a trap.
Many times a big losing month will be followed by an even larger positive month. So fearful traders who tweak their trading too quickly miss the recovery.
Protege member Vlad had the confidence to keep trading and reaped the rewards. Way to go Vlado!
Now I’m not saying if you have a down month you’re guaranteed to have a big winning month next. I’ve seen plenty of times where a losing month is followed by another losing month. I’ve been there myself.
In trading, there are NO guarantees.
However, what I am saying is successful traders need to know themselves. They need to understand their strategies, have confidence in the strategy design and validation process, and have the strength and conviction to continue when things aren’t going as planned.
Losing periods happen.
Expect them.
And be confident to keep going when your trading isn’t.
As the saying goes: “It’s always darkest before the dawn”.
Happy trading,
Tomas.
