Were your losses bigger than your wins during your first couple of years trading?
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These are two very different questions, aren’t they?
One relates just to win rates and the other to overall profits?
Mine were.
But they were only virtual. I was on demo for just over two years when I started, partly because of my age. I wasn’t allowed a real account until I was 18 and had done 200 consecutive demo-account trades without any drawdown over 5%.
I found it very much harder than it sounds.
I’m kind of glad now that I had to do that.
But at the time it was as frustrating as hell.
How about you, @Jordan.B ?
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the trades that I end up losing are still more than winning trades BUT I managed to be profitable, only because my R/r is at least 1 to 5.
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For most traders starting out, losses are usually larger and more frequent than wins. It takes time to learn risk control, proper position sizing, and emotional discipline. Early on, many let losing trades run too long and close winners too early.
As experience grows, that balance shifts. With clear stop losses, defined targets, and consistent execution, small losses become normal and wins start to outweigh them. The goal is not to avoid losses but to keep them smaller than your average win so that even with a lower win rate, overall profit remains positive.
Won big, mostly on demo, then went through a period of losses when I thought I had it all figured out. The market always has something to surprise you with.
Yes, early on, my win rate was around 40 percent. The turning point came when I focused on proper position sizing, risk-to-reward ratios, and high-probability setups. Losses are part of trading, but when you manage them, they become lessons rather than setbacks.
losses WAY bigger ,my record is 28 losing streak, im still proud of it
That’s insane discipline. I bounced around like a headless chicken at first, wish I’d done something like that instead of bleeding money.
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That’s exactly how I survived early trading too lots of losses but the winners hit hard enough to carry you.
Early on I was just bleeding money everywhere. Now small losses feel like nothing compared to the wins that actually matter.
Demo feels like easy mode until the real curveballs hit.
Same here. They stop feeling like failures when you control risk properly.
Respect. Most people would’ve quit halfway.
Yeah, totally. I lost way more than I won at the start, pretty much the entry fee for learning this game.
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I gotta mention that it’s not about the number of losses or wins. I know traders with 20 percent winning rate. but with thousands of profit. because he uses very tight SLs but very big TPs. So we should nor focus only on the winning rate.
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Couple of years? 4 years! Not only bigger but more as well.
I never risked more than I could handle, I am very proud to say my risk management has been good since the beginning, never blown an account or even been close. But I sucked at TP, I saw a little profit and I took it. I got impatient and took trades I shouldn’t, too early or too late and obviously lost more than won. Even thought I knew somewhat what I was analysing and actually would have done pretty well if I just did what I planned from the beginning.
Psychology is such a major major thing in trading and since I have done a deep down and actually blame my own actions rather than the markets my results have flipped to the better side - more winners, bigger wins than losses.
But it is an ongoing battle
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