I've heard this question/comment way too many times throughout my trading career: What do I do when I make decent money each day but then one day I lose everything I made the past entire week? It's like a vicious cycle over and over.
The above scenario happens to everyone including even the best day traders. The key here is to realize that you can successfully make money each day in general. Losses are inevitable but trying to keep them smaller is what every trader would like.
If you can make consistent money trading stocks at least four out of five days a week, questioning yourself if you are right for this job is not something that you should be asking yourself. You have what it takes to succeed. All you need are just better risk management skills and an improved ability to take a loss sooner, to admit defeat on a losing trade. I would say the majority of successful daytraders start like this. They go through a period where they can make a couple hundred dollars a day but then at the end of the week they lose it all on one trade. This certainly happened to me when I started. But over time with experience, your profits will add up more than your losses.
If you constantly have a big losing trade where it wipes all your profits for the week, try changing how you ride losing positions. Take the losses faster and understand why that trade was such a dog. Knowing that you can bounce back after getting hit by them only makes you a stronger and more sophisticated trader. Always keep a positive outlook and know that you can make money!
- Hubert Tsai