IWM Reddit Mentions | ChartExchange

I work a decent job so I was able to grind up to 180k liquid under my name at 28 years old. My whole life, I have been a rational and risk-averse investor. I would only deposit my money in diversified ETF's. But recently I needed money quickly for a new house and my car. I tried pennystocks but quickly lost some money. I tried to recoup through options trading, specifically scalping index (SPY, QQQ, IWM) 0DTE.
My goal in life is similar to many. I wanted to retire early, work only a couple hours a day, retire my parents, achieve financial freedom and not adhere to a strict 9-5 schedule.
I started small by trying with only a couple hundred bucks. It went well so I kept going. Early stage I was copying some traders on Discord who had high win rates. I then started getting cocky and trade by myself after learning a couple of strategies. Everything was going smoothly so I started sizing up to win more money, from $100 to $1000 to $10,000 and eventually $100,000 allocations. Sure, I would have some bad trades but my wins far outweighed my losses. I would always end the day green.
Over the past two weeks, I turned 200k to 600k. On some days I would make 50k or 100k alone. I felt invincible and on top of the world. "Wow, I really just made someone's yearly salary within a day". Then last Thursday I blew up everything on one wrong trade. Before I even came back to my senses, I saw 600k collapse into just 10k before my eyes. Of course, I didn't bet the whole 600k right off the bat, just 40k, but the price kept going down so I was averaging down in hopes of a rebound and before I knew it 590k was gone. I could have cut my losses, I could have not average down, and none of this would have happened. I would still have minimum 550k. Now I am down to my last 10k.
This is a strict warning to anyone that you win UNTIL you don't. Let it be gambling, daytrading, or any form of risky investment, please only use the money you are COMFORTABLE with losing. Also, make sure to quit while you're AHEAD. Profit is profit; don't be greedy. You doubled your port? Congrats! Remove at least 80% and start again. LOCK IN your gains.
I WILL NOT be chasing my losses from this. But I just wanted to share my story to strangers because I am too ashamed to tell my friends and family.
I could have not worried about money anymore for the rest of my life. I was set for a path of financial freedom. But now I am back into the rat race with no profit to show and down -170k on my principal. For a good while, I lost connection with money during my euphoric stage. 600k looked like just a number on the screen that I could win or lose; that is until I realized 600k was real and concrete dollars that was able to change my life. Do NOT disrespect money, or it will disrespect you back. Even $1 is still a $1. It is easy to forget the value of money when it's just a digital number floating on the screen. Will you rip a $5 bill? No? Then why would you oversize and risk $1000 on an unsure trade?
Do I still think daytrading is a viable career? Yes, I do. However, it's not for nothing 99% of people don't make it long term; not because their strategies don't work, but because we are humans. As long as you are emotionally tied to a position, you WILL hold your losses and average down because you refuse to be wrong. Traders who make it are machines who follow their rules to the dot (no exceptions). Don't bet on luck and pray for a miracle reversal - it will work until it doesn't.
At this point, I've accepted that I'm too emotional and undisciplined to follow the own rules I set. Daytrading is not for me. If you THINK it is for you then please, for the love of god, size small and consistently. Never think you're invincible after a series of wins, because you can easily lose months of discipline over one single day of revenge trades.