The truth about trading might surprise you…
Making money is the easy part.
Any trader can hit a few green setups in a row. It’s called being lucky.
The key is keeping that money…
The hardest skill in trading is walking away from the table after you’ve stacked up a mountain of chips.
I’ve watched plenty of traders double their accounts in a hot streak, then give it all back within a few weeks.
Big run-ups get followed by even bigger drawdowns, and trading confidence turns into reckless greed.
The account that looked unstoppable on Monday is bleeding out by Friday.
Today, I’m revealing the habit that saved my trading career… and hundreds of thousands of dollars along the way.
The Problem Nobody Talks About
Online trading accounts love to show their winning trades.
- Screenshots of fat P&Ls.
- Stories about the 10-bagger that paid for the boat.
- +100% intraday gains.
Especially with the SpaceX IPO right around the corner.
What we rarely see is what happened the week after…
The week after a monster win is when the real damage happens.
I’ve lived it. Early in my career, I gave back enormous chunks of profit by failing to recognize a simple truth: the market is a casino, and the casino wants you to stay.
Why do you think Vegas comps your hotel room, feeds you for free, and takes away all the clocks on the trading floor?
They want you parked at a table for as long as possible. Once you walk out the door with your chips, that money disappears.
The market operates the same way. Every green day pumps our dopamine and reinforces the idea that we’ve cracked the code…
“I literally can’t lose. My account’s invincible.”
That’s the beginning of the end…
That lie has cost me more money than any losing trade.
My Personal Pattern
Years ago, I started doing something that changed my trading forever.
I started journaling.
Not just logging entries and exits. Real journaling:
- Recording how I felt.
- What my P&L looked like.
- What was happening in my life when I made trade decisions.
After enough entries, a specific pattern jumped out at me.
My largest drawdowns came right after my largest run-ups.
Every single time. When my P&L spiked far above my weekly or monthly goal, the next stretch of trading was where I bled.
My biggest losses weren’t due to a recurring tough market. It was because of me.
My behavior changed after a big win: I traded bigger, I jumped on setups I would have passed on a week earlier, and I chased overextended moves.
The casino had me right where it wanted me.
The 3 ATR Rule
This is the rule I built for myself:
When my P&L hits a 3 Average True Range (ATR) move, meaning my account is running three times hotter than its normal range, I treat it the same way I’d treat any chart that’s gone parabolic.
Time to take profits.
I sell most, if not all, of my short-dated positions (anything two months or less).
Then I sit out for three days. No trading.
If I absolutely have to put something on, it’s a one-quarter position. Just enough to scratch the itch without doing damage.
My three-day sit-out has a purpose. I need the bloodlust to fade.
After a monster run, my brain is wired to keep pressing. The dopamine is screaming for another hit. Three days is about how long it takes me to come back to the market neutral.
There’s another piece to this puzzle, too. Maybe most importantly…
I pay myself.
Not just on paper. I literally pull the money out of my account.
I trade more recklessly with a doubled account than I do at normal size. The bigger the number on the screen, the looser my discipline. Moving cash out the door forces me back to baseline risk.
Build Your Own Rules
Patient people take money from impatient people. And patience after a big win is harder than patience during a drawdown…
- When you’re losing money, the market forces you to slow down.
- When you’re making money, nothing stops you except you.
Journaling is the only way to see your own patterns clearly enough to build rules around them.
And understand: my tendency might not be your tendency. You won’t know until you start the journaling process.
The traders who keep their profits aren’t smarter than the ones who give it back.
They’ve just done the work to know their tendencies.
Take the money, walk away from the table, and come back when the bloodlust is gone.
Be good (and be good to others),
Ben Sturgill
*Past performance does not indicate future results. Not typical.
