Some traders would say "I have been trading for 4 years and more"

[Peanutswar]

Not all traders become successful with their trading journey, others fail. But they keep continuously engaging with the trading because the reason is there is a potential to make a money in trading. The number of years becomes more useless if you didnt learn through our your experience and didnt acquire knowledge from those failures and keep doing the same mistake you are just wasting money and time. Other become successful in trading because they have a plan. They know where to make an entry and exit with the market. No matter the profit size is this is common mistake of the people eonce they have seen small amount is they think its not enough they made an overtrade and worst case lose their probable earnings.

[Free Market Capitalist]

So, some of these social media self acclaimed successful traders are saying that they were persistently trading for more than 2 years and were unprofitable but later on, maybe on the 4th or 5th year, they now started being profitable till date. What is your opinion about such speech from those traders, do you believe is true or they are just lying? 

Of course they're lying. Who can stand to trade regularly when you lose money for several years, hoping that you'll eventually turn a profit? Only an idiot with a lot of money to lose while they can live. Trading is the most heavily promoted activity that is almost guaranteed to lose you money.

[DPHOR]

To be honest I hardly believe what people are about themselves on the social media because I know most of them are being fake just to attract more follows and friends on the handle. Trading is not also that easier as we may think because the percentage of people who are losing in trading far more higher than those who are making profits from their trading journey.
People should learned how to be patient or also channeling their efforts to other things that would give profits to them that would serves as multiple stream income. If we are judging about how long people should be staying to know how to trade, i will say that years doesn't really count and if you know what you are doing it would be that easier for you to make profits but that depends on thorough research and reading series of information and resourceful material they would lead to them to successful trading.

[Mpamaegbu]

What is your opinion about such speech from those traders, do you believe is true or they are just lying?

Yes, it's true for most of them because I've seen struggling traders become profitable with time. However, we shouldn't just believe everyone who says that because there are a lot of so called influencers out there who demo trade but pretend to be trading live accounts.

As a trader, what is your take on this question,  how long is it supposed to take for someone to become profitable and successful in trading? People should know about this, so that after they have tried for such period of time and are not successful, they can quit.

There's no timeline to it. People differ and learning abilities and exposure also differ. Just like many others would say not to quit, I also don't advise any struggling trader to quit except where their situation becomes unbearably out of hand.

If you are a successful trader here, how long did it took you to become successful and what are the things you did differently now that made you profitable?

While I won't count myself as a successful trader yet, I know I ain't doing worse like I was a few years ago. What's working for me now is – keeping it simple. Trading isn't that complicated. I ain't saying it's not hard. It's but it's not that complicated. The only problem is that a lot of us believe without a lot of indicators and strategies we won't be able to get it right. That's not true.

[Y3shot]

It is very possible and common for one to be a trader and not make a good profit over a long time. You can be a trader while also learning and gaining experience. Not all traders have good outcomes in trading, and it is not guaranteed that one will achieve a good outcome in trading, especially when they don’t have a good understanding of it. Becoming a good trader is not instantaneous; it takes time. That’s why one can be trading for a long time but not achieve good outcomes. The reason it takes some people a very long time is that some enter the market without learning properly, and it is through the process of trading that they come to understand it, which takes a long time.

[TheUltraElite]

How can someone be profitable in the 3-4th year while not being profitable in 1-2year, I think they are just bluffing and try to relate to the bad days that traders initially have, making them think that they will be profitable in the future - because the person who is saying this does not have any interest in the well being of the trader but wants to make money off their affiliate commission. They want the person to spend more and more and not just stop trading all of a sudden - because affiliate attrition is one of the first deterrents to affiliate earnings.

In a general sense, trading is not for everyone. If you are losing money consistently on spot trading, you are doing it wrong and you need to stop.

[Alphakilo]

Trading involves astute discipline, it involves viewing the market through probabilities and expected value, it involves your execution behavior, it involves building and utilizing automation to protect your sanity.

A trader who has been trading for 2-4 years should have developed some experience of how the market operates and tailor their trades in that direction to be able to pick out a repetitive edge and not just put their hopes on candles.
Otherwise, it would be hard to distinguish a successful trader from a gambler without the knowledge and proper application of basic risk parameters in play.

[Stalker22]

How can someone be profitable in the 3-4th year while not being profitable in 1-2year, I think they are just bluffing and try to relate to the bad days that traders initially have, making them think that they will be profitable in the future - because the person who is saying this does not have any interest in the well being of the trader but wants to make money off their affiliate commission. They want the person to spend more and more and not just stop trading all of a sudden - because affiliate attrition is one of the first deterrents to affiliate earnings.

In a general sense, trading is not for everyone. If you are losing money consistently on spot trading, you are doing it wrong and you need to stop.

Yes, I believe that most influencers, who say that they have tasted success after multiple years of losing everything and are now selling courses, are con artists.  They created a fake struggle narrative and use their audience to gain affiliate sales and keep the liquidity going.  It is safe to say that your skepticism there is 100% warranted.

However, I would like to offer a counterargument to the statement that there is no way to become successful in the third and fourth years after failing the first and second years.

Trading should be viewed as a skill.  Waiting on the sidelines for something to happen is not how you become successful.  The first two years people usually lose money while they have a complete lack of understanding of finance and control and treat everything like a game.  It can take years to learn through the psychological beatings at the market and develop a solid risk management plan and learn to navigate the various market cycles.  If you become profitable in year four, it means you learned in the first two years.  Those first two years were a very expensive tuition.

[programmer3666]

In some previous threads, good questions have been raised such as "why are people still trading when they are not making money? " Then some members here would say, "quite trading if you are not profitable"
It has always been a thought I kept in my heard for some time now but I chose to create this thread after I came across videos by soms.self acclaimed successful and profitable traders who would say "they have been trading for more than 4 years and that they finally became successful after 2-3 years of failing and bursting of account."

So, some of these social media self acclaimed successful traders are saying that they were persistently trading for more than 2 years and were unprofitable but later on, maybe on the 4th or 5th year, they now started being profitable till date. What is your opinion about such speech from those traders, do you believe is true or they are just lying? 

As a trader, what is your take on this question,  how long is it supposed to take for someone to become profitable and successful in trading? People should know about this, so that after they have tried for such period of time and are not successful, they can quit.

If you are a successful trader here, how long did it took you to become successful and what are the things you did differently now that made you profitable?

In a way I believe some of those traders are telling the truth. Trading is not something  people master in a few months I can attest to that honestly. A lot of people spend years making mistakes, blowing accounts and learning risk management before they finally become consistent. Like learning how to drive. Just because you have been driving for 4 years doesn't mean you have been a good driver for all 4 years. The first few years are usually full of mistakes, but with experience you improve. Spending years in the market doesn't guarantee success. Some people trade for 5 years and never learn from their mistakes, while others improve much faster because they focus on discipline, risk management and continuous learning.

[stadus]

There is no certain period in trading that you will know that you're already due to make a good win, a decent amount of profits. But as long as you keep learning from your previous mistakes in trading, and never stop learning new tools how to make trading more successful and profitable, I know it will be given in the right time.

But if you stick trading on your own rules and is closed to others successful trading strategies, no matter how long you will keep on trading, it won't make positive changes and progress. Discipline and learning start within yourself, if you can't do that, never expect something good from trading.

[macson]

So, some of these social media self acclaimed successful traders are saying that they were persistently trading for more than 2 years and were unprofitable but later on, maybe on the 4th or 5th year, they now started being profitable till date. What is your opinion about such speech from those traders, do you believe is true or they are just lying? 

What they say may be true, that they achieved trading success after several years of effort. However, be wary of what these influencer traders say on social media, as these statements could simply be a way for them to keep you in the trading world and avoid losing the income generated by their referrals. Therefore, critical thinking is essential when evaluating what they say.

how long is it supposed to take for someone to become profitable and successful in trading? People should know about this, so that after they have tried for such period of time and are not successful, they can quit.

Some people can reach a certain level of profit after just a few months of trading. Others only achieve it after a year or more of trading. There's no set timeframe for achieving success in trading. So, it all comes down to the trader's decision, if they can't take it anymore, they can quit trading. There's no point in forcing something when you already know it won't get you anywhere.