Candlesticks never made me money. So why do I still stare at them every day?

[lishuguang]

It started in a bull market. Everybody was saying they made money off charts, so I downloaded a trading app to "verify" it. My so-called verification was a compound interest calculator. Add a little every day, wait a year, and boom, a number with way too many zeros. Conclusion: this stuff really makes money. That's literally the whole reason I started looking at candlesticks.

Then came the early mornings and the late nights. I put money in and lost all of it. Okay, I thought, maybe I'm not a genius, maybe I need to actually learn. So I read every trading book I could find and studied how other people trade. I saved some money again, felt like I'd learned something, put it in, and lost it all again.

Then I figured everything is bots and quant now, so I'd better learn that too. Strategy, programming, stocks first, then crypto. I went from overfitting to survivorship bias, from a backtest at 5,000,000% a year down to 30%. I lost a lot on the way. I've stepped in pretty much every hole there is, whether or not someone had warned me, and whether or not I'd already studied it.

Even today I keep asking myself why. Did I not study carefully enough? Was there a real chance I missed? There's no answer to that.

But here's what I notice. Every time I get let down, the urge to start the next round comes back faster than it should. It's not only about the money. I've blown thousands in the market while refusing to replace socks with holes in them, so I know that. I think it's simpler and a little embarrassing: I never wanted my life to depend on somebody else's decision. I watched my parents hand their fate over to a field, a factory, and time, and I couldn't stop thinking, what if I tried to carry mine myself? The first time I looked at a chart, I already knew nobody around me could help with this. So I sit alone with it, and honestly, I'm okay with that. Maybe I never reach the finish line. But I'd like to be able to say I tried it my own way.

So, a question for the rest of you: if charts never paid you, what keeps you coming back?

Translated into English with AI assistance.

[JaanusRaim]

Have you ever heard of the Martingale strategy? It can earn you a decent amount of money for a long time—until you hit 10 "blacks" in a row... And conversely: not every beneficial action necessarily yields immediately visible consequences.
What might not happen in a hundred years could happen in a single second.

Knowing what is going on (charts) is very important in making sound investment or trading decisions. But do not hope results too soon.

[lishuguang]

Haha, that's true. Maybe that's exactly why I can't look away. Thanks for reading!

[lishuguang]

Yes, I know Martingale. It looks perfect until the losing streak arrives, and honestly that's what my 5,000,000% backtest was hiding. I agree that understanding the charts matters, I'm still trying to figure out how to turn that into something that actually pays.

[KiaKia]

Bla, bla and blah, you don't even make mention of one simple trick you are using, tools? Strategy? What is the name of that platform you are using to trade? I bet it's some scam online trading platform.

You wrote alot but said nothing meaningful, do you trade using daily candle or weekly? You don't even mention using stop loss, it shows that you know nothing about trading, you keep failing again and again because you are practicing nonsense.

Stochastic RSI on the 2 days candle? Or the weekly? You've never heard about TradingView? Or you don't use any crypto exchanges for trading? RSI divergence indicator atleast? Keep wasting your time.

[lishuguang]

Fair point, I didn't mention specifics because this post was about the journey, not a strategy. I've used daily and 5-minute data with stop losses, and I'll happily share more details if people are interested. Thanks for the feedback.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

So, a question for the rest of you: if charts never paid you, what keeps you coming back?

Many of us have gotten used to this. "gotten used" could also mean addicted, yeah, a lot of persons in crypto trading are already addicted to the market in the sense that whether or not they are making money from the market, they always have that time to come stare at charts, compare prices and possibly make or enter one or two trades that they will end up either making profit from or another loss which have actually become a normal thing to them.

Myself for example cant actually go a whole day without finding time to look at charts whether I have intentions of entering a trade or not, there is this part of me that always wants to know what is happening and how the market is doing at all times, and I guess its not just me, I think its the same for almost everyone in this ecosystem whether addicted or not.

[lishuguang]

That's a really honest answer, thanks. "Wanting to know what's happening at all times" is exactly it for me too. I'm just not sure yet whether it's curiosity or habit.

[buwaytress]

That's a really honest answer, thanks. "Wanting to know what's happening at all times" is exactly it for me too. I'm just not sure yet whether it's curiosity or habit.

It's the promise of making money that keeps pulling you back in. Call it pharmacology and the way your brain craves it, or call it FOMO and the desire to want to be part of that trading bro tribe (I'm aware my terms could be outdated). So habit, borne out of addiction, for lack of less crude ways to put it.

P.S. There are some other things that don't make me money but I still stare at them every day. Sometimes I close my eyes and see them too... but I won't mention what they are in polite company.

[ovcijisir]

~
So, a question for the rest of you: if charts never paid you, what keeps you coming back?
~

I stopped looking at the charts long time ago.

There was a time when I had attempts to trade crypto, looked for patterns, had strategies.
It just didn't work, no matter what I tried. I misrepresented a lot of peaks and lows and at the end I realised it is the best to hold and don't touch anything. This was a good decision and I am lot less nervous since.

[lishuguang]

Ha, fair enough, I'll keep the polite company rule too. "Habit born out of addiction" probably sums it up better than my whole post did. Thanks for the honest take.

[lishuguang]

I stopped looking at the charts long time ago.

Thanks for sharing. Holding and not touching anything sounds like the calmest answer so far. Did it take long to feel comfortable not looking at the charts?

[Arenga pinnata]

At first, I was also someone who lost my capital due to losses caused by my own carelessness, I was aiming for huge profits in the short term. But at least that made me realize that trading isn’t that easy. So I lowered my target to just a few percent per week or even per month. And that worked for me. Although, well, it doesn’t always result in a profit, at least it hasn’t caused me to lose my capital again.
And what’s most important to me is to avoid futures trading and stick to the spot market. Also, avoid day trading, which will only drain your mental and emotional energy and can even disrupt your main job. Stick to medium-term trading strategies like swing trading. And even if you’re not able to do that, simply investing in Bitcoin for the long term is a solid option. That way, we can focus on earning a living through our main jobs in the real world. One thing’s for sure: the world of trading isn’t as glamorous as influencers make it out to be. 

[boyptc]

Everyone keeps on coming back in hopes of having some potential profit with their trades, and that's hard to stop even if the streaks are terrible and losses just keep on coming.

So even if you keep losing by staring at the charts, you have never lost that hope because you see others have been boasting their profits.

But that's a dangerous thought because you might become addicted to that thought that you'll have to make money or at least recover your losses.

Regardless of the reason, if you see yourself committing more losses and mistakes that is the time to start changing the strategy and shift to holding.

[Frankolala]

This topic best fits on trading discussion board and not this board. What makes you come back to trading regardless of several losses is because, you still believe that you can make it right and that you made mistakes in the past. The urge of making profit or not letting go of your losses is another reason. My advice for traders who are often at loss is for them to stop trading and start bitcoin long term investment. How long do you want to continue losing to the market and waste the funds that you could have used to build your your bitcoin investment for your future. Majority of traders run at loss.

[lishuguang]

Thanks all, and thanks Frankolala for the note on the board. I'll keep that in mind for next time. Holding long term keeps coming up in this thread, and it's clearly something I should take seriously.

[Japinat]

I'm not good at this as well, tried it and I felt bored and tired. And when I'm tired I know I will lose money. So what I did was I stopped day trading, I just wait until there's a panic in the market and then I buy, just like what happened recently, a Binance hack brought the market down below $80k, so that was an automatic buy as I believe eventually this market will recover. It's easier than staring at those candlesticks regularly. I feel you OP, but to the pros who are good at this, just continue.

[ovcijisir]

I stopped looking at the charts long time ago.

Thanks for sharing. Holding and not touching anything sounds like the calmest answer so far. Did it take long to feel comfortable not looking at the charts?

It was just a clean cut, after noticing how much stress endless price checking brings into my life it was just matter of time when I will stop with it. So no, it didn't took a long time for me to be confortable with it. Also there were some financial losses caused by Cryptopia hack, and also I was somewhat disappointed with crypto scene, which made decision not to keep checking price easier.

[BlackHatCoiner]

I think you already answered your own question. It was never really about the candles. It's about the idea that somewhere in those green and red bars there's a door out of having a boss decide your life.

Your path is pretty much everyone's path too. Compound interest calculator, then books, then bots, then a 5,000,000% backtest, then real life humbling it down to -19%. If you think you're unique, know that plenty of people have passed this phase.

[Joy- maker]

So, a question for the rest of you: if charts never paid you, what keeps you coming back?

Let me tell you a short story about myself, a few years ago a friend of mine who was a trader introduced me to the crypto space. I started out as a trader, I kept trading and blowing up my accounts until my Big brother introduced me to the forum where I learned a lot about cryptocurrency.

I was  thought by @JayJuanGee, and he helped me understand that trading is one of the easiest way to lose money in the crypto space. After learning that lesson, I switched to holding.

For the sake of your mental health, focus on accumulating Bitcoin and hold it for the long term. Stop wasting your money trading.