u/Key-Air-9865

Does anyone else here have diagnosed OCD? How has it affected your trading?

How has it affected your trading?

I’m looking for books that will make me excited to understand economics

Anybody no of a book on the silver and gold market? I think it would be interesting to learn about its place in the economy or its history.

In 2020 Brazil published a study of over 19,646 individuals trading micro futures contracts from 2013-2015 for over 300 sessions. Only 1.1% reached consistent profitability. The findings showed that while people had Green Day’s their red days were far larger. Only 0.5% made more than the starting salary of a banking teller.

After reading this I feel like we may all be experiencing the Dunning-Kruger effect, which is a mental bias. People with low skill or little knowledge in an area think they are much better than they actually are. They lack the know-how to see their own mistakes.

Interestingly another study showed those with traits similar to psychopaths and sociopaths tend to make up that 1% of successful traders. I don’t know how to feel about trading anymore.

Look these up for yourselves.

Why is it that any time someone warns this community about the dangers of gambling addiction they are all were met with “that’s why you’re unprofitable, you’re undisciplined, F off.”

If it wasn’t apparent we’re not talking about loosing days, bad strategy, or bad psychology, we’re talking about MF gambling addiction. It’s an addiction. It’s like telling frat kids to be cautious of alcoholism and they go “shut up bro you just don’t know how to drink right”.

Trading gambling addictions are niche that’s why they make an effort to post in these areas. Many of you probably have one but are in denial. If it offends you that much for people to bring it up maybe you’re hiding something deep down.

I hope you know you’re company has absolutely lead people to take their lives. A good percentage of your “traders” are straight up gambling addicts. You know how similar these prop accounts are to gambling and there is no acknowledgement of that whatsoever. Trading is a real career, I’m aware that people can trade responsibly. Just don’t pretend the line between strategic trading and gambling isn’t paper thin. Real prop firms have potential traders go through rigorous interviews. You are praying on unprofitable traders. You make money when they lose plain and simple.

Hi everyone, 29M, I have been a lurker here for a while but am finally deciding to post something to hold myself accountable and share my story for anyone else in a similar boat.

I am so confused at how little trading addiction is talked about. In fact, I feel like it is normalized to some extent because such a large part of our economy revolves around the stock market, and influencers love to sell the flashly life style and freedom of day trading. Meanwhile, I've only been able to find a few posts on YT of people sharing their story of dealing with trading addictions. Seeing the people on this sub talk about just how dangerous it can really be is really refreshing and reassuring to someone like me who has never experienced long term success trying to trade stocks.

I have blown thousands in Wall Street donations over the past 8 or 9 years I have tried to make money with stocks. Today I decided to pull my brokerage statements and take a look at my lifetime losses, it was around $50K. While it may not be the most for some people - it is for me. It breaks my heart, and I feel so much shame just thinking how that money could have been growing steadily in index funds over the past years.

It started with options in the first years, I would wage my earnings from my first $15/hr internship into way out of the money 0dte/1dte options, and quickly lose everything. I experienced the insane mood swings most gamblers experience, working up a sweat as if I ran a marathon while just sitting at my desk staring at a chart on my phone. I also tried trading futures over the past 3 or 4 years - which of course ended in further losses.

Last year made up probably 50% of those losses - trying to short Rigetti quantum computing via 3x leverage RGTZ, and trying to catch a meme run via BYND. About $12K lost on each of those in the span of a couple hours. This year - I tried my hand again at swing trading, thinking it was the safer alternative to day trading, and by some stroke of luck I managed to make some money for the first time ever, about $40K, during the incredible strength the market had in April of this year - however like anyone else with a gambling problem, I once again devolved into leveraged day trading and ended up losing all of the money I made during that rally.

I quickly become addicted to the quick moving numbers. I started taking margin to day trade and sweating over 10 cent moves in double leveraged stocks (i.e., MUU/MUZ, etc.). I convinced myself I had a strategy - I knew what I was doing, I have been doing it so long and I have an edge. I deluded myself into believing I had a chance and that what I was doing would work - not realizing that I was just slowly digging myself into a hole. The horrible mood swings returned, feeling like I wanted to end it all after a red day, but feeling like I was on top of the world on a green day.

When I was down to my last $1K of profit from the gains I had made this year, I started to think, "am I just gambling at this point?" and my actions that would immediately follow proved it true. Instead of having $40K worth of gains for the year, I am now just slightly red on my investment accounts on the year, and I have decided that it's time to put it to an end, and stop destroying my finances trying to trade, and just stick to long term steady indexes from now on before I make the problem unmanageable.

Today I am 2 days free from trading and I am hoping to start a new chapter free from the stresses of trading. I hope anyone else in a similar situation lurking here looking for someone to relate with can find some solace knowing that they are not alone trying to rebuild and improve their lives to be free from the chains of gambling addiction. Cheers!

I worked as a personal shopper for three years, now I work as the curbie who brings out groceries to the car at a different grocery chain.

At Hyvee;

The person who brought out your order did not shop it. The curbies get paid more than the shoppers even though their job is significantly easier, and they never share tips with shoppers.

It’s hot outside or raining I get it but you should know that when you go tip them $20 and they run inside to brag about it. They did 10% of the work in putting that order together. Shoppers get the items, text the customer, answer in store questions, bag the groceries, stack the totes. All the curbies do is put the totes on a cart and bring them out and organize the empty bins, fetch more dry ice, and throw stuff away, that is literally it.

I will say they’re lifting heavy things. But again I do that too at my current job, plus 40 packs of waters constantly that I have to pick up to put on the moving cart then take off to put in the car, and I get paid less than the shoppers which is how it should be! It’s also Texas, it’s hotter than where I was for Hyvee.

This is what happens when corporations pretend to know what our jobs are worth. If they studied my position at all they would understand I was walking 10-20k steps every shift, with a little 15 min break, getting paid $2-3 less than the curbies. Meanwhile at HEB another grocery store the shoppers get paid $3.50 more than curbies and the department is so efficient that both positions aren’t too difficult.

Anyone experience two negative pregnancy tests and were actually pregnant?

Any added details appreciated!

If so tell me about it. Did you stay in school? How old were you? How did your parents react? Were you financially independent?

Thank you!!

And if younger how did your parents react?

I’m reading a book about gambling addiction, I just wanted to share that because futures trading is relatively niche you are not likely to hear about futures gambling addictions. As I’m reading I’m realizing so much of what people consider “bad psychology” or “greed” really are just symptoms of gambling. Just the other day I saw a video of a young adult who is in 50k debt from combines, he’s now living in a car, the kicker is he’s not giving up on trading. It’s easy when we hear stories of people who lost 10-20k before they became professionals to think it’s part of the process. I just encourage you all to be honest with yourself. Maybe take a week off now and then and ask yourself “am I functioning properly without trading? Am I sleeping okay? Am I jittery?”. We like to call the thousands lost “tuition” but that’s just called justification. If gambling runs in your family, if you are looking for an escape, if you are self-sabotaging just take a break and analyze your psyche before you dig yourself in a deeper hole.

Wishing you the best

I’m reading a book about gambling addiction, I just wanted to share that because futures trading is relatively niche you are not likely to hear about futures gambling addictions. As I’m reading I’m realizing so much of what people consider “bad psychology” or “greed” really are just symptoms of gambling. Just the other day I saw a video of a young adult who is in 50k debt from combines, he’s now living in a car, the kicker is he’s not giving up on trading. It’s easy when we hear stories of people who lost 10-20k before they became professionals to think it’s part of the process. I just encourage you all to be honest with yourself. Maybe take a week off now and then and ask yourself “am I functioning properly without trading? Am I sleeping okay? Am I jittery?”. We like to call the thousands lost “tuition” but that’s just called justification. If gambling runs in your family, if you are looking for an escape, if you are self-sabotaging just take a break and analyze your psyche before you dig yourself in a deeper hole.

Wishing you the best

Hi everyone. I never thought I would be writing a post like this, but I’m at a breaking point and don’t know where else to turn. I’m 27 and currently at some of the lowest points of my life, spiritually and mentally.

For the past ~2 years my life has revolved almost entirely around trading crypto futures and memecoins. I was at my desk watching charts basically all day, every day for 8–16 hours.

At one point I had around $2.9M in my wallet (mostly converted into SOL and USDC) and I genuinely believed I had made it. I was thinking about buying my mom a house and investing the rest into the stock market. But instead of walking away, greed took over. I moved the goalposts and started aiming for $10M+. That’s when everything slowly began to spiral.

I kept trading when I should have stopped. When I started losing, I told myself I could make it back. I kept chasing losses, increasing position sizes, and taking bigger risks. I hid the losses from my now ex-girlfriend of 6 years (she left about a month ago) and from my family because I was ashamed and believed I could somehow fix everything with one more run.

Now everything is gone.

Broke.
No income.
In immense debt.
No girlfriend.
Family disappointed in me.
Loss of identity and self-worth.

The financial damage has been severe. I’m probably $300–500k in the hole from all of my mistakes. I owe money to the IRS, credit cards, family, and friends. My credit cards are fully maxed out and I’ve been missing payments. My credit score was around 780 for years and is probably below 500 now. I also no longer have my own business, as it was shut down due to my need to constantly be present in the markets.

I have no money left in my personal accounts and the business account for our family business is negative. My actions have put my family in a terrible position and could impact payroll and rent. The amount of shame and guilt I feel about this is overwhelming.

Looking back honestly, I realize what I was doing was essentially gambling disguised as trading. The constant chart watching, depositing every last dollar I could get my hands on while chasing losses, huge dopamine swings, intense mood swings depending on how the trading day went, lying to friends and family about money and how I was doing, and the belief that one more trade could fix everything. It consumed every part of my life.

The hardest part is that this isn’t even the first time financial markets have wiped me out. I thought I learned my lesson already. I guess not.

You can see it on my profile since I haven’t posted in a long time. About 5 years ago when I was 22, I turned around $30k into roughly $700k trading (mostly on AMC). I thought I was the next Warren Buffett but obviously I wasn't and eventually lost it all. I stepped away from trading for a few years while I built a business, but eventually got pulled back in through crypto.

For the past 6+ months I’ve been trying to stop. Said to myself I was going to. Wrote out plans, goals, business ventures, etc. I knew what I was doing was going to ruin my life. I saw where I was headed. But every time life got stressful or difficult, I felt the urge to make it all back because “I’ve done it before”. And every time I fall back into trading because it’s what feels most familiar as I have wired my brain to think that these high risk activities can have the ability to relieve my stress. Even now I catch myself opening charts out of habit even though I know it’s destructive.

My gambling addiction is out of control and I’ve not only destroyed my own life, but also hurt the people I care about most. I’m honestly at a loss for words at the person I’ve become. I barely recognize myself now compared to who I thought I was.

For those of you who have been through something similar:

• How did you break the habit of constantly checking markets or gambling apps?
• How did you mentally accept losing life changing/generational amounts of money?
• What were the first steps you took to rebuild financially after hitting rock bottom?
• How did you deal with the shame and guilt after gambling losses?
• How long did it take for your brain to feel normal again after quitting?

I feel like I’ve been stuck in this addiction loop for years and I’m trying to understand how people rebuild their lives after hitting rock bottom like this. I know my situation may be more extreme than most, but any advice from people who have been through something similar would mean a lot right now.