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I've started trading Live about four years now. I occasionally switch back to demo mode if I want to try out a new strategy but that's mostly adjusting my stops and seeing how that works out for me. I trade 100% of my own capital. But I'm definitely a part time trader as well. Trading helps supplement my income but I do have a full time job. I've definitely struggled with the discipline aspect of trading and learning how to take a loss. I find my self still struggling with that sometimes. Good luck but if you've been a sim trader for quite some time, you might be stuck as a sim trader. Take a leap of faith and start trading your own funds! Good luck with your trading!
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
That is a very common experience. Sim is a double edged sword. Often a sim trader that tries live trading will last a few days then throw in the towel and go back the emotional comfort of Sim. The longer one is trading Sim, the harder it is to make that transition to live it seems. You get so used to stress free trading, the emotional shock of live trading becomes overwhelming. You have to force yourself through that emotional discomfort to get over the hurdle, there is nothing easy or fun about the experience. You have to be able to withstand the body blows and press forward. This transition phase is something most sim traders are not adequately prepared for.
It is a fundamental law of nature that to evolve one has to push one’s limits, which is painful, in order to gain strength—whether it’s in the form of lifting weights, facing problems head-on, or in any other way. Nature gave us pain as a messaging device to tell us that we are approaching, or that we have exceeded, our limits in some way. At the same time, nature made the process of getting stronger require us to push our limits. Gaining strength is the adaptation process of the body and the mind to encountering one’s limits, which is painful. In other words, both pain and strength typically result from encountering one’s barriers. When we encounter pain, we are at an important juncture in our decision-making process.
Most people react to pain badly. They have “fight or flight” reactions to it: they either strike out at whatever brought them the pain or they try to run away from it. As a result, they don’t learn to find ways around their barriers, so they encounter them over and over again and make little or no progress toward what they want. Those who react well to pain that stands in the way of getting to their goals—those who understand what is causing it and how to deal with it so that it can be disposed of as a barrier—gain strength and satisfaction. This is because most learning comes from making mistakes, reflecting on the causes of the mistakes, and learning what to do differently in the future. Believe it or not, you are lucky to feel the pain if you approach it correctly, because it will signal that you need to find solutions and to progress. Since the only way you are going to find solutions to painful problems is by thinking deeply about them—i.e., reflecting—if you can develop a knee-jerk reaction to pain that is to reflect rather than to fight or flee, it will lead to your rapid learning/evolving.