I would suggest the following first step: TAKE A DEEP BREATH.
Just from reading your post, the stress and urgency you feel about becoming profitable are very apparent. They are perfectly normal in your situation, but unfortunately not very useful on your road to success.

Realize that trading is a skill that takes most people YEARS to master and become consistent in, and that is WITH proper guidance (of course there are outliers in every field... but don't count on it). Even if Micheal Jordan were to "take you under his wing" it'd be years before you were a good basketball player, right? because it's about YOU getting skilled, and finding YOUR way.

I don't trade exactly like my mentors, and my students don't trade exactly like me. A good mentor can and should fully share his wisdom and tools, and guide and feedback you as you attempt to make them your own. It's a long process, more active on your side than the "please just teach me how you trade" approach some people tend to expect.

Rule #1 in successful trading - give yourself space to learn. It's a "try, adjust, trash, try again, adjust, and so on" process until you slowly get the hang of something that works for you. Your goal for the first years is to learn, NOT to make money - it's practically impossible to aim at both at the same time! Change your goals and set them in the right order: making a "decent" salary is a little further out for you, for the time being, and you need to be OK with that to have a chance.
(Note: yes, for some people, the feel of imminent urgent need to make money actually motivates them to success. for the most, it's a dangerous situation with low success rate).

There are many clues in what you wrote as to things you may consider - on both your method, workd process and trading mentality - but it would not be serious to make specific suggestions based on your post alone without deeper review of your trading.

Be prepared for a long process of learning, and if you are - I strongly suggest getting a coach which will not only "teach you tricks" or show you his methods, but also coach and mentor you through your struggles and trades, over time, and help you build and master your own trading system.

Good luck!
Full disclosure - I am a trading coach myself.

@OG65

I would be curious to know how systematic you are with the trading process? I always thought I was but when it got down to it I wasn’t or didn’t follow the rules. For me it wasn't until I defined my entries, backtested and stuck to those rules did I see a turn around in my PnL.

When defining my entries I kept it simple. 3 rules: one for trend/direction, the signal, and the entry. This helps with backtesting and sticking to a plan.

For backtesting I try to be unbiased and remove hindsight by using bar replay and journaling the trade regardless of what I think I would have done in the moment. It’s easy to look at a previous day’s chart and tell yourself “I would have made that trade. Would have ignored that one…” but that’s just not the case. In backtesting you’re trying to discover your edge, will you statistically come out ahead? That won’t happen if you’re muddying it up with other factors.

The hardest part is sticking to your rules. Yes I miss out on big moves but I have to ask myself if trading every one of them really is going to lead me to profit? I have found my profit only goes down the more I trade. The more you trade the more commissions you pay.

Just my two cents. Maybe there is some insight for you or maybe just the ramblings of an armchair warrior.

@OG65

If you wants to work with your brain, you will need to start training it. No one comes ready to start doing something in trading.

Something that can short your learning process: don't dream with Trading. Don't try to find success in your live with Trading. This is the worst way you can use your brain.

Don't follow other traders; follow markets. Research them. Study them. Examine data, examine yourself, and become your own trader.

Hi,
sorry, but it isn't going to work. You sound very desperate and want success to come as soon as possible but you have no control over the learning progress. Progress comes in form of insights, the process isn't step by step. In my case I learn to trade for the last 13 years and still I have a day job and don't make any money from trading. 1.5 years is nothing because you compete with people that have 20-40 years of experience. Don't rush yourself, find a person whose trading style (timeframe, method of analysis) suits you best, pay him for mentoring and over time you will definitely see the progress but you can't rush it. You won't have the same insights that a person with 20 years of experience have.

Hey! As a newbie and student myself, I understand your frustration. As some others have pointed out, being desperate to make money will likely decrease your chances of doing so. That being said, I can try and make a few suggestions,using my own experience. As I said, I'm pretty new,so if anyone disagrees,feel free to call me out
Just for context,I trade price action on the ES and am a 4 point scalper.
Personally, I always have a profit target before I enter a trade. Once that target is hit,I'm out,whether or not I have another signal. The target is my exit signal. Same goes for my stop loss,which I'm assuming you have. I choose may targets and stops based on my trading 3 months worth of days on random days throughout the year. I have a fixed target and stop which I always use on the ES, which is a bit controversial. But hey,it works for me.
IMO waiting for an exit signal which is also a short entry is risky, entering at the best possible point is nigh impossible,so by default,if you have a short entry signal, youve lost at least some profit on the long.

Also,I do hope you are not trading with actual money if you havent proven you are profitable in sim.
If you feel that paper trading doesnt reflect the reality of trading live, maybe try getting a small account with one of the online prop firms. Not really a long term plan, but you can get skin in the game and ensure you are controlling your emotions with much less risk capitol on the line.

As I said, I'm pretty new to this,but if you send me a DM I'd be happy to explain the basics of my strategy.

@OG65

I would like to briefly address two points that seem to me enormously important in your context and for the situation in which you currently find yourself, including your desire to become financially independent with the trade.

What I am saying now is not meant sarcastically, because you are currently in a great situation to learn what it means to live with frustration and above all to deal with it. What does this mean now?

In trading you will lose money again and again and to stay motivated you have to endure this frustration and not react with anger trading. You seem to me to be quite emotional and vulnerable in this regard and to control these feelings you have to know them well and thus also have yourself under control. You are now in a great position to practice this.

The second point I want to address is the financial security in trading. When you start trading, whether with a small amount of money or a large amount of money, make sure you never find yourself in a situation where you relay on the money to live on that you might make in trading. This is very important, especially at the beginning when you want to become independent in trading. When your way of trading has proven itself in the market with real money, then this looks a little different.

The above priorities are to be classified on the psychological side in trading. Thus, they do not have much to do with a proven trading strategy, which is another point, but I will not go into it here. Since the psyche in the trade is however so something of important, often however simply ignored, have these two emphasis absolute priority beside all other topics in the beginning in such a way lining up.

I wish you all success you want to become true and further a sunny Sunday.

Symple

you are pretty on point with the analysis of profit taking. I loose a lot of profit in my trades. I am also price action trader, I would be happy if you could share your insight of Profit Taking.
I am not fan of SIM acc, because I am not in the same emotional state with them I am trading with a small accounts rn.