[00:01] good chance you're somewhere between month eight and month 16 of your trading journey. You're not completely new anymore, but you're not consistently profitable yet either, and I'm going to guess you're wondering if you should
[00:13] back of your head saying maybe you should. Don't. Because what you don't realize is that been. There are five specific signs that
[00:25] appear right before a trader breaks through to consistent profitability. And if you're experiencing three or more of them right now, you're only 60 to 90 days away from your first consistently profitable quarter. Now, I know this
[00:40] because I've experienced all five of these signs in a 60-day window, and 47 days after that I had my first really profitable month. And before we get into these five signs, I need to give you some context because
[00:54] most traders quit right before the breakthrough. Across hundreds of traders, traders at SMB, traders in our community, the pattern remains consistent. Month one through six, it's
[01:08] like chaos, right? It's a steep learning curve. Losses are expected. That time, we don't even care about your P&L. You just need to be focusing on your process every single day. Once we get to month seven, month seven
[01:24] through 12 is the grind. Some traders start accelerating because they double down. Others don't. They start to lose faith, not in their long-term ability, but in the progress
[01:39] They're following rules more consistently, but they're still break even or even slightly negative. Then comes month 13 through 18. This is the valley. This is where most traders quit.
[01:54] catastrophically, but because they can't see progress anymore. They've invested 12 to 18 months, hundreds of hours, taken losses. They look at their P&L and think, "I'm no closer than I was 6 months ago." But
[02:07] that's not really true. They're building something underneath the surface that doesn't show up in the P&L just yet. And right before they break through, five specific signs appear. Now, if you're experiencing three or
[02:22] more of these signs right now, do not quit. You're actually closer than you Let me tell you about month 14 for me, right? I've been trading for 14 months. I wasn't blowing up, but I wasn't really doing that well, either. And I was
[02:35] tired. I was I was tired of the screen time. I was tired of the journaling. I of watching other traders start to make money while I was stuck. And then I had a meeting scheduled with Bella, with Mike Bellafiore, right?
[02:48] remember thinking, I was sitting in his office, it was dark, and I was waiting for him to come in, and I was like, "I think I'm going to tell him I'm done. I working." He walked in, the lights stayed off,
[03:04] right? He pulled up my last 60 days of trading, and then I saw this smile come across his face. I'm sitting there in despair. I'm like really frustrated, like about to quit, right? And he goes, with this
[03:16] smile across his face, "You don't see it yet, but you're about to turn the I'm like sitting there thinking, like what the hell's he talking about? I'm break even at best. And then he actually broke this same concept down and showed
[03:29] me. He pointed to five things happening in my trading that I hadn't even He says, "Listen, you're starting to get bored at the right times. You're taking fewer trades.
[03:41] You can articulate your edge clearly. Your losses don't really wreck your day anymore. You're trading and tracking the right metrics for your trading. These are the signals, trust me. Within
[03:55] 60 days, you'll be more profitable than you could imagine. Right? I walked out of his office, felt a little bit better, felt like that conviction to get back to work. 47 days
[04:08] later, I had my first really profitable month. And that was proof something had shifted. All right, sign number one, right time. Now, when you first started trading,
[04:21] everything was exciting, right? Every single trade felt like an event. But, as you progress, now certain trades feel a little more mechanical, right? It's the same setup, similar execution rules, or same execution rules, same result.
[04:37] And this trick starts to occur. You kind of think something's wrong. It's not. of think something's wrong. It's not. Excitement equals emotion. Emotion equals inconsistency, especially at the wrong times. When you start to have that
[04:51] that's you putting yourself onto the market. When you start to not have that emotion when there's nothing to do, guess what? Boring equals process. guess what? Boring equals process. Process equals consistency.
[05:05] The best traders describe trading as boring most of the time, and that is a signal. Sign number two, you start taking fewer trades, but you're making more money.
[05:19] Now, early on, you're trading constantly. Later, you start waiting a little bit, right? You stop forcing trades. You focus a little more on your edge. Quality over quantity, because less is
[05:32] more. That is a fascinating thing that occurs all the time on the desk. You'll see traders starting out, and before they really hit any sort of metrics that suggest they might be profitable, you'll
[05:45] see 27 symbols traded in a day. We used to have this joke that you could or not profitable on the day just by the number of shares he traded. Just by the number of trades he took. You didn't even need to see the number of symbols
[05:58] many trade too many trades, too many shares, it was a high likelihood they weren't making money and then they were on tilt for like 2 days after also. When traders start to hone it in, you actually start to see that selectivity
[06:11] pick up. The per trade P&L tends to get a little So they're taking less trades, but they're making more money in the trades before. That's a huge indicator that a lot of
[06:27] Because all you're thinking about is how much you should have made in the trade versus looking at where you were compared to where you were before. Pay attention to that sign. Sign number three, and this is the most
[06:42] important one. You need to be able to describe your edge in one single your trading edge?" You can answer instantly,
[06:54] clearly, and specifically. And if you can't articulate your edge, you typically don't really have one. It doesn't mean you're not on your way to profitability, but clarity creates confidence and confidence creates
[07:07] consistency. A lot of times I'll hear a vague edge like, "I trade momentum stocks." Right? That's fine and I understand that you might trade momentum stocks, but that's more of a statement than an edge, right?
[07:20] A real edge is specific, measurable, and repeatable. One sentence, that's the So we had this trader who walked in and was like trading pretty well, starting
[07:32] to show some signs, but asked that same question. All right, describe to me what your trading edge is. And I didn't get that I trade momentum in what this trader's edge was using every indicator and then I back tested
[07:47] this and I understand this and I know this and then this and that. That's not an edge. An edge is often broken down into An edge is often broken down into exactly the dynamics that are happening
[07:59] the game that you're playing right now and then as a result of that what should It's essentially like saying I understand what's happening now, but I because of that I understand what should happen next or what could happen next if
[08:15] this this or this happened. It's not a broad statement like I'm a trend follower or I'm a momentum trader. Those are just statements, right? This is actually articulating the situation that gets presented. In Scalp Radar we
[08:27] actually built everything as an individual situation that's going to get presented and then the individual components that and then the individual components that are going to lead into that opportunity.
[08:40] And then most importantly how that opportunity should play out. That's an edge. Not some vague general statement or some giant lecture about every little nuance that might occur. Make sure you pass this test. All right,
[08:54] sign number four. The losses don't wreck your day anymore. All right? So today I took a big loss right in the open, right? Pretty early on in the day. It hurt. It sucked, right? But your response is sort of simple,
[09:09] okay, next trade, right? You don't get in there and revenge trading. You don't use this emotional spiral anymore. You just take the rip. Losses become the cost of doing business, but even more importantly
[09:24] losses become really critical information to help you adjust what you're doing. Dr. Steenbarger talks about this all the time that losses can traumatic and they can be frustrating or they can become information.
[09:40] And when they stop bothering you, you actually open the door to them becoming information. Now, let's all assume that you're taking good losses, right? You're respecting your edge. Things don't work out in trading.
[09:55] A trade will fail. Some new information will come out and it'll change what's But the minute that you can really capture the information that's occurring because of that loss, you're on to something.
[10:09] a loss, not the feeling and the frustration that you have, but the next three things that would offer you a trading opportunity based on the information that was
[10:22] then you really know you're on to something. It doesn't mean you act right away. It just means you can articulate how that loss becomes information.
[10:35] If you can take multiple losses and still follow your process, you know you're ready. Sign number five. You're tracking the right metrics. This is so hard to do early on because
[10:49] we all are so P&L anchored, right? But once you stop obsessing over your P&L and start tracking your execution, your rule following, your entry quality, your consistency, the P&L is actually just the output. The execution
[11:05] is the input. You control the input and the output follows. Now, here's a little metric that you can use that is totally execution Instead of worrying about the P&L or how much you made in a trade or didn't make
[11:21] in a trade, start to do this. It's a little game some people play on the desk. I kind of find it little weird, but it it works and I've seen it work over and over. So, here you go. Traders will take their entry, what
[11:34] their actual entry was, and then what their ideal exit was. Now, this implies right? And they will take what their average position size was, or if they only had one in and one out, what their core
[11:48] position size was. They'll calculate how much P&L they should have made had they traded their system perfectly. system perfectly. Right? Let's say you bought it at $5 and
[12:01] you sold it at $6, and you sold it because it broke a 90 it closed below a 90 EMA, and that was your that was your reason to sell. You captured $2 on that move. If that was your rule, and you captured $2, you caught 100% of
[12:15] the available profits to you in that trade. You followed your trading system, right? If you were late to the trade, you have to start from that initial spot. If you sold too early, you have to account for how much you actually left
[12:29] out on the table, or how much P&L you actually made relative to what you You know you're onto something if your ratio is at like .7 or above.
[12:41] to be perfect. We're actually only asking you to get a C grade. grade consistently, and if you track it across all of your trades. So, think about that. If you can capture 70% of
[12:56] about that. If you can capture 70% of the actual expected move based on your ideal entry or your actual entry, and your real exit, you're doing pretty well. That's astounding to think about. I
[13:09] don't know anywhere else where you could get 70% of that, and you could have a really successful trading career. It's crazy. Control the inputs and the outputs follow. Now, let's put this all together.
[13:23] You take fewer trades. You have a clear edge. The losses don't affect you the same way. And then you focus on execution, not just money. If you're seeing three or more of these
[13:39] signs, you're only 60 to 90 days from real consistent profitability. The damaging part is so many traders, and I think most traders quit right before this point. I almost did.
[13:55] But don't. Now, if you're experiencing these signs, you're not failing. You're building. what I want you to do. I want you to go through the five signs
[14:10] now. And if you have three or more, you're definitely on the right path. Trading is hard, but if you're seeing these signs, You're building something that hasn't shown up in your P&L yet. Don't quit
[14:26] now. And if you need a couple of strategies to look at, go check out this reading the tape and the strategies that go along with it.