This reminds me of a quote I’ve heard Nithin
use often and something that’s worth repeating:
Stock markets are the toughest place in the world to make easy money.
A lot of people start trading with returns targets like 2-3% a month. Given that we’re in a bull market, people even expect 1-5% a day. Once these people lose money and realize just how hard trading is, a lot of them tend to double down by borrowing money and trading by taking excessive leverage.
In doing all this, what most people don’t realize is just how stressful trading is. Every time your P&L is red, every time you have a losing trade, you might not recognize it immediately, but you’re under immense stress.
So if you want to trade actively, you need to ask yourself if it’s worth it. 90% of the time, the answer is no! You are better off investing in
mutual funds and focussing on your career. If you still want to trade, there are safer ways of figuring out if you are cut out for it without blowing up your account—
Karthik had shared some tips recently.
And if you’re an active trader, please don’t ignore stress. It can be as debilitating as any other medical condition. More importantly, trading can be infinitely more stressful when you’re in a drawdown, along with the risk of overtrading and blowing up your account. Take periodical breaks so that you don’t burn out. This is why we introduced the
Kill Switch feature.