How to Stop Losing Money: How to Achieve Success, #1

​Mindset Before Strategy

Trading may seem like an exciting game. You watch the charts go up and down, you hear stories of people who made fortunes, and you imagine yourself achieving that financial freedom you long for. But let me tell you something: if your main focus is to make money quickly, you are starting on the wrong path. Before learning strategies, patterns, or indicators, you need to work on the most important thing: your mindset. Because without the right mindset, no strategy will be enough to avoid losses.

When you start trading, your first impulse is usually to look for ways to make more. That's natural. But have you ever stopped to think about how not to lose? This is the true art of trading: protecting what you have before trying to multiply it. A defensive mindset in trading isn't sexy, it's not exciting, but it's the only thing that can keep you in the game. And the truth is, this game isn't about winning a single spectacular trade; it's about surviving the inevitable losses and moving forward.

I want you to think about this: the market doesn't owe you anything. It doesn't care how much you need to make this month to pay your bills or achieve your dreams. It's a neutral system, full of opportunities and dangers. Most traders lose because they approach the market with the wrong expectations, believing they can control it or that they must win every time they trade. This belief is a perfect recipe for disaster.

One of the biggest enemies of your trading progress is yourself. It’s that inner voice that tells you, This time it will be different, while you ignore all the warning signs. It’s the impatience that leads you to enter poorly planned trades just because you feel like you’re missing out. It’s the frustration after a loss that pushes you to make impulsive decisions to win back what you lost. And worst of all: it’s the arrogance after a winning streak that makes you forget about the risks. If you don’t control these emotions, the market will do it for you, and believe me, it won’t be kind.

So how do you build a defensive mindset? It all starts with accepting a reality that many find hard to swallow: losses are part of trading. No matter how good you are, you're going to have losses. The problem isn't losing; the problem is how you react to those losses. A trader with the right mindset sees them as the cost of doing business, as an opportunity to learn. A trader with the wrong mindset sees them as a personal affront, as a character flaw. This difference in perspective can determine whether you survive or fall by the wayside.

Patience is another key element. In trading, doing nothing is just as important as taking action. Inexperienced traders feel that they always have to be trading, that every market movement is an opportunity. But the reality is that it isn't. The best traders know how to wait. They observe, analyze, and only act when everything is aligned in their favor. Trading out of boredom, anxiety, or personal pressure is one of the quickest ways to lose money.

You also need to develop the skill of emotionally detaching yourself from each trade. This sounds easy in theory, but it’s challenging in practice. Every time you place a trade, there’s a part of you that expects to win. It’s natural, but dangerous. When you’re emotionally attached to a trade, it’s harder to close a losing position or stay calm if things don’t go your way. This is where discipline comes in. You have to learn to follow your rules, even when your mind tells you this time you can break them.

I want you to think of trading as if you were the captain of a ship sailing on an unpredictable ocean. You can't control the weather or the waves, but you can control how you prepare your ship and how you respond to storms. Your capital is that ship. If you take unnecessary risks, don't check your maps, or don't correct course in time, the ship will sink. Your primary responsibility isn't to get to the destination faster; it's to make