Hey traders,
You ever make a killer trade… then screw up the next one?
That happened to me after a $37K win on Metaplanet Inc. (OTCQX: MTPLF).
One of those clean, textbook trades. I didn’t force it. Just waited, saw the pattern forming, and executed.
Then my brain flipped.
I shorted Protagenic Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: PTIX)
I was rying to chase that same rush. Didn’t love the setup. Knew I shouldn’t touch it. Did it anyway.
Lost $29K.
It wasn’t just that one either. I kept pushing. Took a bunch of C-level trades on Asset Entities Inc. (NASDAQ: ASST),
Richtech Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ: RR),
Even SPDR Bloomberg T-Bill ETF (NYSE: BIL)—all red.
And deep down I knew why…
I let one great trade make me feel like I needed to be in another one.
The mistake wasn’t technical. It wasn’t my entry or risk. It was me forcing action when the edge wasn’t there.
I’ve seen this cycle wreck a lot of traders. You catch a win and feel like you have to keep trading. You stop waiting for clean setups and start justifying noise.
That spiral sneaks in fast.
So I slowed down. Looked at what triggered it. And started paying way more attention to how trades affect my mindset—not just my P&L.
Because knowing the setup is one thing… staying out when it’s not there? That’s the real test.
When you’re newer to trading, you think losses are the big danger.
But honestly, big wins can mess you up just as much.
That MTPLF trade didn’t just boost my account—it threw off my balance.
I’d watched it premarket, saw the way it curled off support, volume starting to stack up, and the chart had that classic breakout look I’ve played a hundred times.
I didn’t journal much after MTPLF. Didn’t review the trade.
I just moved on and started scanning for more information. And that’s where the tilt starts. It’s not loud, it’s subtle.
You go from “waiting for opportunity” to “needing another win.”
That shift wrecks discipline. You start seeing things that aren’t there and you convince yourself a sloppy setup’s worth the risk just because you haven’t traded in a few hours.
That’s what led me into PTIX.
The red flags were there. Thin volume, no clear catalyst, choppy daily.
I probably would’ve skipped it on a normal day, but I wasn’t thinking straight—I was thinking emotionally.
And emotional trading always costs you.
After that hit, I noticed a pattern.
I’d had red trades before, obviously.
But the ones that hit hardest always followed a high. I wasn’t reacting to the market—I was reacting to myself.
That’s when I started doing something different.
Now, I see how important it is every time I close a solid trade—green or red—I pause.
I journal it. I label it: “clean” or “forced.” I ask myself: if this same setup showed up again, would I take it exactly the same way?
If the answer’s no, I dig deeper.
Because there’s no upside in pretending a bad trade was just unlucky. And there’s no worse feeling than giving back a great win because you couldn’t slow down after it.
That’s what I’m working on now. Not finding more trades. Just better ones.
Getting more selective and saying no a lot more than I say yes.
The crazy thing that happens when I follow my discipline is I trade less… and end up making more.
It’s not sexy. It’s not fast. But it works.
Talk soon,
Jack
P.S. If you want help spotting the same clean patterns I used on MTPLF—and avoiding the junk I forced right after—you’ll find all that inside my Seven-Figure Cycles system. Monthly setups, same strategy, no fluff.