Im not reading all that but chat gbt will
This isn’t even about trading—it’s about your mental state.
You went from disciplined (1% risk, journaling, structure) to trading while sleep deprived, stressed, and chasing dopamine. That’s a completely different trader.
The moment you froze at 3–4% losses instead of cutting at 1%… that’s when it broke.
No strategy fixes that.
Honestly, sitting in cash was the right move. Trading only works when your life is stable—otherwise it turns into revenge trading and watching P/L for a dopamine hit.
Get your head right first. The edge comes back after that.
It's almost like market was going to go up anyway when S&P 500 earnings are growing at 13%+ a year and lending is growing, soaring at 6.6%:
https://advantage.factset.com/hubfs/Website/Resources%20Section/Research%20Desk/Earnings%20Insight/EarningsInsight_021326.pdf
https://i.imgur.com/BRCjV0P.png
Layoffs low:
https://i.imgur.com/JsMYTcC.png
Roberts: "Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution specifies that “The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises.” The Framers recognized the unique importance of this taxing power—a power which “very clear\[ly\]” includes the power to impose tariffs. Gibbons v. Ogden, 9 Wheat. 1, 201. And they gave Congress “alone . . . access to the pockets of the people.” The Federalist No. 48, p. 310 (J. Madison). The Framers did not vest any part of the taxing power in the Executive Branch."