Trading isn't always winning

How losing can reshape who you are

I ’ve always talked more about my losses than my wins.

But over the last few months, something changed - and honestly, I didn’t like it.

I’ve been on social media for a while now, and I feel like it slowly shaped me into someone I never wanted to become. I created this personality called “iamflowtrader”, but the truth is… lately, I haven’t felt much like a flow trader at all.

It started feeling like the account was taking something out of me. Like I constantly needed to prove I was a good trader. To show profits. To show results. To maintain an image.

And I never wanted this journey to become about that.

I’m not the type of person who can fake success online just to sell people a dream. I started this account because I genuinely wanted to help traders - real traders. People going through the same battles I’ve been through. Not gamblers chasing rented Lamborghinis and fake lifestyles pushed by people selling an illusion.

I’m honestly glad I realized this before I lost myself in it completely.

Some of you probably remember the losing streak I went through a few months ago. It hit my ego harder than anything before.

Earlier that year, I was traveling through Southeast Asia, living what I thought was the dream. Trading a couple hours a day, making good money, experiencing true freedom for the first time in my life. I truly believed I had “made it.”

Then I came back home.

I was motivated. Hungry. Ready to push harder than ever. But the comeback was brutal.

I took 36 losses in row. What is insane is that I really stayed so disciplined that even if I had this AWFUL months, I never broke a single rule, just believed it will switch, because I trusted in my data I have collected (~5 years of manual backtest). But the fundamentals changed. The markets did as well.

From making over 38% in one single year - while doing sidequests in Asia. To wondering what is happening.

I went through one of the hardest periods of my trading career while staying completely disciplined. I trusted my data. I trusted years of backtesting and experience. But sometimes, markets evolve and what once worked stops working the same way.

That reality humbled me more than any motivational quote ever could.

At the same time, it was one of the hardest years of my life outside trading too. Health problems. Career struggles. A lot of internal pressure.

And honestly, the thing that helped me the most wasn’t money. It was people.

Money improves your life, absolutely. It gives you freedom, opportunities, and the ability to help people you love. But the idea that money alone will finally make you feel complete is one of the biggest lies people sell online.

So I want to change the direction of my content a bit.

Less pretending.

Less “look at me.”

Less pressure to appear successful all the time.

I want this newsletter and my socials to become more personal. More honest. More human.

I’m tired of fake perfection online, and I don’t want to contribute to it anymore.

So let’s just talk.

Trader to trader.

Human to human.

And if you enjoy this type of newsletter, let me know. In many ways, this feels more like a personal reflection than content I “should” post.

But maybe that’s exactly why I should post it.

Change is coming.

Bless you all.

• Luke