“Why does this always happen to me?”
If you’re a novice trader in India, chances are you’ve asked yourself this more than once. Maybe it was after your fifth stop-loss hit in a row. Maybe after your carefully researched breakout failed within minutes. Maybe you just looked at your Zerodha or Upstox P&L and thought: “Is trading just not for me?”
You’re not alone.
In the classic sitcom That ’70s Show, Eric laments, “Why do I have such bad luck?”
His dad responds bluntly: “Son, you don’t have bad luck. Bad things happen to you because you’re a dumb-ass.”
Brutal? Yes.
But if you’re losing trades consistently, it might not be luck. It might be something deeper — a lack of awareness.
Let’s talk about it.
Why Novice Traders Confuse Incompetence with Bad Luck
📉 The Dunning-Kruger Trap
Dr. David Dunning, a Cornell psychologist, found that people with low ability in a domain often overestimate their skill. This is called the Dunning-Kruger Effect.
Think of it like this:
- A beginner cricketer who just learned to bat thinks he’s the next Kohli.
- A new driver feels like an F1 racer—until he hits the divider.
In trading, it shows up like this:
- You take 3 winning trades and think: “I’ve cracked this market!”
- You ignore risk, skip journaling, revenge trade—and boom! Your capital vanishes.
Why does this happen?
Because we don’t know how little we know.
🧠 What You Think vs What’s Real
| What Novice Traders Believe | What’s Actually True |
| “My strategy is solid.” | You haven’t backtested it enough. |
| “That loss was bad luck.” | You took a low-probability setup. |
| “Markets are unpredictable.” | You lack a clear trading plan. |
You’re not dumb. You’re just new.
And like any serious skill — whether it’s cricket, surgery, or classical music — trading takes time, effort, and awareness.
🎯 Trading is a Skill, Not a Gamble
Let’s bust a common myth:
“Trading is 90% luck and 10% skill.”
Wrong.
The Skill-Stack of a Successful Trader:
- Market Awareness – Knowing what phase the market is in.
- Risk Management – Position sizing, stop-loss discipline.
- Emotional Control – Handling fear, greed, regret, euphoria.
- Strategic Execution – Backtested setups, clean rules.
- Self-Awareness – Knowing your own weaknesses.
Novice traders often fail not because they’re unlucky, but because they skip the learning curve.
📉 Why “Luck” Feels So Real When You’re Losing
When you lose 7 trades in a row, it feels like fate is against you.
But let’s zoom out.
What feels like bad luck is usually:
- Overtrading low-quality setups
- Chasing trades due to FOMO
- Avoiding stop-loss because “this one will bounce”
- Using too much leverage
- Not adapting to market volatility
If you’re entering a trade with hope instead of a clear reason — that’s not bad luck.
That’s emotional trading.
And emotions, unmanaged, are the most expensive part of trading.
🎓 Awareness is the First Step to High Performance
Legendary traders like Mark Minervini or Paul Tudor Jones didn’t become pros overnight.
They tracked, reviewed, refined, and most importantly, stayed aware.
Want to go from “unlucky” to “unstoppable”? Here’s how:
🔁 Start Journaling
Write down:
- Why you entered
- What happened
- How you felt
- What you learned
This single habit can shift your entire trading trajectory.
🧪 Backtest Before You Bet
Would you fly in a plane that wasn’t tested?
Then why risk capital on a setup you haven’t stress-tested?
👁️ Study Yourself More Than the Market
Most traders lose not because of charts—but because of how they react to them.
Mindset > Indicators.
🔥 Case Study: Rahul the “Unlucky” Trader
Rahul, 33, started trading in mid-2022.
He followed Telegram tips, traded intraday with ₹1 lakh, and lost ₹35,000 in 2 weeks.
He said: “Markets hate me.”
But on deeper review:
- He had no trading plan.
- No idea of risk-to-reward.
- Bought options without understanding Greeks.
- Never logged trades.
After coaching, Rahul:
- Learned risk management.
- Practiced only one setup for 2 months.
- Reduced position sizes.
- Started journaling.
In 6 months, he wasn’t a millionaire.
But he was consistently profitable — and had stopped blaming luck.
🛠️ How to Stop Overestimating Your Trading Skill
You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be honest.
Here’s a checklist to build awareness:
✅ Do I have a defined entry/exit rule?
✅ Have I tested this setup on past charts?
✅ Am I risking more than 2% per trade?
✅ Do I review my losses weekly?
✅ Can I sit out of the market when no setup is present?
If you answered “no” to most of these — you don’t need luck.
You need structure.
🧠 What You Should Remember
- You’re not unlucky — you’re just early in your journey.
- Overconfidence is dangerous. Stay humble.
- Track everything. Awareness beats emotion.
- You don’t rise to the level of your expectations. You fall to the level of your preparation.
Learning the market is a marathon, not a jackpot game.
📣 Final Word
Dear trader, the market doesn’t owe you money.But it will reward effort, discipline, and awareness. If you feel unlucky — pause. Reflect. Learn.
You’re not a dumb-ass. You’re just not there yet. And that’s okay.
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