Let me set a scene for you 

2:47 AM Tuesday. 

Some time in 2021

I'm staring at my laptop screen in my old dark depressing room, watching another trade go against me.

Fourth losing trade in a row.

My $500 account is now worth $127.

I close the laptop and say out loud

"Maybe I'm just not cut out for this."

Correction 

I said 

“I’m definitely not cut out for this” 

What I didn't know then was that I was exactly where I needed to be.

I was in what psychologists call the "Valley of Despair."

And I was about to make the same mistake 95% of traders make.

Every trader goes through the same predictable stages 

If they say they haven't 

Then they're lying, it's quite literally impossible to not be here and come out on the other side of this profitable industry. 

Uninformed Optimism - "This trading thing is going to be easy. I'll be driving a Lambo by Christmas."

Informed Pessimism - "Wait, why is nobody buying my 'perfect' support level? This is harder than YouTube made it look."

Valley of Despair - "holy shit I've lost money for 6 months straight. Maybe I should just get a real job."

Slope of Enlightenment - "Okay, I'm starting to see patterns. The losses are getting smaller."

Plateau of Sustainability - "I'm consistently profitable. Trading actually works."

Around Stage 3 is where most give up. 

Right before everything clicks.

That night in my room, I almost deleted my trading view. 

Almost gave up on the whole thing..

Three weeks later, something shifted. 

Not because I found some magic strategy - I just stopped trying to be perfect. 

I accepted that losses were part of the game and focused on the process over profits.

Within 6 months, I'd turned that $127 into $3,000. 

Within a year, I was pulling my first prop firm payouts.

The difference wasn't talent. 

It was the persistence through the valley.

The Valley of Despair is designed to break you. 

It's where your brain screams: "This isn't working!" 

It's where doubt creeps in and everyone around you says: "I told you so."

But here's what they don't understand: 

The valley isn't a sign you're failing. It's a sign you're learning.

Every blown trade is data. 

Every loss is tuition. 

Every moment of doubt is your mind preparing for a breakthrough.

The traders who become consistently profitable all have one thing in common: 

They pushed through the valley when everyone else quit.

If you're reading this thinking 

"This sounds like me right now" - congrats 

You're exactly where you need to be. 

The fact that you're still here puts you in the top 10%.

So what's on the other side? 

Consistent profitability. 

Financial freedom. 

The confidence that comes from mastering something difficult.

But more than that - the knowledge that you didn't quit when it got hard.

Don't quit when the next trade goes against you. 

Don't quit when your friends say you're wasting your time. 

The breakthrough is closer than you think, but you'll never see it if you quit in the valley.

The valley is temporary. Regret is permanent.

Talk soon,

Atif

P.S. The biggest breakthroughs come right before your lowest moments, if you've ever considered change, now might be the time.