The Day the Market Froze Me: My Story of Market Trauma and Recovery
A personal story of hitting rock bottom in trading — and the mindset shift that turned it around.
It’s the first Sunday of the month, which means I’m unlocking a paid post for everyone.
Today’s post is from Neto — a trader I’ve had the joy of working with since January.
He’s one of the most positive and thoughtful people I’ve met through coaching. I believe part of that warmth comes from his Mexican roots. Currently, Neto lives in Texas with his wife and three kids.
There’s a quiet strength to him — a mix of humility, ambition, and deep care for doing things for a higher purpose that involves contribution to the ones he loves and cares the most.
Before trading, Neto had a long career in business and leadership, including building and running his own company for several years.
In this post, he shares the moment that shook his confidence as a trader… and how it led to something better.
A lot of you will relate to his story and take something meaningful from it.
Thank you, Neto, for this fantastic write-up!
Let’s dive in.
If you’ve been trading for a while, you probably know that the market can humble you in ways you didn’t think were possible.
But nothing really prepares you for the moment when it actually happens — when the lessons you thought you knew show up in real life, and you're not ready.
It happened to me in 2023.
At that point, I had spent about 18 months learning how to trade SPY, day in and day out.
I felt ready to evolve, so I decided to step into a bigger arena: trading Mega Cap tech names — the "Mag7."
At the same time, I was getting involved with a new trading community. Their approach was different: they focused on reading Price Action closely, rather than just momentum or breakouts of support/resistance like I was used to.
I was excited — maybe a little too excited.
Looking back now, everything that could go wrong, did — and fast:
I jumped into trades without any real levels mapped out or a higher timeframe plan.
I followed a new trader blindly, without fully understanding the why behind their entries.
I had terrible risk management. I honestly didn't even know where my trades should be invalidated.
I showed up mentally unprepared, thinking I could just "wing it."
I oversized my positions way beyond my comfort zone.
And when things went bad, I averaged down instead of cutting the loss.
All of it happened within a very short window.
And when the pressure came... my body just froze.
I couldn’t click the Sell button. I sat there watching the red numbers grow, paralyzed between hope and fear.
My brain kept shouting, "It'll bounce, just hold a little longer!" — but the bounce never came.
In that moment, it felt like my mind and the market had joined forces to teach me the most expensive lesson of my trading life.
What Market Trauma Feels Like
After that day, I wasn't the same for a while.
I doubted every entry.
I hesitated even when a setup matched all my criteria.
I feared letting small losses happen, and at the same time, I feared letting small wins run.
The worst part?
I stopped trusting myself.
It wasn’t about the money lost — it was about the emotional scar it left.
That's when I truly understood what market trauma feels like. It's not just sadness or regret. It's a deep, gut-level reaction where your nervous system remembers the pain and tries to protect you by hesitating, freezing, or panicking.
How I Started Healing
Thankfully, I didn’t try to go through it alone. I started working with a Trading Performance Coach, Sara, and that changed everything.
Instead of treating that traumatic day as something to avoid or forget, Sara helped me face it — and more importantly, learn from it.
She gave me tools to manage my emotions better, to regulate my nervous system when fear showed up, and to turn every experience — good or bad — into fuel for growth instead of letting it drag me down.
Little by little, I stopped seeing losses or mistakes as proof that I wasn’t good enough.
I started seeing them as necessary parts of the process toward consistent, exceptional performance.
One of the biggest shifts was learning to separate who I am from what happens in the market.
I am not my wins.
I am not my losses.
I am a trader committed to showing up, learning, and executing better every day.
If You’re Struggling Too...
If you're reading this and any part of my story feels familiar, I want you to know something:
You're not broken.
You're not weak.
You're just human.
Market trauma is real, and it's way more common than most people talk about.
The good news?
You can heal from it. You can come back stronger.
And sometimes, the very event that shakes you the most can end up becoming the foundation for the best version of yourself as a trader.
I’m still on the journey. But today, I trade with more awareness, more emotional balance, and a lot more self-trust than I had before.
And honestly?
I wouldn’t trade that growth for anything.
— Neto
If you enjoyed this post and want more from Neto, check out his YouTube channel @TradeWithNeto, where he shares live trade reviews.
Neto’s Words in the Trading Peak Performance Coaching Program:
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Thank you for sharing your vulnerabilities Neto! I've had similar experiences too and have grown the most when I work on my psychology outside of trading.
This story it motivate me, thanks 🙏 alot.