Why Most Traders Blow Up Their Best Ideas (And How to Fix It)
Let me tell you something I’ve seen a hundred times…
A trader going “on tilt” because they lost a trading.
Or, just as bad, a trader ramping up their size because they’re on a winning streak.
What ends up happening is that they blow up a potentially profitable systematic edge for reasons that have nothing to do with the strategy.
They find a nice trade (or get a trade alert) that meets all the criteria.
And, inexplicably, they triple their position size from other similar trades (I say inexplicably and yet I’ve done it myself).
And then, as fate seems to make it happen, we lose on the trade we “went big” on.
Which means for the trader making a “Revenge trade” to make it back they are really in bad shape now.
And for the trade just trying to capitalize on a “hot run” they just undid all the good with one bad decision.
And here’s the thing: The market is complicated enough on its own. Making it more difficult by adding the human element in is almost always a bad idea.
And the reality is that there are LOTS of strategies that work.
I’ve had people email me saying they have tried dozens of strategies and nothing works… In most cases, I think that’s probably not totally correct.
Maybe they’ve tried some underwhelming strategies, but the more likely reality is that they’ve done some breaking of their own with position sizing, trade management, and other poor decision making.
And that’s a hard pill to swallow, but let me say it bluntly:
We’ve all been guilty of turning winning strategies into losing strategies.
And my solution here is really simple: Stop it.
Understand that a profitable edge takes time to become meaningful in your account even if you’re doing everything right.
In other words, don’t expect to go to the gym for an hour and come home with a 6 pack. If you quit, it’s not because working out isn’t effective. It’s because you didn’t give enough time to build that effectiveness.
I’ve tested literally hundreds of strategies. Most fail because people try to outsmart the market. They pile on indicators… build multi-step filters… try to time exits down to the candle. Even if you win, you’re not sure what actually worked — which means you can’t repeat it.
I would much rather have an approach that doesn’t rely on me to get a whole bunch of factors right all at the same time and then manage it right on top of that – I mean, seriously, good luck.
In fact, I often say it this way: The more ways you create to win in a given setup, I think the better off you are.
And, right now, I think that is especially true with the seeming randomness of the news-driven market we’re in.
That’s exactly why I built the Income Machine.
It’s not just a strategy — it’s an engine for finding clean, simple, risk-conscious trades.
Every moment of every day the market is open, the system runs a full scan across the options market — looking at millions of debit spread combinations. Then it runs each one through our filters:
✅ Defined risk
✅ Healthy ROI
✅ Time to expiration
✅ Distance from price (what we call cushion)
✅ Win-rate probabilities based on real historical movement
The result?
You get optimized trades — already pre-filtered and tailored for the current conditions.
Then, you get to choose your personal risk style. Whether you’re conservative, balanced, or aggressive, the “machine” finds the best fit and it spits out the EXACT trade details it finds.
No second-guessing. No chasing candles. No late-night chart studies trying to tweak your system.
In fact, the Income Machine will give you a lot more practical info about the trade than you’d be able to find on your own anyway!
If your trading feels like a mental grind — or if you keep blowing up solid ideas — I’d recommend trying something where you’re not at the helm of making minute by minute decisions.
Just a thought 🙂
— Nate Tucci
P.S. See setups like this and much more every weekday at 10am ET in the Opening Playbook. Don’t miss it!
