Futures trading has become an addiction and cost me $150k - I need help

ST

stop_the_bleed

Author

Original post

Hey everyone,

I am posting here because I do not know where else to go. I have been trading crypto futures for a while and it has turned into a real problem. I am down over $150,000 - money I earned the hard way - and whatever I change, the ending is the same.

I know futures are high risk. But I have got hooked on the rush and on the idea of winning it all back, and instead I keep digging. It is damaging my mental health, my relationships and my finances.

I do not want to quit trading entirely, but I badly need to at least stop losing. A few things I am weighing up:

Taking a break to get my head straight.
Moving to spot or to something less aggressive.
Hard risk rules, like never risking more than 1-2% on a trade.

If you have been where I am, how did you turn it around? Any advice, structure or resources would mean a lot right now. I just want the bleeding to stop so I can rebuild.

Thank you in advance.

Jul 30, 2026

ST

stoploss_stan

Member

$150k on futures? That was not trading, that was a gambling problem. $150k is more than enough to make a living off spot alone.

Futures on their own are not even especially risky - you set a stop and you move on, and you re-enter when the setup returns; you make back what the stop cost you and keep whatever comes next. The stop IS your risk management. Without one you are just at a casino.

Jul 30, 2026

SU

sunk_cost

Member

This is a gambling addiction and you need real help with it. You lost a great deal of money, and that money is gone. Do not let the sunk cost pull you back in.

Jul 30, 2026

NE

netsale Founder

I read this a couple of times before answering, because the list at the end is
the part I recognise.

The three options are not equal, and the order matters. Hard risk rules are the
one everybody reaches for first, and they are the one that does not hold while
the goal is still getting the $150k back. A 1-2% rule is a rule about size, and
the thing pulling you back in is not size, it is the arithmetic of recovery. A
2% position cannot recover $150k in any timeframe you will tolerate. So the
rule breaks on the first bad week, and then you are at 20% again, only now with
the extra belief that rules do not work for you. Moving to spot with the same
goal is the same trade at a slower speed.

Which leaves the break, and I would take it before anything else, and take it
as a decision about you rather than about trading. The dollars are already
lost. What is still at risk is the next $150k and the people around you, and
that is what the pause protects.

Two practical things. The rush you describe is what gambling helplines deal
with every day; they will not blink at the word futures, and they are free.
And tell one person in your life the real number. It is much harder to dig with
someone watching.

I lost a fraction of that chasing numbers for three years, and the digging
stopped when I stopped, not when I got better at it. Trading can wait. It
always waits.

Sep 20, 2026