Hi Michlin
Can completely sympathise, as I'm sure most people here can. Went through exactly the same thing earlier in the year (March - June) when all the spec stocks plummeted. Had 2 quite significant losses during this time (DTZ & PAK), along with a series of small, consistent losses in most other stocks I attempted to trade. I had managed to double my portfolio prior to this period from the time I had started trading (late 2015), but gave pretty much gave all those profits back, ending up at square one.
After all this, felt exactly how you are feeling. Confidence shot, any negative movements in the SP would freak me out and would typically bail just as it was about to turn (As I couldn't handle any more losses).
Took a step back from it all, did a bunch of self reflection over my trades and realised my issue was completely around my risk management/position sizing. Relative to my total portfolio size, my trades were far too large. I reduced my size substantially (about 1/5th - 1/10th of what I was trading with previously), set my max loss per trade to 1% of my total portfolio, no adding to any losing position whatsoever (even if I'm "100%" convinced it's a good buy...just takes myself to be wrong once to cause a large loss again) and scaling into positions rather then buying all at once.
The initial pilot buys are tiny now, where even if I get my entry completely wrong and it goes against me 20% - 30%, it would only then get close to that 1% max risk per trade zone. If I see strength in the SP, then and only then do I scale up.
This approach allows me to be wrong in a trade. We all get entries and exits wrong, but I think it's important that when we make those mistakes, the losses are minimal. It's helped me to regain that confidence again (improving market conditions has surely played a factor as well), and I'm starting to see some consistent growth in my portfolio (as oppose to wild whip saws on the equity curve)
Apologies for the rambling, my point is tho, if need be reduce size, allow yourself to be wrong in trades without it having large draw downs on your portfolio, respect risk and slowly build up your confidence again
Expand
