You've learned a lot, so you're obviously not a failure, but I think your post illustrates how draining a winner-take-all field like quantitative trading can be

You've learned a lot, so you're obviously not a failure, but I think your post illustrates how draining a winner-take-all field like quantitative trading can be. You can never be sure if your wins or losses are real or just mirages caused by noise. Humans need the emotional encouragement that incremental success brings. Nothing get's me excited to work more than a good day of sales or a thoughtful comment from a customer. It takes a special type of personality to keep on persisting in the face of repeated failure. Certain start-ups also have winner-take-all properties. Anything that relies on network externalities or advertising revenue is more risky. The rewards can be big, but I prefer markets where the product's value isn't a function of the customer base and success is more incremental.