Well Yes and NO, you dont have to put 100% of your portfoilio into a trade. If you have a 50k portfolio you can trade 50K or you can trade 10K. If you trade 10K and follow the scenario of 5% (and in my opinion 5% is not difficult to achieve and alot easier than 10, 15 or 20%) you can double that 10K in a year.
BIGGEST PROBLEM I find with newbies lured into trading by the market hype is they all want the 100% score in a few days. Aint gonna happen. Ask me I made the same mistakes when I started and I still make mistakes. These days less risk more reward and smaller well researched trades.
Do I loose money? Well I try my best not to but I occasionally am forced to get out where I started so I loose the trade fees, brokerage etc. Occasionally my stops kick me out but I avoid these if I can
Point is I try not to shoot the stars out with every trade. If a share bolts after I take profit I re-look at it and if it makes sense I jump righ back in for another 5%. If not I stay out till the panic has settled and re-enter for another position. This might be days or weeks later on that share. SOmetimes the hardest thing to trade is time, i.e. DO NOTHING.... OMO