Stops are ESSENTIAL to trading. Ask any professional trader. If you follow the 2% rule it will take you at least 200 to 300, or more, consecutive losing trades to blow your account. If you get stopped out of a trade, it means that you were wrong, or, you didn't get as good of an entry as you could. In the case of being wrong, you WANT to be stopped out in order to stop the bleeding of your equity.
As for brokers messing with the data feed, it does happen, but if you watch the same chart through a few different brokers, and do this long enough with many different brokers, you will eventually sniff out the crooked brokers. And then the solution is simple. Don't trade with them. Or you can trade off the higher time frames. I personally like H1 and higher. I find it to be long enough to filter out most of the noise, yet short enough to keep you engaged and not bore you to death.
I can tell you with 100% confidence that trading is very doable, and rewarding. It does take some painful lessons and a lot of learning and screen time, but it is doable. It's not easy, but it's not that hard either. It's like any other profession. The more practiced you are, the easier it gets. Take my dad for example. He's an OBGYN. I'm sure when he was a brand new, fresh out of med school resident, doing a c-section was probably a bit nerve racking because it was something new to him. Fast forward 30+ years, and he could do a c-section while standing on his head and with one arm tied behind his back. In fact, I'll bet you that he could do one while holding the surgical instruments in his teeth! LOL
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