Any advice to get from 200 to 400 in rapid?

Yesterday I was unstoppable, I was doing so well, and even won 6 in a row at one point and reached 350, with a positive win to loss ratio. But today after many losses, i am losing momentum and focus, and dropped back to 250. I now have more losses than wins.

This is too hard. Too many professionals at this level

Learn opening principles - you are moving too many non essential pawns in the opening, play longer games (and use the time you have in those games), and before you make a move make sure you are not dropping a piece or a pawn, or allowing a checkmate.

Here is something you might find useful:

https://www.chess.com/blog/nklristic/the-beginners-tale-first-steps-to-chess-improvement

All of this of course if you are serious, because based on your posts since you've arrived here, I have strong suspicions that you are not, and you are just joking around.

Pretty sure there are no "professionals" at this rating range. 6 in a row is a nice winning streak, but if statistics balance out as they often do, then you could expect yourself go also go on 6 game losing streaks sometimes; this can be sometimes tough to handle mentally/emotionally, but every fairly "serious" chess player goes through it if they desire long-term improvement. Fluctuations of around 100 points are common depending on the time control and game number, so fluctuating from 350 to 250 doesn't surprise me too much. 

If you want some inspiration out of a similar case of rating drop, then here is an uplifting blog post I wrote shortly after I crashed about 100 points (from 1985 rapid down to 1891) back on October of 2021. https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/dropped-more-chess-rating and just for the record, a month later (November of 2021, I crossed the 2000+ rapid rating threshold for the first time ever: https://www.chess.com/blog/KeSetoKaiba/today-is-the-day-2000-rapid 

If you don't want to read longer blog articles like this and simply need to "laugh it off" and try to feel better, then these two links might help you instead:

First is a forum thread I made a long time ago: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/fun-with-chess/my-online-chess-rating-59795420 

Second was someone else feeling down, so I posted a few funny videos to help them take their mind off of things for a little while: https://www.chess.com/forum/view/off-topic/make-me-laugh-71606055

I don't know too much about pawn openings. From the articles and tips I have read, all I know is that you shouldn't move a pawn more than once during the start, and its better to control the middle. Also when my opponent takes out his queen and bishop early on to try and checkmate me early i have no idea what to do

Thanks. I agree losses can be demotivating and tough mentally. Its crazy how one day i would feel so great and motivated to even become a grandmaster one day, to going on a losing streak and thinking of giving up chess.

I will keep trying, and understand that this is all part of the game and losses happen to everyone. 

Thanks for the links. I have been trying to find advice on how to stop hanging pieces or making blunders, and most of the time they just say double check and observe all the pieces and take your time, is there anything else i can do to stop blunders

You can also try to keep your pieces defended often; especially by your own pawns. If you do this, then you are less likely to blunder them somehow because they are at least defended. You can have pieces not protected, but you just have to be aware that it is undefended and be careful that the opponent can't win it by a tactic such as a fork.

Here is a chess position which might come out of a game: what pieces are defended and which ones are hanging? Keeping a mental note of this mid-game can help you blunder less often. When you get more experienced, this process will become subconscious, but when starting out even checking for undefended pieces after each move can help a lot.

Thanks for sharing.

Im a bit confused though, what does it mean to have a piece being defended? Does being defended mean, the opponent cannot capture it within the next move?

There are no pawn openings. What I was trying to say is that you are making too many pawn moves at the start of the game. I will give you an example:

So if you are not just joking around with games such as these (this is how I played when I learned the game as a kid, creating pawn walls and such, but this is not the way to go), and you wish to play better, learn opening principles. You have them more or less in that link I've sent in my last post.

And if not, at least google them, because you will not get far playing in the style you do now.

This is the part of psychology lower-level students need to learn to see through.
1. It is only detrimental to your chess ability
2.  The fact that you're winning or losing has nothing to do with the chess itself and hence can logically be extracted from your practice.
3. A game that seems lost can rebound into a winning position provided you play accurately, providing further evidence that psychological thinking is detrimental to good chess.
4. Your opponent can manipulate you after spotting that you are susceptible to weakening yourself in a losing position.
5. Satisfaction in chess needs to come from the fact that you're learning something, not from the notion that you're beating others. Winning is a more or less irrelevant result that naturally flows from your ability to learn and get better. Set your own bar for learning and stop caring about how much you win or lose. 

Also, don't keep trying; start winning.

Thanks for the analysis, i appreciate it. And nope, not joking around with my games. Although some games i make terrible blunders which might seem like im joking. I guess i need to think more carefully and learn opening principles

You are welcome. 

Thanks, yeah good point. I should focus on how much I can learn, rather than how much i am losing. I can view the losses as a positive experience and learning curve.

"Defended" or "Protected" means that the piece can't be captured "for free." If something would capture a defended piece, then something else can capture it back. This is just one way to help keep you from hanging pieces (which would have been left undefended).

Sorry you are also struggling like me. I noticed in rapid you are playing people who are rated a lot higher and bots too. Im not too sure but i read somewhere its better to play against people rather than bots, or people on the same rating

I keep hearing that it's better to play against people than bots, and I think this is true. I can beat the bots fairly consistently. "Real" opponents don't play like bots. I wasn't sure how to find opponents but then I read about the arena, so I've been playing there. 

I have my "Live Chess" settings set to allow only opponents within a 25-point range, but that obviously doesn't include arena games. 

Last night, I finally did play my first 30-minute game. I played against an opponent rated a bit higher (not much) and I actually won by checkmate! 

I want to figure out how to do "daily games", too. I want to put myself in a place where I can take all the time I need to look at the board. 

I know part of my problem is that I panic. When I can't figure out what to do, or when I have a "plan" of sort and my opponent nixes it, I get flustered and make wrong moves because my brain just seems to shut down.

Now that I know how to do 30-minute games, I will probably try playing a game or 2 every day. I hope it helps!

We can do this. Slowly but surely... yes, we can do this! 

Use al the options chess.com gives you. Take the once a week lesson, use the daily analyses and play some puzzles. Practice is the start, later you can start to use openings and different tactics.

Study and analyze the games you've lost/ won by your own. You should know what will be your opponent's next move, by thinking from their side too. Look where you missed a tactic or blundered. Avoid doing it in the next game. Practice makes perfection.